Basic System Structure
As of 2009, computers have several interconnected devices (CPU, RAM, peripherals, etc. – see diagram) that typically run at different speeds. Thus they use internal buffers and caches when communicating with each other via the shared buses in the system. In PCs, the CPU's external address and data buses connect the CPU to the rest of the system via the "northbridge". Nearly every desktop CPU produced since the introduction of the 486DX2 in 1992 has employed a clock multiplier to run its internal logic at a higher frequency than its external bus, but still remain synchronous with it. This improves the CPU performance by relying on internal cache memories and/or wide buses (often also capable of more than one transfer per clock cycle) to make up for the frequency difference.
Read more about this topic: CPU Multiplier
Famous quotes containing the words basic, system and/or structure:
“Of course I lie to people. But I lie altruistically—for our mutual good. The lie is the basic building block of good manners. That may seem mildly shocking to a moralist—but then what isn’t?”
—Quentin Crisp (b. 1908)
“It would be enough for me to have the system of a jury of twelve versus the system of one judge as a basis for preferring the U.S. to the Soviet Union.... I would prefer the country you can leave to the country you cannot.”
—Joseph Brodsky (b. 1940)
“For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;
Our to-days and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)