Processors
The brain of the PC is a processor, which performs all instructions and data processing. Processor varies in speed and capacity of memory and their front side bus. A front side bus transfers data between the processor memory and external devices and in effect manages the traffic.
In order to grasp the differences between the processor models sold in the market today there are few important things you need to understand, like cache level 2 (L2)/level 3 (L3), front side bus (FSB), and clock speed. Without boring you with all the details, a cache is a block of memory for temporary storage inside the processor. If a processor were a highway, this would be the number of lanes of traffic data can travel. A lower cache means the transfer performance is likely to get more back up, while a greater cache allows the processor to continue moving at a brisk pace. The path where the information is transferred through the data and address buses is the FSB. FSB’s are labeled in megahertz so, a lower FSB will cause the processor to spend enormous amount of time to transfer data to and from the system memory. By choosing the type of processor you plan to put in your computer, you can narrow down your choices and trim things down.