122
votes
Accepted
How can a processor be made faster with a "software" update?
Modern processors are much more complicated than one might think. They are incredibly complicated, nearly beyond the comprehension of a single person. Expanding on a short remark by "horta", one might ...
- 12.7k
120
votes
Accepted
Must a CPU have a GPU if the motherboard provides a display port (when there isn't any separate video card)?
Today, motherboard-integrated graphics are basically gone (in the consumer sector, anyway). It’s either CPU-integrated graphics or dedicated graphics. Both Intel and AMD still sell CPUs without ...
- 63.1k
117
votes
Accepted
Chrome uses 80% CPU when I visit a specific website
Yes, it’s a crypto currency miner. Hosted at www.datasecu.download, implemented in Web Assembly, communicating with its host via Websocket:
It’s distributed using a compromised advertising network:
...
- 63.1k
100
votes
Accepted
How can my computer use 300% PC processing power?
On OS X, like other *nixes, CPU load is measured per virtual processor core. If you have multiple - you can have 200% and more combined under full load.
This is different from Windows and maybe ...
- 1,312
100
votes
How can a processor be made faster with a "software" update?
A variety of software issues at both the operating system and appplication levels are causing suboptimal performance.
Eight-core Ryzen processors consist of two core complexes (CCXs) each with four ...
- 46.1k
97
votes
Accepted
Why won't my CPU operate at its max potential even when my application (which utilize CPU's resources) is lagging?
You're probably running single-threaded applications which can only max out a single CPU core. Since 100% of one core is less than 100% of the capacity of multi-core CPU, total CPU utilization doesn't ...
91
votes
Accepted
How do I install this weird looking i9 9900KF I bought?
You’ve been scammed, plain and simple.
What you have here appears to be a ball grid array (for soldering) laptop CPU. It could be a i3-5005U, which is offered here on eBay:
It could also be a ...
- 63.1k
89
votes
Accepted
Why do we have CPUs with all the cores at the same speeds and not combinations of different speeds?
This is known as heterogeneous multiprocessing (HMP) and is widely adopted by mobile devices. In ARM-based devices which implement big.LITTLE, the processor contains cores with different performance ...
- 46.1k
82
votes
How can my computer use 300% PC processing power?
OS X and Linux and possibly other UNIX operating systems (or rather the most common tools on these systems) display CPU usage differently from Windows. On Windows 100% means “all CPU resources used”. ...
- 63.1k
78
votes
Accepted
Adding more thermal paste to stock cooler
No, adding more would be bad. What you want to do is to clean off all existing paste (use isopropyl alcohol if you can) and apply a bit of fresh paste.
If you're talking about the layer that comes ...
- 61.7k
72
votes
How is graphics RAM different from system RAM?
But what I don't get is why standard system RAM has always been a generation behind the RAM used on video cards.
The GDDR specification, while based on the DDR standard, has its own hardware ...
- 42.7k
69
votes
Why do we have CPUs with all the cores at the same speeds and not combinations of different speeds?
What you're asking is why are current systems using
Symmetric multiprocessing
rather than
Asymmetric multiprocessing.
Asymmetric multiprocessing were used in the old days, when a computer was
...
- 481k
67
votes
What exactly is microcode and how does it differ from firmware?
The origin of the word firmware is a mid-point between hardware and software -
software embedded on hardware. It refers to software that is stored in non-volatile memory (such as ROM, EEPROM or Flash ...
- 1,938
66
votes
Can Windows make use of 16+ core processors?
From Microsoft - Windows 10 supports a maximum of two physical CPUs, but the number of logical processors or cores varies based on the processor architecture. A maximum of 32 cores is supported in 32-...
- 73.3k
64
votes
Accepted
How many physical CPUs does my machine have?
Sockets represents how many physical CPUs are in the system.
Cores per socket is how many full CPU cores (including loading/decoding logic) there are per physical CPU.
Threads per core is how many ...
- 16.9k
58
votes
Are these CPU pins bent on this motherboard?
In technical terms: What you have there is a land grid array (LGA) socket, and it looks just fine!
