3.7.3.6 Factors Affecting Processor Performance. Flashcards
Outline the factors affecting processor performance.
Number of Cores. Cache Memory. Clock speed. Word Length. Address bus width. Data bus width.
Outline number of cores.
Directly affects performance.
Each core can perform its own FDE independently, so different applications can be allocated different cores. Quad core and even octa-core processers are becoming common.
Outline cache memory.
Processor’s cache is a small portion of memory. Higher read/write speed than HDD or even SDD’s. Used to store frequently used information and reduces time wasted in fetching the same information from main memory time and time again. The more cache a processor has, the more information it can store and the more time saved in fetching information from main memory.
Outline clock speed.
Relates to the frequency of pulses generated by the systems clock. The higher the frequency, the more cycles of the FDE cycle can be completed in the same period of time. Errors can occur when a computers clock speed is increased too far.
Outline word length.
A group of bits treated as a single unit by a processor. Words can be used for representing both instructions and data. The length of a word is the number of bits assigned to it, higher word length allowing for more bits to be transferred and manipulated as a single unit.
Outline address bus width.
Width of a bus relates to the number of parallel wires that make up the bus.
Increasing width increases the range of addresses it can specify, hence increasing the computers amount of addressable memory.
Adding a single wire doubles the number of addressable memory locations.
Outline Data bus width.
Increasing the width of the data bus increases the volume of data that can be transferred over the bus at any one time. A wider data bus allows the processer to fetch more data from main memory in one of the FDE cycles, this reduces the number of cycles required to fetch large volumes of data.
