Processor

The processor, also called CPU (Central Processing Unit), is the part of a computer that does all calculations.

Processor Parts
The CPU resides on a chip called the microprocessor. Some important parts of a microprocessor:


 * ALU: Arithmetic Logic Unit for logic calculations.


 * Cache Memory: this is fast memory on the CPU chip itself. This speeds up calculations since otherwise the CPU would have to get all data from slower RAM memory. Cache memory can be L1 and/or L2 cache.


 * Registers: these are storage locations to store the data the CPU needs to work with. Most modern processors have a 64-bit address space, but many processors, especially older ones, are still 32-bit.