Pääsuoritin

Pääsuoritin, often referred to as the CPU (Central Processing Unit), is the primary component of a computer responsible for executing instructions and performing calculations. It is essentially the "brain" of the computer, carrying out all the fundamental logic, control, and arithmetic operations. The performance of a computer is largely determined by the capabilities of its pääsuoritin.

Key functions of the pääsuoritin include fetching instructions from memory, decoding them into actions the processor can understand, executing those actions, and then writing the results back to memory. This continuous cycle, known as the fetch-decode-execute cycle, happens billions of times per second. The speed at which this cycle occurs is measured in clock speed, typically in gigahertz (GHz).

Modern pääsuorittimet often contain multiple cores, allowing them to handle several tasks simultaneously, significantly enhancing multitasking capabilities. They also include cache memory, a small amount of very fast memory located directly on the processor, which stores frequently used data and instructions to speed up access times. The architecture and design of the pääsuoritin, including its instruction set and the number of transistors it contains, are critical factors in its overall efficiency and power.