CPU

Alternatively referred to as the brain of the computer, processor, central processor, or microprocessor, the CPU (pronounced as C-P-U) was first developed at Intel with the help of Ted Hoff in the early 1970's and is short for Central Processing Unit. The computer CPU is responsible for handling all instructions it receives from hardware and software running on the computer.

In the below picture, is an example of what the top and bottom of an Intel Pentium processor looks like. The processor is placed and secured into a compatible CPU socket found on the motherboard, and because of the heat it produces it is covered with a heat sink to help keep it cool and running smoothly.

As can be seen by the above picture, the CPU chip is usually in the shape of a square or rectangle and will have one notched corner to help place the chip into the computer properly. On the bottom of the chip are hundreds of connector pins that plug into each of the corresponding holes on the socket. Today, most CPU's resemble the picture shown above; however, Intel and AMD have also experimented with slot processors that were much larger and slid into a slot on the motherboard. Also, over the years there have been dozens of different types of sockets on motherboards, each socket only supports so many different processors, and each has its own pin layout.
In the CPU, the primary components are the ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) that performs mathematical, logical, and decision operations and the CU (Control Unit) that directs all of the processors operations. Over the history of computer processors, the speed (clock speed) and capabilities of the processor have dramatically improved. For example, the first microprocessor was the Intel 4004 that was released November 15, 1971 and had 2,300 transistors and performed 60,000 operations per second. The Intel Pentium Processor shown on this page has 3,300,000 transistors and performs around 188,000,000 instructions per second.

Note: Many new computer users may improperly call their computer and even sometimes their monitor a CPU. When referring to your computer or monitor it is proper to refer to them as either computer or monitor and not CPU.