CPU Multiplier - Basic System Structure

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:

    Our basic ideas about how to parent are encrusted with deeply felt emotions and many myths. One of the myths of parenting is that it is always fun and games, joy and delight. Everyone who has been a parent will testify that it is also anxiety, strife, frustration, and even hostility. Thus most major parenting- education formats deal with parental emotions and attitudes and, to a greater or lesser extent, advocate that the emotional component is more important than the knowledge.
    Bettye M. Caldwell (20th century)

    Loving feels lonely in a violent world,
    irrelevant to people burning like last year’s weed
    with bellies distended, with fish throats agape
    and flesh melting down to glue.
    We can no longer shut out the screaming
    That leaks through the ventilation system ...
    Marge Piercy (b. 1936)

    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)