Blog 5 Computer Terms

Processor frequency is the speed at which the processor operates. This frequency is determined by applying a clock multiplier to the front side bus (FSB) speed. If your processor is running at 1600MHz it has an 800MHz FSB. This means the internal clock multiplier setting is 2. The system bus frequency times the multiplier equals the processor frequency.

Word size is the number of bits a processor can process at one time. Bits are either a 0 or a 1. Eight bits equal one byte. A word is made up of a certain number of bytes. The processors that we use today us a word size of 32 bits (4 bytes) or 64 bits (8 bytes).

Overclocking is when a computer component like a CPU is made to operate beyond its intended performance levels. For example, if you decrease the amount of time it take the CPU to communicate with the North bridge, you will increase the FSB speed. Overclocking computer components can create an unstable system and can lead to problems such as overheating.

Data Path is the number of bits a processor can receive at one time. It is sometimes refered to as the external data path and is a part of the system bus that transports data into the processor. It transfers bits to the processor in a group such as 64 bits and then the processor processes the bits based on the word size it can handle. The data path and word size processing do not have to be the same size. The data path can be 64 bits but the processor can only handle 32 bit word size.

SRAM or static RAM is a small piece of memory that is much faster than regular DRAM or dynamic RAM. A processor is able to access the SRAM and do its computations much quicker because the SRAM temporarily stores recently accessed data in expectation of what the processor will do next. By accessing SRAM, the process is much faster because the processor doesn't have to search the DRAM.

Primary Cache is also known as Level 1 cache. It is the fastest memory and is built directly into the processor itself. This allows it to run at the same speed as the processor. This cache of memory is small, usually 8KB to 64 KB and holds recently used data and instructions from memory. This enables the processor to access this information quickly because it doesn't have to search the main memory.

External Cache is also known as Level 2 cache. This is a secondary cache to level 1 cache and is larger and slightly slower. It catches accesses to main memory that are not caught by level 1 cache. Level 2 cache is called external cache because it is usually found outside the processor microchip on the mother board or a daughter card on the mother board.

Memory cache is SRAM that is much faster than DRAM because SRAM does not need refreshing and can hold its data as long as the power is on. Regular RAM loses data rapidly and has to be refreshed.