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Chapter 05

The CPU does all the data processing, and the busses handle all data transfer. The faster The CPU can do calculations and move data, the faster the PC is. The die in a Pentium 4 CPU contains 125 million transistors.

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54 views37 pages

Chapter 05

The CPU does all the data processing, and the busses handle all data transfer. The faster The CPU can do calculations and move data, the faster the PC is. The die in a Pentium 4 CPU contains 125 million transistors.

Uploaded by

api-3708103
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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You are on page 1/ 37

Copyright Michael Karbo

and ELI Aps., Denmark,


Europe.
Presentation prepared by
Le Van Huynh
There are two very
fundamental components
to study on the
motherboard. The CPU
and the busses. The CPU
does all the data
processing, and the
busses handle all data
transfer.
Fig. 32. The CPU is mounted on the motherboard,
hidden under the cooling fan and heat sink.
CPU stands for Central
Processing Unit. There
can be several processors
in a computer, but one of
them is the central one -
the CPU.
The reason the CPU is
called a processor is
because it can work with
data. And it has two
important jobs:
•It can do calculations.

•It can move data.


The CPU is very fast at
doing both jobs. The
faster the CPU can do
calculations and move
data, the faster we say
the PC is.
· Higher clock frequencies (which
means more clock ticks per second).
· Greater bus width.
· Optimising the core of the
processor and other components so
that the maximum amount of work is
done for each clock tick.
What follows is a short
description of how to
achieve faster data
processing. Read it, and
see if you understand all
the concepts. There are
three ways to improve a
PC’s performance:
All this can lead to better
bandwidth, which is
required throughout the
PC. The entire
development process is
focused around the
motherboard, and
especially the CPU.
But all of the electronics
has to be able to keep up
with the high pace, and
that is what makes the
motherboard so
fascinating.
The CPU is physically
quite small. At its core is
an electronic circuit
(called a die), which is no
bigger than your little
fingernail.
Slicer
Silicon ingot Blank wafers

20 to 30
processing
steps
Tested dies Individual dies
Patterned wafers
Die
tester Dicer

Bond die
to package

Part
tester Ship to customers

Packaged dies Tested packaged dies


Fig. Despite its small size, the CPU is full of
transistors. The die in a Pentium 4 CPU contains
125 million transistors, all squashed together
into a very tight space. It is about 1 cm x 1 cm
in size:
The electronic circuit is
encapsulated in a much
bigger plastic square. This is
in order to make room for all
the electrical contacts which
are used to connect the CPU
to the motherboard.
Fig. 33. The CPU circuit (the ”die”)
can be seen in the middle of the chip
(An AthlonXP shown close to actual
size).
The individual contacts
are called pins, and a CPU
can have 478 of them (as
does the Pentium 4 ). The
large number of pins
means that the socket has
to be relatively large.
Fig. 35. The underside of a
CPU, showing the many pins.
Which CPU?

The companies Intel and


AMD make most CPU’s. Intel
laid the foundations for the
development of CPU’s for
PCs with their more than 20
year old 8086 and 8088
processors.
CPU’s are developed in
series, or generations.
Each series is known by
its name. The last four
generations of Intel
processors, for example,
have been the Pentium,
Pentium II, Pentium III
and Pentium 4.
Fig. 36. A Celeron processor supplied in
a box from Intel, with heat sink and fan.
Running alongside these
is the Celeron series,
which are cheaper
versions, typically with
reduced L2 cache and a
slower front side bus:
Within each generation
there are many variants
with different clock
frequencies. For example,
when the Pentium 4 was
released in the year 2000,
it was as a 1400 MHz
version.
The original model was
later followed up by
versions with 1800, 2000,
etc. MHz, up to 2400 MHz
(the clock frequencies
came in intervals of 100
MHz).
In the year 2002, a new
model came out for which
the clock frequencies started
at 2266, 2400 and 2533 MHz,
and increased in intervals of
133 MHz. A year later the
clock frequencies was raised
to intervals of 200 MHz with
the Pentium 4 chips running
from 2600 to 3600 MHz. And
so it continues.
The company, AMD,
produces similar
processors in the
Sempron and Athlon 64
series, which also come
with different clock
frequencies.
Figur 37. The Pentium 4 socket 478
on a motherboard.
If you are not sure which
CPU your PC uses, you can
investigate this in several
ways. You could check
your purchase receipt.
The name of the CPU
should be specified there.
You could look inside your
PC and locate the CPU.
But it is quite difficult to
get to see the model
name, because there is a
fan mounted on the actual
chip. The fan is often
glued directly onto the
processor, so that it is not
easy to remove it.
Fig. 38. A CPU is shown here without a
cooling fan. It is mounted in a small
socket which it clicks into without
needing any tools.
In Windows, you can
select the System
Properties dialog box,
where you can see the
processor name and clock
frequency:
Windows: My Computer Properties

http://www.karbosguide.com/books/pcarchitecture/images/936.png
You can also watch
carefully when your PC
starts up. Your CPU name
and clock frequency is
shown as one of the first
things displayed on the
screen.
You can press the P key to
pause the startup
process. Below you can
see a picture of the
startup screen for PC. This
PC has an Intel Pentium
4, with a clock frequency
(work rate) of 2553 MHz:
Finally, let me just
mention some small
utility programs which
you can download from
the Internet (e.g. search
for “WCPUID” or “CPU-Z”
on www.google.com, and
you”ll find it).
WCPUID WCPUCLK
The programs WCPUID
and CPU-Z, reveals lots of
information about your
CPU, chipset, etc. They
are used by motherboard
nerds.

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