CPU Architecture refers to a collection of parameters about the design of CPU realized by its manufacturer, such as: its bit-ness or data bus width (16, 32, 64 bits) , Instruction Set (RISC, CISC,...), Memory Management, Threading, Virtualization support, etc
Questions tagged [cpu-architecture]
190 questions
229
votes
19 answers
32-bit vs. 64-bit systems
What are the differences between 32-bit and 64-bit systems?
If you have used both of them, what kind of sharp differences have you experienced?
Would it be a problem to use 32-bit programs on 64-bit systems in some cases?
Mehper C. Palavuzlar
- 55,953
113
votes
13 answers
Why doesn't "add more cores" face the same physical limitations as "make the CPU faster"?
In 2014, I hear a lot of programming languages touted for their concurrency
features. Concurrency is said to be crucial for performance gains.
In making this statement, many people point back to a 2005 article called The
Free Lunch Is Over: A…
Nathan Long
- 27,435
82
votes
12 answers
Why do we have CPUs with all the cores at the same speeds and not combinations of different speeds?
In general if you are buying a new computer you would determine which processor to buy by what your expected workload will be. Performance in games tends to be determined by single core speed, whereas applications like video editing are determined…
Jamie
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77
votes
6 answers
How does a CPU 'know' what commands and instructions actually mean?
How does a processor 'know' what the different commands mean?
I'm thinking of assembly level commands like MOV, PUSH, CALL, etc...
Simon Verbeke
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66
votes
9 answers
Why have CPU manufacturers stopped increasing the clock speeds of their processors?
I have read that manufacturers stopped concentrating on higher clock speeds and are now working on other things to improve performance.
With
an old Desktop machine with Intel® Xeon® Processor E3110 with clock speed of 3.0GHz
and a new server with…
learner
- 551
46
votes
5 answers
Why are newer generations of processors faster at the same clock speed?
Why, for example, would a 2.66 GHz dual-core Core i5 be faster than a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo, which is also dual-core?
Is this because of newer instructions that can process information in fewer clock cycles? What other architectural changes are…
agz
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40
votes
2 answers
What`s the difference between Intel 64 and AMD64?
Can someone explain if there is any difference between the intel64 and amd64 architectures?
Mayhem
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37
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How can I enable PAE on Windows 7 (32-bit) to support more than 3.5 GB of RAM?
I know that Windows XP 32-bit can be configured, through PAE, to support more than 3.5 GB of RAM. Is there a good tutorial to do this with Windows 7 32-bit?
As to why I don't simply use 64-bit Windows 7: The software for my Internet connection…
Niphoet
- 767
36
votes
2 answers
Understanding load average and % CPU in Linux?
When I execute top command on my Ubuntu system I see below results
top - 07:58:58 up 1:21, 1 user, load average: 0.82, 0.73, 0.55
Tasks: 293 total, 1 running, 292 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
%Cpu(s): 0.8 us, 0.8 sy, ....
I need to…
user3198603
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34
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12 answers
Why are most of the common processors' bit counts powers of 2?
Most of the processors/CPUs widely used today, have a bit count that is a power of 2 (usually 32 and 64, but also 16, 8, and 4 bits).
Even though the meaning of bit count isn't consistent (some say it's the word size, the size of the registers, the…
SamFF
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33
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3 answers
What are performance and efficiency cores in Intel's 12th Generation Alder lake CPU Line?
I watched Intel's Architecture Day 2021 released in August 2021 (last month at the time of writing this). After watching Intel's video about their new CPU, I was — quite honestly — a bit confused. I guess the new microprocessors are not going to…
I sekai tensei
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31
votes
10 answers
How can I determine if the current version of Windows is either 32-bit or 64-bit from the command line?
What's the command line to find out if the OS is running a 32-bit version or 64-bit of Windows?
Sreerag
26
votes
3 answers
Is the amount of NUMA nodes always equal to sockets?
I have used lscpu to check two servers configuration:
[root@localhost ~]# lscpu
Architecture: x86_64
......
Core(s) per socket: 1
Socket(s): 1
NUMA node(s): 1
Vendor ID: GenuineIntel
CPU family: …
Nan Xiao
- 4,133
19
votes
2 answers
Are 64-bit processors "faster" than 32-bit ones, simply because they are 64-bits?
I have pondered that some say "32-bit is old news" because you are limited in RAM without cutting around, such as with PAE. Assuming first that the following factors weigh in on the processor's speed itself:
Microarchiterual design, meaning things…
user305391
19
votes
6 answers
What's the main difference between Intel processor generations?
What are the main differences between each processor generation of Intel processors/chipsets? Is there a performance difference?
I've already seen processors from first to sixth generation, however I don't know/understand the exact differences.
Diogo
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