CompTIA A+ Complete Study Guide

1.2. Identifying Purposes and Characteristics of Processors

Now that you've learned the basics of the motherboard, you need to learn about the most important component on the motherboard: the CPU. The role of the CPU, or central processing unit, is to control and direct all the activities of the computer using both external and internal buses. It is a processor chip consisting of an array of millions of transistors. Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are the two largest PC-compatible CPU manufacturers. Their chips were featured earlier in Table 1.1 during the discussion of the sockets and slots in which they fit.

NOTE

The term chip has grown to describe the entire package that a technician might install in a socket. However, the word originally ...