As you all know that the CPU is considered as a heart of the computer. It is responsible for all the process done inside your computer. We can’t think about the computer without a CPU. It is the most important thing mainly when it’s come to the computer. CPU is actually a very complex hardware used in a computer but it’s really the fastest processing device too. The CPU is situated on the motherboard. It has a chip like structure. It is also called as microprocessor and processor. The speed of the CPU is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). It is the number of instruction carried out in a second by the CPU. A typical CPU consists of 2 parts which are control unit and logical unit and these 2 units work according to their need and process the information or instructions. In the market of processors, there are 2 leading manufacturers of it, and those are Intel and AMD. Both of those brands tries to improve their technologies and delivers the best products to their customers. There is a strong rivalry in between these 2 brand and they are also very competitive in the market too. Let’s see something about these two brand’s profile one by one; Intel is an American company which was founded in July 1968. Its headquarters is in California, US. It mainly manufacturers processor for the computers. Other than processor it also produces Motherboards, Flash Memory and Solid State Drive (SSD). Nowadays Intel is the largest and highest value company for semiconductor devices in the whole market. AMD is also an American company of semiconductors devices. It’s headquarter also in Silicon Valley which is California, US. It was found in May 1969. It manufactures computer’s components such as Processors, Motherboards, SSDs, RAMs and the Graphic Cards too. And those who don’t know, AMD stands for Advanced Micro Devices. Now let’s look over to some CPUs of these brands. Intel has some well-known CPUs in the market like, Core 2 Duo, Dual Core, and the outstanding series of I3, I5, and I7. They all are known for the high-performance PC Processor and the updated generation of these processors are also awaited by all the PC Gurus. Now comes to the AMD. They have FX series, Athlon series, Phenom series and the accelerated processor (A-series). The Ryzen series is the latest and most promising processor of AMD which you’ll see after comparing it with the Intel. After knowing the brands, now there is one more thing which I want you to know is that you should always buy a processor which has maximum performance and fits in your budget, not according to your own or maybe someone else favorite brand choice.

So, Now Let’s See All The Noticeable Things

Before buying a processor for your PC, there are only 2 main things which you should need to look at first and those are, performance and compatibility. Both of those things are important and now I’m going to briefly describe about those two terms, as all mentioned below:

#Performance:

CPU performance decides the amount of work accomplished by the Processor. Looking for the Performance specs is actually the important thing to do because all of your PC’s task depends on that and in case, if you buy a low profile CPU for some hardcore work then you’ll definitely regret for your wastage of money. Here’s the list of those noticeable things which really need to be considered at first; Cache memory is the fast memory which is on the CPU as in the chip. It’s used for storing program instructions which are used frequently. Cache memory is actually really fast but it’s very costly as compared to the RAM. In desktop processors there are three different types of cache memory are available to maintain the ultimately fast speed and known as:

L1 Cache: L1 cache is extraordinary fast but it is very small. It is placed in the CPU chip. L2 Cache: L2 cache has more data holding capacity than L1 cache. It is situated in CPU chip or in a separate chip but connected to CPU with the high-speed alternative data bus. L3 Cache: L3 is a specialist cache which works together with L1 and L2 cache and improves the total performance. It is actually slower than L2 cache. Smart Cache: Smart cache is a technology developed by Intel. It is a method for caching level 2 or level 3 caches for multiple executions of cores.

Nowadays computer comes with a multi-core processor. The multi-core processor means that more than one processor is embedded in the CPU Chip. Those multi-core processors work simultaneously and the main advantages of using the multi-core CPU is that it quickly achieved the high performance, consuming less power energy and the multi-tasking or parallel processing is really efficient. Since all the processor is plugged into the same plug so the connection between them is also actually fast. More numbers of cores indicates that the speed and performance is more than a single core CPU;

Dual Core Processor: In this, Dual or 2 processors are embedded in the chip and they work simultaneously. Multi-tasking is more than the single core processor. Quad Core Processor: In this, Quad or 4 processors are embedded in the chip and work simultaneously. They are faster than dual core processor. Multi-tasking is more than the dual core processor. Hexa Core Processor: In this, Hexa or 6 processors are embedded in the chip and work simultaneously. They are faster than quad core processor. Multi-tasking is more than the quad core processor. Octa Core Processor: In this, Octa or 8 processors are embedded in the chip and they work simultaneously. They are faster than the hexacore processor. Multi-tasking is more than the hexacore processor.

