Types of CPU

Types of CPU
There are two main desktop CPU manufacturers, they are Intel and AMD. Both of these companies have a power CPU and a Budget CPU. The Power CPU's are the Core i7 from Intel and the Phenom II X4 and Phenom II X6 from AMD. The budget CPU's are the Celeron from Intel and the Sempron from AMD. Price is a big factor between these CPU's. Check the latest prices of these CPU's below.


AMD Athlon II X2
AMD Athlon II X4
AMD Phenom II X2
AMD Phenom II X4
AMD X2 (Dual core CPU)
AMD Phenom X3
AMD Phenom Quad
AMD Phenom II X6
AMD Sempron
Intel Core 2 Duo
Intel Core 2 Quad
Intel Celeron
Intel Celeron 2
Intel Core i3
Intel Core i5
Intel Core i7


Socket Types

Each range of CPU fits into a specific socket on your motherboard. motherboards are design with one socket type and cannot be made to take another. Socket types changes quite rapidly, a socket change usually happens when a new breed of CPU surfaces. A new CPU with a new layout requires to connect to the motherboard differently and so a new socket type is released on motherboards to handle the new CPU's correctly. Even if a CPU fits into a motherboards CPU socket Physically, there is no guarantee this will work. Always check the motherboards documentation for supported CPU's before making a purchase.

Socket Type	Compatible Processors
Socket 7	Original Pentiums, Cyrix 686, Cyrix MII, K6, K6-2 and K6-III
Socket 370	Intel Celeron, Intel PIII (not Cartridge), Cyrix III
Slot 1	Intel PII, Intel PIII (cartridge only)
Slot A	AMD Athlon (Cartridge only)
Socket A	AMD Athlon Thunderbird (not Cartridge), AMD Duron, AMD Athlon XP
Socket 423	Intel P4
Socket 478	Intel P4 (2nd Gen)
754-Pin Socket	Athlon 64
940-Pin Socket	Athlon 64-fx, Opteron
Socket AM2	Athlon 64 FX, Athlon X2
Socket 603 / 604	Intel Xeon
Socket T	Intel Pentium 4, Pentium Extreme, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo
LGA 771	Xeon
PAC418 / 611	Intel Itanium
Socket 775	Core 2 duo, Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Quad
Socket AM2+	Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX-62, Athlon 64 X2, Sempron, Sempron LE
Socket AM3	Athlon 64 X2, Phenom X2 / X3 / X4, Sempron, Sempron LE, Opteron, Phenom II
Socket F	Phenom, Opteron (Server range)
Socket LGA 1156	Intel Celeron Dual-Core, Intel Core i3 Intel Core i5, Intel Core i7, Intel Pentium Dual-Core, Intel Xeon
Socket LGA1366	Intel Core i7, Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition, Intel Xeon

The CPU's Cache


The Cache on the CPU is a small amount of very fast memory which is situated on the CPU. the cache memory is very expensive which is why its available in very limited amounts. The CPU cache acts as the repeated memory storage for data that the CPU requires frequently. Having more on-die cache speeds up processing as the CPU doesn't have to wait to retrieve data from the main memory, which in computing terms is very slow compared to the cache. It ranges from about 64Kb to 4Mb and soon larger cache chips will be coming. For more information on CPU cache and how it works we have just the article.How does CPU cache work.