CPU Type
From Unofficial BOINC Wiki
[edit] General
A Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the part of a computer that actually executes the instructions within any programs that are loaded on that computer. While special-purpose CPUs exist, for functions such as running your microwave oven or your cellular phone, we are concerned here with "General Purpose" CPUs. (There isn't a version of BOINC for microwave ovens or cel phones. Yet.)
General Purpose CPUs fall into several "families", based on their history - for example, most current Intel and AMD CPUs commonly used in Microsoft Windows® and Linux based PCs can trace the history of their instruction sets back to the Intel 8086 CPU, and are referred to as being in the "x86 Family". Because most Intel and AMD brand CPUs share this common core instruction set, programs can be written that will run interchangeably on either "brand" of CPU. Because the PowerPC chip used in most Apple Macintosh computers does not share this history, a program written for "x86" will not run on a PowerPC based computer, and vice-versa.
Within a processor "family", there may be many different CPU models, each with different characteristics. Each year or so, new members come out in each "family", usually faster and less expensive than the ones from only a few years earlier. Such CPUs may also have differences or expansions in the instruction sets they run, allowing new software to take advantage of these new features, while still reliably running older software. This allows for program Optimization.
Examples of common CPU Types include:
- Intel Pentium
- AMD Athlon
- PowerPC
