What is a microprocessor?
Microprocessor (or just processor) is the central and most complex integrated circuit of a computer system; way of illustration, he is usually associated by analogy as the "brain" of a computer. It is an integrated circuit made by millions of electronic components. It is the central processing unit (CPU) of a PC microcomputer listed as.
It is responsible for implementing programs; from the operating system to user applications; only executes programmed in low-level language instructions, doing simple things such as add, subtract, multiply, divide, binary logic and memory accesses arithmetic and logical operations.
Evolution.
The 4004 was the world's first microprocessor, created in a single chip, and developed by Intel. It was a 4-bit CPU and was also the first available commercially. This development prompted the Busicom calculator and gave way to the way to provide "intelligence" to inanimate objects as well as the personal computer.
Initially coded as 1201, was asked Intel for Computer Terminal Corporation for use in its programmable terminal Datapoint 2200, but because Intel finished the project late and did not meet the expectations of Computer Terminal Corporation, was not ultimately used in the Datapoint . Subsequently Computer Terminal Corporation and Intel agreed that the i8008 could be sold to other customers.
The SC / MP developed by National Semiconductor, was one of the first microprocessor, which became available since the beginning of 1974 the name SC / MP (popularly known as "Scamp") is an acronym for Simple Cost-effective Micro Processor (Single Chip and cost). Presents an address bus and 16-bit data bus 8 bits. One feature, advanced for its time, is the ability to release the buses so they can be shared by multiple processors. This microprocessor was widely used for its low cost and provided in kits for educational purposes, research and development of various industrial controllers.
THE 8080 became the CPU of the first personal computer, the MITS Altair 8800, allegedly, based on a named destination 'Starship' Starship television show Star Trek.
Is manufactured by Motorola, the Motorola MC6800, known as 6800 he was released shortly after the Intel 8080 its name from containing about 6800 transistors.
Zilog Inc. The company creates the Zilog Z80. It is an 8-bit microprocessor built in NMOS technology and was based on the Intel 8080 is basically an extension of it, which supports all your instructions.
- 1978: The Intel 8086 and 8088
A sale made by Intel to the new personal computer division of IBM, made the IBM PC Business laid great hit with the new product with the 8088, called the IBM PC. The success of 8088 propelled Intel to the list of the top 500 companies in the Fortune magazine, and named it as one of the company's commercial triumphs of the sixties.
The 80286, popularly known as 286, was the first Intel processor that could run all the software written for its predecessor. This software compatibility remains a hallmark of Intel family of microprocessors. After 6 years of its introduction, there were an estimated 15 million 286-based PC, installed around the world.
Generating 486 really meant to have a personal computer of advanced features, including an optimized instruction set, a floating point unit, or FPU, an improved interface unit bus and a unified cache, all integrated into one's own microprocessor chip.
It is a RISC processor technology 32-bit, 50 and 66MHz. Its design used the bus interface of the Motorola 88110 In 1991, IBM seeks an alliance with Apple and Motorola to boost the creation of the microprocessor, the AIM (Apple, IBM and Motorola) alliance emerges whose aim was to remove the domain to Microsoft and Intel were based on 80386 and 80486 systems.
The Pentium microprocessor had an architecture capable of executing two operations at once, thanks to its two 32-bit data pipeline each one equivalent to the 486DX and 486SX equivalent to. Furthermore, it was equipped with a data bus of 64 bits, and allowed access to 64-bit memory (though still keeping the processor 32-bit support for internal operations, and records were also 32 bits).
- 1995: The Intel Pentium Pro
Launched in fall 1995, the Pentium Pro (professional) processor was designed with a 32-bit architecture. It was used in servers and software and workstation applications (networking) quickly boosted their integration into computers. The yield on the 32-bit code was excellent, but the Pentium Pro was often slower than a Pentium when running code or 16-bit operating systems. The Pentium Pro processor was composed of about 5.5 million transistors.
A processor of 7.5 million transistors, it searches the fundamental changes from its predecessor, improving performance in the execution of 16-bit code, add the MMX instruction set and eliminate the second-level cache kernel processor, putting it on a printed circuit board next to it. Thanks to the new design of this processor, PC users can capture, review and share digital photos with friends and family via Internet; review and add text, music and other; with a phone line; sending video over ordinary phone lines using Internet becomes commonplace.
Continuing, Intel strategy in the development of processors for specific market segments, the Celeron processor is the name given to the line Intel inexpensive. The objective was to power through this second brand, penetrate markets prevented the Pentium, higher performance and price. It is designed to add value to the segment of the PC market. It gave consumers a great performance at a low cost, and delivered an outstanding performance for applications such as games and educational software.
- 2008: The Intel Core Nehalem
Intel Core i7 processor family is a quad-core Intel architecture x86-64. The Core i7 processors are the first that use Intel Nehalem microarchitecture and is the successor to the Intel Core 2 family FSB is replaced by QuickPath interface i5 and i7 (socket 1366) and in turn replaced i7, i5 and i3 (Socket 1156) by DMI northBrige removed and implementing the PCI Express ports directly.
AMD Fusion is the codename for future microprocessor design Turion product of the merger between AMD and ATI, combining with the overall performance of the processor, 3D geometry processing and other functions of modern GPUs. The GPU (graphics processor) will be integrated into the microprocessor itself.