All the pins are bent/curled on purpose, so the CPU – which is flat underneath – can rest on them ...
- 743
51
votes
How is the message "Unsupported CPU installed" displayed?
No, the BIOS cannot work without the CPU.
The very first thing your computer does when you power it on is checks that the connections between the CPU and RAM are good. This is a simple electrical ...
- 13.9k
50
votes
Why won't my CPU operate at its max potential even when my application (which utilize CPU's resources) is lagging?
You haven't specified your OS. So the answer will be common like.
Applications can be limited by various reasons. The bottleneck can be in:
CPU
low speed
single/low threaded apps (not capable of ...
- 1,512
50
votes
Why does a server CPU perform faster tasks than a Macbook Pro CPU with the same benchmark score?
Benchmarks are vague handwaves to some very specific performance characteristics (peak instruction rate) that often do not take into account other factors in a system.
A non-exhaustive list of ...
- 92.7k
49
votes
How is graphics RAM different from system RAM?
The underlying tech is more or less the same, GPUs just leverage a much wider memory bus.
GPUs are easier to design this way as a single unit where many memory modules can be directly connected to ...
- 479
47
votes
Accepted
How are Core iX names like Core i5, i7 related to Haswell, Ivy Bridge?
Ivy Bridge, Haswell, etc. are code names taken during the development period of a new CPU architecture, which often corresponds to a generation of Core-i processors (and their Pentium and Celeron ...
- 11.1k
47
votes
Accepted
Why do different 100% cpu loads cause different temperatures on the cpu?
CPU usage is a measure of how much resource the CPU has available, but there are many different types of instruction that can be processed and they all have different processing and memory ...
- 92.7k
46
votes
Why do we have CPUs with all the cores at the same speeds and not combinations of different speeds?
Why do we not have variants with differing clock speeds? ie. 2 'big' cores and lots of small cores.
It's possible that the phone in your pocket sports exactly that arrangement - the ARM big.LITTLE ...
- 1,589
45
votes
Accepted
What are performance and efficiency cores in Intel's 12th Generation Alder lake CPU Line?
It's Intel's version of ARM's big.LITTLE. You have some big cores with very good single-thread performance (but which spend significant power on wide / deep out-of-order exec), and some simpler ...
- 5,920
43
votes
Always show windows CPU monitor graphic in taskbar
I have 4 programs for you. All of them are free:
1. XMeters
Taskbar appearance:
Setting:
So far I'm satisfied with this program.
2. TrafficMonitor
Taskbar appearance:
Settings:
3. RAM CPU (+DISK) ...
- 2,051
43
votes
How do I install this weird looking i9 9900KF I bought?
There is a page on Amazon for an Intel BX80684I99900KF Intel Core i9-9900KF Desktop Processor 8 Cores up to 5.0 GHz Turbo Unlocked Without Processor Graphics LGA1151 300 Series 95W. There are 15 ...
- 13.5k
42
votes
What is the difference between rendering video on a high-end processor and a low-end processor?
Does i7 render better picture quality than dual core (Does Intel HD graphics matter which is used in both)?
No, it doesn't. They both render in the quality you tell them to, however, rendering is a ...
- 4,648
41
votes
Accepted
Is copying a lot of files bad for the CPU or computer in any way?
Damage to CPU – Minimal, if any
1a. CPUs are not heavily involved in file copies. The CPU's job is to tell the other hardware to do the transfer, and the actual transfer of 1s and 0s is left to other ...
- 983
39
votes
Accepted
If a CPU has a 16 bit address bus and 8 bit words, how much memory can it address?
A word, in the majority architectures, is the largest piece of data that can be transferred to and from the working memory in a single operation.
The largest possible address size, used to designate ...
- 10.1k
39
votes
Accepted
Is it safe to use a laptop if the CPU fan is failing?
Will it work? Sure. Is it "safe"? Maybe
Modern CPUs, especially mobile ones, feature thermal throttling in order to protect them from extreme temperatures. What this means is that if a fan fails ...
- 92.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible