CPUs

All of today's desktop CPU benchmarks compared, including Intel's 13th-Gen Core series and AMD's Ryzen Zen 4 and Threadripper.

What does a PC cache do? The meaning of a CPU's cache explained.

What does APU mean? AMD's accelerated processing units explained, including Picasso, Raven Ridge and the upcoming Renoir and Dali.

What is the meaning of a core? CPU cores explained.

What is the meaning of a CPU socket? Intel and CPU sockets explained.

What is an AMD CPU’s CCX? AMD core complexes explained.

What is the meaning of an FPGA? FPGAs and the difference between an FPGA, ASIC and GPU explained.

Intel has released several iterations of architectures with Lake in the name the past few years. We'll decipher them at a high level and clear up confusion.

What is the meaning of IHS? Integrated heat spreaders explained.

What is the meaning of delidding? CPU delidding explained.

What is the meaning of binning? CPU, GPU and RAM binning explained.

What is the meaning of a CPU's IPC? Instruction per cycle/clock explained.

What is the meaning of clock speed? PC clock speed explained.

What is the meaning of Hyper-Threading? Intel Hyper-Threading explained.

We list all currently available Intel processors, separated by CPU product line (e.g. Core i5), and divided by generation (e.g. Kaby Lake).

We list all currently available AMD processors, separated by socket (e.g. AM4), and divided by APU & CPU product lines (e.g. A8 & Ryzen 5).

We test five theoretical Intel CPUs in 10 different DirectX 11-based games to determine what impact core count has on performance.

Learn the pros and cons of overclocking your CPU, the physics behind changing your clock rate and the basics of overclocking an Intel or AMD processor.

If you thought that buying and unpacking an expensive infrared camera was all that it took to perform professional-level measurements, then it's time for a little lesson. We’ll share some of the knowledge that goes into generating accurate results.

ARM's Cortex-A72 CPU adds power and performance optimizations to the previous A57 design. Here's an in-depth look at the changes to each stage in the pipeline, from better branch prediction to next-gen execution units.