Difference between CPU and processor
- Thread starter pluto2
- Start date
- Status
So does a four-socket motherboard like Socket 604 have 4 CPUs?
Yes. And of course you can now get dual and quad core CPU's, several processors on the same chip.
soadfreak2005
Registered Member
CPU = Central Processing Unit... Therefore, CPU is the same shit as Processor
Dude, that's just not correct.
Some computers have used separate processors for mathematical operations, such as floating point calculations to speed up processing, but that was optional. They were offered with 386 processors, probably the most prevalent offering.
A GPU is a separate Graphics Processor, ie, a video card.
Oh, and learn to spell.
yes i know the 386's had them. I used to have one
And as for for the GPU being graphics, a) what difference does that make?
and b) i THINK you are wrong, i belive if i rember the thread right that its was called the GAMES proccessing unit but thats nither here nor there.
Its still a proccessor which is what was asked
I don't think we can say a processor is the same thing as a CPU. It used to be, but nowadays we have processors for other functions (like the GPU) and even multiple processors on a single chip. I'd call the chip as a whole the CPU and the 4 cores processors.
But who cares, it's just semantics.
But who cares, it's just semantics.
yeah. socket is something that something gets plugged into.
It takes the load of the CPU if the application is graphically intensive, allowing the CPU to do the maths, disk IO, networking etc etc.
Er, no, I'm not wrong, you are. This isn't your field of expertise, is it?
A GPU is not a CPU.
But a GPU is a processor.
yes i know the 386's had them. I used to have one
And as for for the GPU being graphics, a) what difference does that make?
and b) i THINK you are wrong, i belive if i rember the thread right that its was called the GAMES proccessing unit but thats nither here nor there.
Its still a proccessor which is what was asked
GPU stands for graphical processing unit..not game processing unit.
Iirc, gpu's have (least experimentally) been used as an auxiliary fpu (floating point unit, aka math coprocessor) for computation intensive apps. "Number crunching"
Fpu's are integrated in all modern processors. Infact if memory serves, fpu's were integrated into _all_ processors starting with the 386's, but in the 386 and 486 SX's it was deliberately disabled for marketing reasons. Well, some were. What intel did was take the culls with bad fpu's and market them as SX's. Then when the demand for the less expensive SX's grew they 'killed' the onchip 387 fpu on some DX's to make more SX's. Of course you could always buy an external 387.
Fpu's are integrated in all modern processors. Infact if memory serves, fpu's were integrated into _all_ processors starting with the 386's, but in the 386 and 486 SX's it was deliberately disabled for marketing reasons. Well, some were. What intel did was take the culls with bad fpu's and market them as SX's. Then when the demand for the less expensive SX's grew they 'killed' the onchip 387 fpu on some DX's to make more SX's. Of course you could always buy an external 387.
Nah, DEC held that title for many years, Sun are Johnny come latelies, they haven't always lead.
DEC had VMS, which was groundbreaking, and then the 64bit Alpha chip, on which you could run VMS, Ultrix, or NT4. No other platform offered such flexibility at the time.
Exactly it does not sum it up that way! The CPU is the CENTRAL processor, not a secondary maths or graphics unit. We're not complicating matters mentioning ALU or GPU, those need to be explained, esp to Assguard, who thinks they have something to do with games, ....
sure, if you want to limit it to CPU's then why didnt the operning post say "are CPU's, CPUs?" because it would have been redundent thats why. A CPU is a TYPE of proccessor, wether a GPU is a game proccessing unit or a graphics one is beside the point. They are another type of proccessor.
- Status