CPU - CS1

CPU

Before touching the CPU please refer back to the health and safety at the top of this page.

Another thing that is really important to a computer system is the CPU, CPU stands for Central Processing Unit, meaning this is where most of the calculations the computer makes are held. The more calculations the CPU can make per second the faster your computer system will run. A CPU has several metallic pins or connectors, in which it is connected to the motherboard with, the CPU usually then has a heat sink and a small fan attached to the top, to try and keep the CPU cool, without a fan or heat sink then your CPU could overheat, so make sure you have one attached.

So CPU is basically when the input out-put possesses take place, so it calculates all of the necessary things that the programmes use, it also processes things that the operating system needs to run, the CPU can be found easily, the CPU is under the big fan on the motherboard, the reason it has a fan and a heat sink is because the CPU can get extremely hot, so it needs to be kept cool or it might break.

Most motherboards can only work with certain types of CPU. So you will need to check to make sure you have the right CPU for your motherboard if you were thinking about changing it. It will usually say somewhere on the motherboard, if not, you should be able to find it on the motherboards manufactures website, most CPUs will unclip out, so they are fairly easy to replace if need be, just be careful with them as the chips are very delicate.

All CPUs run at different speeds, ranging from top of the range to the ones at the bottom, they all have their up and down points, so you need to research the different CPUs before putting one into a certain motherboard, to make sure it is the right one and to make sure that it will have the best possible performance in the chosen motherboard. A picture of a CPU is shown below:


Processor

A processor is pretty much the CPU which I have already explained about, the processor just ‘processes’ all of the required data.