The CPU is a very important part of any computer. This part of the computer fetches the data, performs operations to the data and stores the data (the fetch execute cycle). The Workshop PC has an “AMD Athlon 64x2 4400+” processor these processors were first implemented into machines in 2005 meaning it has a possibility of being up to 6 years old. This processor has 2 cores meaning that the processor can receive 2 data strings at once rather than individually receiving them. Having a dual core processor is better than just a single core due to the fact that it can handle more data at once. But there are also newer quad core processors which would be much better than this processor. This processor has a core speed of 2294.4 MHZ this seems to be a reasonable speed for a processor to run at. It also has a multiplier of 11.5 having a multiplier of 11.5 means that there will be 11.5 cycles for every external clock cycle. The processor has a bus speed of 199.5MHz, the bus speed refers to how much data can travel across the bus at any one specific time. The speed of the bus can drastically affect the computers performance as the bus is essential for the transfer of data. The processor requires 1.350v of power to run it, this is relatively high compared to a lot of modern CPU’s that are available. The AMD Athlon has cache L1 data and L1 Inst of 2 x 64Kbytes and has L2 of 2 x 512Kbytes. The amount of cache memory is important as the cache memory stores data from the most used memory locations of the hard drive. The CPU cache memory is the first place that the processor will check to see if the data that it needs is there before looking at the main memory cache and then the main memory. This CPU has DDR2 memory of 3072mb with a single channel. DDR2 requires lower power by running its internal clock at half the speed of the data bus clock speed. Requiring less power means that the CPU produces less heat than it would if it didn’t have such memory. Producing less heat also makes the computer overall a little more environmentally friendly as it won’t be using as much power running fans in the computer.
My computers CPU is an “Intel Pentium E2220” this processor is newer that the AMD Athlon 64x2 4400+ as it was launched in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the AMD being launched in 2005. In the computer industry, changes to things seem to happen often especially with CPU’s. A 3 year gap between the two processors means that the industry has had more time to develop more advanced technologies. Bearing this in mind, the newer processor should be better than the older AMD one. This processor is also a dual core processor meaning it can do 2 times as many tasks as a single core would be able to. Both processors are dual core so on that specification they are the same. This processor runs at 2399.9 MHz, this is slightly higher than the other processor meaning that a cycle would take less time using this processor. This Intel processor has a multiplier of 12.0 this meaning that for every external clock cycle that is performed there will be 12 internal cycles. This processor has cache L1 data and L1 inst of 2 x 32 kb 8 way. It also has level 2 cache of 1024kb 4 way. With this processor having the same number of cores as the workshop pc you may expect them to be similar in performance. But the Intel processor has a 0.5 difference with the multiplier, this meaning that there will be half of a cycle more than the AMD processor for every external clock cycle.This doesn’t seem like a huge difference but if a computer is running over a long period, the Intel will manage more processes than the AMD. The Intel processor also has a larger cache size than the AMD, having a higher cache size should also help to increase the computer performance.
I used PC Wizard and done a benchmark test on both of the computers. The score for the workshop PC’s processor is 98887.76 marks and my PC scored 138662.4. THE HP Pavilian p6013uk scored significantly higher than the HP Compaq dc5750. From the comparison you can see the my pc has the better processor than the workshop pc but this is more so due to the age of the computers as my pc isn’t as old as the workshop pc. Over recent years processors have changed significantly and the results reflect this. For the age of the computers you would expect the newer Intel processor to be better which it is but both of the processors are perfectly good for the purpose which they are used. However if somebody wanted to change the processor in the system they would be able to do so.