Opposite to what most people know, the speed of the Central Processing Unit or CPU does not indicate good pcdesigner performance. There are several internal and external factors that have impact on the performance and also on the performance of the entire system.
Its speed is measured in MHz.A single Megahertz is equivalent to a million cycles per second. However, it does not necessarily mean that a CPU with 2MHz is faster than 1MHz CPU. The difference can be seen on the amount of work a single CPU can achieve in one clock cycle.
In practice a 1MHz CPU could be faster whereas 2Mhz CPU could possibly be more efficient or could process a bigger amount of task.
Caches can improve CPU speed as it provides a quick access to the most recent information used. They also differ in terms of performance. In general, a larger cache can lead to better performance. They function at a specific speed and are considered as the core of a CPU. Some of them function at high-speed while others do not.
Another factor that contributes to the speed is the Front Side Bus of the FSB. This is the main connection that links the Central Processing Unit and the entire system memory. Its operation is a fraction of the clock speed of the CPU. A better CPU performance can also be based on the speed of data transfer that is allowed by the Front Side Bus.
Speed is also affected by RAM. Having a fast RAM means that the CPU itself does not need to wait a lot for data transfer, thereby making the CPU work faster. Whatever is included in the system can significantly affect the speed of the CPU. They are all factors tor general performance of the system including the speed of rotation, access time provided for the hard disk and even the RAM video speed.
