What is Central Processing Unit(CPU)?

Central Processing Unit (CPU), also known as a processor or microprocessor, was first developed by Intel in 1974. Many users erroneously refer to the whole computer box as the CPU. In fact, the CPU itself is only about 1.5 inches square. It is a microchip that is installed on a motherboard and considered as the brain of computer which is responsible for handling all instructions and calculation it receives from other hardware components in the computer and software programs running on the computer. Without the CPU, you wouldn't be able to play games, type research papers, or surf the Internet.

CPU is available with different numbers of cores such as dual (2 cores) and quad (4 cores). This allows the work a computer performs to be divided up between each core, usually making the PC run faster overall. They are also available with different speeds and amounts of cache. A processor with a slower speed may be faster than one with a faster speed if it has more cores.

See: Motherboard, Memory, Mass Storage Device, Input Device, Output Device, BIOS