Clock Speed is the speed of a processor of executing an instruction. The number of instruction carried by the computer in one second is used to calculate the speed of that computer. The speed of the computer is calculated in Hertz. Nowadays the speed of a CPU comes in gigahertz (GHz), which is mainly equal to 1000000 times Hertz. Two Types Of Clock Speed:

Base Clock Speed: It’s the speed of all the cores provided in the CPU. The base clock speed is same for all the cores. Suppose that a CPU has 4 cores and the CPU’s Specs says 3 GHz Base Clock Speed, which means all those 4 cores of that CPU individually having 3 GHz speed of own data processing capability. This is the main specs which you really need to look for because, besides the cache, your system’s whole performance is depending on this. Turbo Clock Speed: Turbo clock is a technology that enables the processor to increase its speed over the base clock speed. The turbo clock is actually a bit faster than the base clock speed. Suppose that a CPU has 4 cores and it has a base clock speed of 3 GHz. So, in turbo mode one of a core will increase its speed greater than 3 GHz  (according to the process) and the rest of all 3 core’s speed will decrease less than 3 GHz. So the overall speed of a particular core will increase and that’s how a turbo works. And one more thing, not all processors comes with the turbo or boost speed because you’ll have to pay extra for it and just like that, not all softwares and games are able to use that turbo clock feature too, but in my opinion, go for a Turbo Clock supported processors.

You may have noticed in the specification of CPU that Base Clock frequency is 3.2 GHz (for example) and Boost/Turbo Clock frequency is 3.6 GHz (for example).

#Compatibility:

