3.1 · Lesson 4 of 7
Cores and clock speed
Syllabus 3.1.4
What this lesson covers
- Explain how cores, cache and clock speed affect performance
Key vocabulary
- Core
- A processing unit inside the CPU that can fetch, decode and execute instructions independently.
- Multi-core processor
- A CPU with more than one core, so it can process several tasks at the same time.
- Clock
- Sends out regular pulses. Each pulse is one cycle, and the CPU works in time with them.
- Clock speed
- The number of cycles the CPU carries out per second.
- Hertz (Hz)
- The unit for clock speed: one cycle per second.
- Gigahertz (GHz)
- One billion (1,000,000,000) cycles per second.
Check your learning
- Quick check: 4 questions
- Key vocabulary test: 6 terms
- Activity 1: Which CPU is faster? · 8 questions
- Activity 2: Clock speed units · 8 questions
- Activity 3: Cores and clock speed quiz · 8 questions