What’s on a processor die, and why you need to know
At the heart of your processor is the section that
takes the data and runs the x86-64 instruction
set over it – WKLVGHÀQHVWKH3&7KLVLVWKH
PLFURDUFKLWHFWXUH$URXQGWKLVVLWVDKRVWRIRWKHU
transistors, the caches, memory controller, I/O
controller, possibly on-board graphics, and
PRUH What was once spread out across a
PRWKHUERDUGKDVPLJUDWHGLQWRWKHVLOLFRQ7KH
PLFURDUFKLWHFWXUHGHÀQHVWKHDELOLWLHVHIÀFLHQF\
and ultimately the powerofyourchipand
V\VWHP:HDUHQRWJRLQJWR GHOYH LQWR WKH LQQHU
workings of the actualexecutionunitshere,so
\RXDUHVSDUHGWKHEORFNGLDJUDPV$QG ZH·UH
going to skip over mobile,embedded,andserver
offerings, too, otherwisewe’dneedthewhole
PDJD]LQHIRUWKLV%XWLI \RX·UH JRLQJ WR SLFN
the right chip, you needtoknowexactly
what you are getting.June 2019 | |^55
Windows 10
Understanding CPUs