Explain?

[AntimatterAsh]

Right, so I want to learn more about processors, but I don't know where to start. I found a diagram of the i7 die:

but this has not really helped. I know what cores are, but what are the other things like the Queue and Cache for? Also... how does Hyper Threading actually work without decreasing how the physical cores shown function?

 

[AntimatterAsh]

Sorry if this is inappropriate for this topic.

 

[Geoff]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpu

 

[jonnyp11]

Right, so I want to learn more about processors, but I don't know where to start. I found a diagram of the i7 die:

but this has not really helped. I know what cores are, but what are the other things like the Queue and Cache for? Also... how does Hyper Threading actually work without decreasing how the physical cores shown function?

I believe the Queue is there to send the instruction set to the proper core so one isn't overloaded and backing up.

The cache is the on chip memory, it stores the instruction sets that will be used and other things that need to be stored on chip.

Not sure what you mean by the last question. A core can process so much information at a time, and a thread can pass so much information along at a time. We are at the point where a core is faster than the threading, so they add a second set of threads so it can function at full capacity, as long as the program supports that many threads.

 

[Cromewell]

For hyperthreading: http://www.computerforum.com/15682-hyper-threading.html#post102310

The queue is exactly what it sounds like. It's a queue of instructions to run next.

Cache is already covered