| CPU manufacturing is one of the most | | | | coming out with quad speed pushes and |
| competitive areas of computer world. In | | | | base 200MHz which results with 800MHz |
| the end, the overall performance of your | | | | FSB like the new P4. |
| laptop or your desktop depends on your | | | | The numbers you would see under the name |
| central processing unit. Parallel to the | | | | "Micron" in a CPU comparison table is |
| demands of the users, we can say that | | | | basically the size of the transistors. |
| CPUs traveled a long way from 386s to | | | | As the number get smaller, the |
| P4s and AMDs. | | | | manufacturers can put more and more on |
| The cache is generally the most decisive | | | | the CPU die. The smaller transistors you |
| factor in the tradeoff equation between | | | | have on your CPU, the smaller the CPU |
| the price and performance. Considering | | | | die becomes. The smaller the CPU die, |
| the L2 cache on some of the chips, you | | | | less power is required and less heat is |
| can easily understand that Athlon, P4 | | | | produced. |
| and PIII, having 256K or more L2 cache | | | | The CPU instruction set is the total |
| are the once with higher performance, in | | | | code which tells your CPU how to process |
| other words power chips. | | | | its data. The more sets you have on your |
| Looking at the budget chips, you | | | | CPU, the more efficient it is most |
| immediately notice that Celeron has 128K | | | | likely to be. However, on this point |
| and the Duron only has 64K. Celeron is | | | | Intel (Pentium) and AMD does not follow |
| actually almost like a PIII with half | | | | the same path. Intel made the first |
| the cache disabled. These numbers shows | | | | attempt to improve the basic instruction |
| that the main budget issue for CPU | | | | set by adding the MMX support for |
| manufacturers is to put enough cash on | | | | multimedia. |
| the chip. | | | | The difference's between the CPU's are |
| You should consider the difference | | | | getting smaller as each company sees the |
| between the bus speeds: in the case of | | | | advantages of their rivals technology |
| Athlon and P4, the bus speed between the | | | | and tries to either use or emulate it. |
| Cache and the CPU can be 200 or 400 MHz | | | | It is really hard to choose which one is |
| respectively. This can give your system | | | | better. So a good advice would be let |
| a major boost when you are using cache | | | | your wallet decide which CPU your system |
| intensive utilities. The new CPUs are | | | | will use. |