The CPU

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/microprocessor.htm
http://www.intel.com/technology/atom/index.htm

1. What is the function of the CPU?
This is where all computations are carried out before being transferred to memory storage. The CPU accepts input data, processes the information and sends it to the component that is in charge of executing the action.
The CPU, or Central Processing Unit, is the brains of the computer. This is where all the processing of data, computations, and operations are done. The CPU contains the memory, the hard drives, and ports as well that connect all the computer parts and allow each one to function. Without the CPU, one would not be able to do anything with the computer. 2. What was the name of the first CPU?

The first microprocessor to make it into a home computer was the Intel 8080, a complete 8-bit computer on one chip, introduced in 1974.
 3. Referring to the graph on page 2 of the article, describe how the speed of CPU’s has changed.
From the table you can see that the speeds of the CPU's have increased everytime a new CPU has been created. From the first CPU called the 8080 it had a clock speed of 2 MHz and the number of MIPS was only 0.64, to the most recent CPU it's called Pentium 4 "Prescott" it has a clock speed of 3.6 GHz and the number of MIPS is more than 7000. From these results you can see that there has been a large change from the first one ever to the most recent.

4. What does MIPS measure?
MIPS stands for "millions of instructions per second" and is a rough measure of the performance of a CPU. Modern CPUs can do so many different things that MIPS ratings lose a lot of their meaning, but you can get a general sense of the relative power of the CPUs from this column. Modern processors can often execute at a rate of two instructions per clock cycle. That improvement is directly related to the number of transistors on the chip and will make more sense in the next section.
5. Research (Google it) what is a dual core processor, what is multitasking and how do the two work together.
A Dual Core Processor is a multi-core processor is a processing system composed of two or more independent cores. It can be described as an integrated circuit to which two or more individual processors have been attached.
Multitasking is the simultaneous execution of multiple tasks (programs) under the control of an interrupt-driven operating system.
Dual-core processors contain two processing cores, residing on one chip, that perform calculations on two streams of data to increase efficiency and speed while running multiple programs and the new generation of multi-threaded software. For end-users this means a significant increase in response and performance when running multiple applications simultaneously. True multitasking allows users to switch from one program to another without always pausing for the computer to catch up and reducing annoying processing pauses.


CPU QUIZ - http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p5W5_hA1fzBBssbjctBFoBA&hl=en_GB