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Questions tagged [cpu]

CPU is the abbreviation for central processing unit. Sometimes referred to simply as the central processor, but more commonly called processor

1 vote
3 answers
2k views

How do binary numbers interact with the CPU and cause some action to take place? [duplicate]

EDIT: Perhaps what I am misunderstanding is that when it is said that the code we type gets turned into machine code of 0s and 1s. If these 0s and 1s are the abstracted representation of their ...
steez's user avatar
  • 31
-3 votes
1 answer
145 views

How to anticipate a software future where ARM (potentially) replaces x86 in server and PCs? [closed]

With the introduction of Apple M1 processor, ARM has stood up to be a capable competitor and an alternative to x86 processors. We can foresee a future where ARM captures considerable market share of ...
Shiva's user avatar
  • 113
-1 votes
1 answer
130 views

How to calculate the computing power gap of different CPUs

I want to compare the performance gap between the two machines, the main consideration here is memory and CPU. For example, the theoretical calculation peak of the CPU. Theoretical CPU peak = main ...
wei huang's user avatar
62 votes
10 answers
25k views

Does it ever make sense to use more concurrent processes than processor cores?

I've got some process in Go. Here's an example counting lines in text, though the question is meant to be far more general than this particular example: func lineCount(s string) int { count := 0 ...
TheEnvironmentalist's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
904 views

How does an OS limit a program capabilities, if it's working directly with the cpu?

When a program loads into memory and starts running, the cpu loads each instruction from the code and executes the instruction based on the opcode and the arguments, so, the program interracts so to ...
FLUSHER's user avatar
  • 176
8 votes
9 answers
8k views

Why is multithreading not used everywhere?

Not almost, but all modern CPUs have multiple cores, yet multithreading isn't really that common. Why to have these cores then? To execute several sequential programs at the same time? Well, when ...
Martian's user avatar
  • 225
-4 votes
1 answer
113 views

Where on the 64bit memory of a PC would one byte end up?

I have a simple question I think. A typical pc with ram has a 64bit databus between the cpu and ram. Let's say the ram starts at address 0, and I write i byte to address 0. Now my question is, would ...
user avatar
3 votes
7 answers
3k views

Is it possible to update exactly 1 byte in RAM?

For example I have a static C++ array {'d', 'o', 'c', 's'}. And I have x86 architecture, with 32-bits length words. I want to replace letter c with g. As far as I understand, when we make a read ...
No Name QA's user avatar
-3 votes
2 answers
249 views

How specific is hardware optimization when building from source/how do I know?

How specific is hardware optimization when building from source and what should I look for in the documentation to decide if building for my hardware might be worth it? From threads like this one I ...
Stonecraft's user avatar
-3 votes
5 answers
1k views

Why can't we vertically scale a system infinitely?

When talking about scaling a system, it's often said that vertical scaling has limitations. So after a point, we need to scale the system horizontally. What are the limitations of: Main memory - ...
NPE's user avatar
  • 121
1 vote
2 answers
1k views

How to speed up my software development workflow? I'm using Visual Studio 2019 to build, compile, run tests for dotnet, C#, Docker containers, etc

I am primarily working with C#, dotnet and Visual Studio 2019 with extensions like Resharper enabled. Visual Studio with Resharper is a memory hog. I currently have the following PC at home where I ...
miniGweek's user avatar
  • 127
-2 votes
2 answers
3k views

How are electrons moved in processors/CPU? [duplicate]

During our class, he posed the question 'How are electrons moved by code' for our own reflection, the question seems to be vague but I assumed how are electrons moved in a processor/CPU since we were ...
Monsi's user avatar
  • 23
-2 votes
1 answer
701 views

Does accessing RAM from 2 threads double access time (synchronous access)?

As in topic. If i want to access RAM from 2 different threads, completly different cells in memory, do they queue and are sent asynchronously or queue? Lets say accessing memory from one thread (...
drszmatan's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

How is it possible for a process to use less than 100% CPU?

I don't know too terrible much about the CPU, but I know it processes assembly instructions and that Windows can say that it is at anywhere from 1-100% usage. How is it possible for a program to use ...
Fishy's user avatar
  • 165
3 votes
1 answer
452 views

What are the restrictions for the CPU when it is in user mode?

I know that when the CPU is in user mode, it can't access all memory, it also can't execute some CPU instructions (called "privileged instructions" I believe). But are these two restrictions the only ...
Christopher's user avatar
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