Before buying a processor, you must ensure that the processor is compatible with your old or new PC because the CPU you are going to buy will be installed in your computer’s motherboard and must work properly. Now let’s look over to some topics to help you about the compatibility recommendation. To use a processor, you’ll need to fit the CPU into your motherboard and mainly every motherboard and CPU comes with the predefined pins on it, to only make a compatible connection and that’s the reason why you’ll only need to buy that processor who’s having the same pins on it, as just like your motherboard. That’s the first and the main thing which you’ll have to do some research about it because your CPU will only work when it properly attached to your motherboard. Nowadays CPU sockets are available in two different types and the first one is “Pin Grid Array (PGA)” where pins on the underside of the CPU and they gets fits into the motherboard socket and the second one is Line Grid Array (LGA) where the pins is on the motherboard and you’ll need to place the processor on those pins and then close the socket to make a proper connection. This is how a CPU is attached to the motherboard and that’s the reason why you should need to check the Socket support of both CPU and motherboard before buying a CPU. If the Motherboard’s Sockets and CPU’s pins don’t match, then the CPU will not gonna fit into the motherboard. Do you know, that you can’t even fit an 1150 LGA Processor into an 1151 LGA Socket; In case, if you forcefully insert the different pins CPU into the unsupported motherboard then you may bend or even break the pins of CPU or Motherboard and void the warranty of your product. If your CPU gets fit perfectly into the motherboard and it still not working, then it’s quite possible that the chipset of that motherboard does not support that model of CPU. Just continue to read more; Every motherboard supports a fixed range of CPUs. A motherboard supports either Intel or AMD processors but not both and not just that, all the motherboards also having a fixed range of CPU models support compatibility even in the same CPU pins category. To remove the confusion, let’s see an example, let’s take 2 Gigabyte motherboard GA-H110M-DS2 and GA-Z270X. Both motherboards have same socket 1151 but have a different chipset, H110, and Z270 respectively. Both motherboards support i7 6700k but the i7 7700k is only supported by the Z270 chipset motherboard and not by the H110. It’s only happened because of the Chipset support. The Z270 is actually an advanced chipset and it’s really able to support high-performance processor and other advanced hardware too. So, choose your CPU according to your current motherboard, or if you’re searching CPU for your new build then make sure you do buy a compatible chipset motherboard with that. The RAM Support is an also important part to look upon. If you have 32 GB of RAM and it does not work, then maybe it’s possible that your processor might not support it. Even if your motherboard does support’s 32 GB of RAM, then only 16 GB of memory will be used by the computer if your processor only supports 16 GB. Every CPU comes with their maximum RAM support. If the RAM is more than the maximum support, then it will not work on your computer and until to disconnect the extra ram, your computer remains unusable. So, must have a look on the RAM support for the better use of your RAM; Numbers of PCI lanes plays an important role in deciding the cost of your CPU and not just that it also decides the compatibility, performance and the efficiency of your various expansion components like Graphics Card, Sound Card and tons of other cards available in the market. But the saddest part is that, this spec is neglected by most of the buyers and normally customers treated this important factor like it doesn’t exist. So, in case, if you are not having any knowledge about it, let’s take an example, take 2 CPUs, Intel i7-7700 and i7-5960X. Both processors are almost have the same configuration, in fact, the 7700 have more clock speed than 5960X. But the price of 7700 is only about 300$ whereas 5960X have a price of about 1000$! The price difference is about 3 time the other. Do you know why? It is only because of the numbers of PCI lanes in each CPU. The 7700 has only 16 PCI lanes while the 5960X have 40 PCI lanes! In a simple language, more numbers of PCI lanes means that more expansion cards can be connected to your PC and the performance of those components are at their maximum. There are 4 types of PCI Express slots are available on the motherboard; they are x16, x8, x4, and x1 and to use an external card on those PCI Express slots your processors must have enough PCI lanes to interact with those expansion cards. Suppose that a motherboard has only 2 PCI Express slots on it, where the one is PCIe x8 and the second one is PCIe x16. Now, in case if you wanted to use a graphic card on that motherboard with a high-quality sound card, that means you’ll have to use both of those x8 and x16 slots, which basically says that your processor need to control both of those connected cards at the same time, and to do that, at least you have a 24 lanes CPU on that motherboard because (x8 + x16 = x24). So, just add the PCIe x Numbers of your cards which you wanted to use in your computer and that will clarify the number of CPU lanes you wanted in your processor. For a single card use, like a single graphic card, you can buy 16 lanes Spec CPU for your computer and that will work for you. Back in some time, hardware overclocking was only done by the professional gamers and PC enthusiasts. But now it has become a child play. Now everyone is able to overclock their hardware up to their requirement. To utilize the maximum performance of a hardware, you’ll need to overclock it; If you think that all the processor are overclockable, then you are wrong because some processors are not overclockable at all. The manufacturer’s doesn’t recommend the overclocking and they also don’t even mention the after overclocking speed in the specification too. So, take a help from some forums and read the product reviews to find that particular processor overclockablity. Now come to the very important point, which is Bottlenecking. Your high-end components are useless if your processor bottlenecks them. Bottlenecking is a term which is used to describe a state when the processor does not utilize the maximum performance of the other component. If your processor isn’t High-End but your components do, then your processor will bottleneck all the others. So, your processor must be capable enough to balance the overall performance of your PC. Since the CPU is called as the brain of the computer, that’s why buying a perfect brain is also a compulsory thing to do for your computer as the whole process only depends on it. After reading the whole article now I think you won’t make any mistake while buying a CPU for your PC and stay tuned for more fascinating and interesting knowledge topics about Computer Parts and see yourself becoming a king of Computer Hardware’s knowledge.
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