The CPU or Central Processing Unit is the main component of a computer that processes instructions. It is composed of transistors and other components like registers, caches, and buses. CPU manufacturers develop new generations that process instructions faster through higher clock speeds and more transistors. Common measurements of CPU speed include clock speed, instructions per second, and calculations per second. Major CPU manufacturers include Intel, AMD, IBM, and Motorola.

1. CPU
Central Processing Unit
Maryam Ali
200910607
Zayed Media Lab

2. Out line
• What is CPU?
• CPU Components
• CPU Generations
• CPU Speed Measurements
• CPU Manufacturers

3. What is CPU?
The CPU or Central Processing Unit is the "brain" of the computer; it is the
'compute' in computer. Without the CPU, you have no computer. Computer
CPU's (processors) are composed of thin layers of thousands of transistors.
Transistors are tiny, nearly microscopic bits of material that will block
electricity when the electricity is only a weak charge, but will allow the
electricity pass through when the electricity is strong enough.

4. CPU Components
A lot of components go into building a modern computer processor and just
what goes in changes with every generation as engineers and scientists
find new, more efficient ways to do old tasks.
•Execution Core(s) • Registers
•Data Bus • Flags
•Address Bus • Pipelining
•Math Co-processor • Memory Controller
•Instruction sets / Microcode • Cache Memory (L1, L2 and L3)

5. CPU Generations
CPU manufacturers engineer new ways to do processing that requires some
significant re-engineering of the current chip design. When they create this
new design that changes the number of bits the chip can handle, or some
other major way in which the chip performs its job, they are creating a new
generation of processors. As of the time this tutorial was last updated
(2008), there were seven generations of chips, with an eighth on the
drawing board.

6. CPU Speed Measurements
• The main measurement quoted by manufacturers as a supposed
indication of processing speed, is the clock speed of the chip measured
in hertz. The the theory goes that the higher the number of mega or
gigahertz, the faster the processor.
• However comparing raw speeds is not always a good comparison
between chips. Counting how many instructions are processed per
second (MIPS, BIPS, TIPS for millions, billions and trillions of
instructions per second) is a better measurement. Still others use the
number of mathematical calculations per second to rate the speed of a
processor.

7. CPU Manufacturers
• American Micro Devices (AMD)
• Intel
• IBM
• Motorola
• Cyrix
• Texas Instruments
AMD and Intel have pretty much dominated the market. AMD and Intel are
for IBM compatible machines. Motorola chips are made for MacIntoshes.
Cyrix (another IBM compatible chip maker) runs a distant fourth place in
terms of number of chips sold.