he most important thing you need to know about a processor is the speed in which it processes information and there are several ways to measure the speed and they can be misleading. The speeds differ from inside the processor and outside of the processor. You can measure the processor speed in GHz, the system bus in MHz which is the limiting factor of the speed for your new computer. The ratio between the processor speed and the system bus speed is known as the multiplier. In some older system you may have to configure the multiplier in the CMOS setting but however the newer models will do this automatically for you.
CPU manufactures have come up with different ways to making the CPU do more work faster. True multiprocessing requires multiple processors and your system has to be designed to hold more than one CPU on a single motherboard. Another option is the dual core processors, which means incorporating multiple processors with multiple ALUs inside a single CPU. The ALUs process information independently but share a single controller.
Cache memory uses SRAM where the rest of the system uses DRAM. SRAM is more expensive than DRAM.SRAM can hold its memory as long as there is power to it. There are three types of cache L1 cache, L2 cache and L3 cache. L1 cache is housed on the processor chip itself. L2 cache is inside the processor housing but is not on the processor chip itself. L3 cache is inside the processor housing but is located further away from the processor chip than L2 cache.
There are many varieties of sockets in which a processor will fit. The main two sockets that are used with today's processors are the LGA 775 used for Intel and Socket 754 used for AMD.
The ZIF uses a lever to gently lock the CPU into the socket without damaging the CPU. The optimal temperature for a CPU is 90 - 110 F or 32 - 43 C. You can check your system temperature in the CMOS. There are a few solutions to controlling the heat for your CPU. You can use a thermal compound between the CPU and the heat sink. The heat sink draws the heat from the CPU up to the CPU fan to draw heat away from the CPU and expellees it out of the computer case. If you're CPU gets to hot it will cause your computer to shutdown for no apparent reason.