Since the advent of multi-core technology such as dual-cores and quad-cores there is confusion regarding what a microprocessor consists of and what is the correct terminology. Here we analyze and compare
core vs cpu vs socket vs chip vs processor to define what each of these components or term represent.
Cores
Since standard microprocessors are starting to hit the heat barrier, switching and leakage power of several transistor chips are so large that cooling becomes a primary engineering effort and a commercial concern (
Note: For a given semiconductor process technology, power dissipation of a modern CPU is proportional to the third power of clock frequency). On the other hand, the necessity of an ever-increasing clock frequency is driven by the insight that architectural advances and growing cache sizes alone will not be sufficient to keep up. Processor vendors therefore started looking for a way out of this power-performance dilemma in the form of
multicore designs. Essentially a core comprises of a
logical execution unit containing an
L1 cache and
functional units. Cores can independently execute process threads.
Chips or Microprocessor or CPU
A
chip or
CPU chip refers to the actual
integrated circuit (IC) on a computer. A
chip mainly refers to execution unit that can be a single core technology or a multicore technology.
Sockets
