Choosing The Right CPU For Your Device

Every computer needs a motherboard, and every motherboard needs a CPU. The CPU, which stands for Central Processing Unit, determines how much data a computer can handle at one time and how quickly it can handle that data. The main things to consider when buying a CPU are the number of cores needed, what the computer will be used for, the type of software to be run, processor compatibility, and the speed of the CPU.

You'll basically find three types of CPUs

• Desktop CPUs e.g. Intel and AMD etc.
• Mobile Processors e.g. Snapdragon, Eynos, MediaTek etc.
• Server Processors e.g. Intel Xeon, Opteron etc.

Getting to know the terms:

• Cores: A core is usually the basic computation unit of the CPU - it can run a single program context (or multiple ones if it supports hardware threads such as hyperthreading on Intel CPUs), maintaining the correct program state, registers, and correct execution order, and performing the operations through ALUs.
• Cache: A cache is a smaller, faster memory, closer to a processor core, which stores copies of the data from frequently used main memory locations. Most CPUs have different independent caches, including instruction and data caches, where the data cache is usually organized as a hierarchy of more cache levels (L1, L2, etc.).
• Socket Compatibilty: When building a computer around the processor, make sure that the motherboard is compatible with the existing processor.
• Frequency: The clock speed typically refers to the frequency at which a chip like a central processing unit (CPU), one core of a multi-core processor, is running and is used as an indicator of the processor's speed. The Hz ratings that are given to CPUs are measurements of speed. One hertz is one processor cycle per second, one kilohertz (1kHz) is 1,000 hertz per second, and one megahertz is 1,000,000 processor cycles per second. Therefore, a speed of 500MHz would mean that the processor is able to cycle data at a rate of 500,000,000 processor cycles per second.
• Integrated Graphics Processing Units (GPUs):
  any of today’s processors have integrated graphics processing units, which are designed to perform the calculations related to graphics. If a processor does not have an integrated GPU, the computer can still display graphics if a separate graphics card is present or if the motherboard offers onboard video.

Hyperthreading:  Hyper-threading is Intel's proprietary simultaneous multithreading implementation used to improve parallelization of computations performed on x86 microprocessors.

Turbo Boost: Intel® Turbo Boost Technology is a way to automatically run the processor core faster than the noted frequency. The processor must work in the power, temperature, and specification limits of the thermal design power (TDP).

Overclocking:Overclocking is configuration of computer hardware components to operate faster than certified by the original manufacturer, with "faster" specified as clock frequency in megahertz or gigahertz

Let's talk about general desktop processors.

When you're selecting a CPU for your home, office or business use you'll most probably go for Intel. But the models of Intel processors is quite ambiguous to choose. So, you need to have some idea about its architectures, generations and all. We'll discuss about AMD series too.

ARCHITECTURE OF INTEL SERIES:

The old chips, codenamed Haswell, are generally identifiable by their 4000-series model numbers or the “4^th generation Core” label. The desktop chips use socket 1150 motherboards. In general, we would recommend against considering these for new builds or purchases unless you can get a really good deal—Haswell is at the end of its life and Intel won’t be making new chips for its socket in the future. There are also a handful of 5000-series, 5^th-generation Broadwell desktop chips that use the same socket—Intel didn't do a full release of these CPUs because of manufacturing delays, so you'll find the majority of them in laptops instead.
The new chips, codenamed Skylake, have 6000-series model numbers and a “6^th generation Core” label. The desktop chips use socket 1151 motherboards, which is likely (not guaranteed, but likely) to see additional use in the upcoming Kaby Lake and Cannonlake architectures later this year and into next year. If you care at all about future-proofing, the small price premium is worth paying if you're building a desktop.

Celeron, Pentium, or Core?

There are a total of five separate processor brands that all share the Skylake architecture and the socket. I’ll list the high-level differences of each along with exceptions, and then we’ll get into model number suffixes.

Celerons and Pentiums

Both of these are budget brand names, and processors in both lines tend to be differentiated by clock speed and not much else. Skylake Pentiums are G4000-series chips, while Celerons are G3000-series. They’re all dual-core CPUs with no Turbo Boost, no Hyperthreading, and 3MB of cache, and they’re typically paired with the basic Intel HD 510 integrated GPU.

Core i3 CPUs are a little faster, but Pentiums will give most price-conscious people the best bang for their buck.

The new Pentium G4500-series chips get an Intel HD 530 GPU that’s quite a bit faster than the 510 (within the realm of integrated graphics, anyway).

Core i3

These CPUs are still dual-core but add Hyperthreading, which presents two logical processor cores to the operating system for every physical core. This can definitely help performance in multithreaded workloads, though it’s nowhere near the boost you’d get from moving to a quad-core CPU. Core i3-6100 CPUs include 3MB of cache while 6300-series chips include 4MB of cache; nearly all of them use the Intel HD 530 GPU.

Core i5

These are all quad-core CPUs without Hyperthreading, and they probably represent the best balance of price and performance for high-end users. They also use Intel’s Turbo Boost feature, which let the CPU run at higher clock speeds when there’s enough thermal headroom or when fewer cores are being actively used.

Not all workloads will benefit from two extra processor cores, but video editing, Photoshop work, and an increasingly large number of games are all happier with four cores. All of these CPUs include 6MB of cache and most of them have Intel HD 530 GPUs.



Core i7

These are best described as Core i5 chips with Hyperthreading, higher clock speeds, and and 8MB of cache. Otherwise they’re the same. As with Core i3 CPUs, Hyperthreading definitely does help performance in heavily threaded programs, but jumping from a Pentium or Core i3 to a Core i5 will get you a much larger performance bump than jumping from an i5 to an i7.

Suffixes:

T-series: These are low-power desktop chips with lower TDP values, which generally (but not always) translates into lower power consumption.
K-series: This relatively rare suffix denotes a multiplier-unlocked CPU that can be overclocked when paired with a high-end Intel Z170 chipset.
E-series: E is for “embedded,” which implies that these are mostly going to come with pre-built systems or soldered to motherboards
P-series: Back in the Core 2 days, a P-series chipset didn’t include an integrated GPU. Now, P-series chips just include slower integrated GPUs.

AMD Product Line:

AMD offers three unique lines of “APUs,” or Accelerated Processing Units. These designs combine a CPU and GPU onto the same chip, so motherboards with an APU design don’t need integrated graphics (like Intel’s soldered-on GPU options) or discrete graphics (via a conventional graphics card). APUs tend to be the less expensive options in AMD’s lineup, often intended for smaller and more energy-efficient machines.

Sempron APUs: Cheapest option for desktop computers
A-series APUs: Reasonably powerful, yet affordable system, with modest gaming capability
Athlon CPUs: Mid-range systems and budget gaming systems if a discrete graphics card is already available.
FX CPUs: FX series are the fastest and most powerful offered by the company. Easy overclocking these chips offer can make them appealing to hardcore enthusiasts.

So there you have it. Now let's talk about mobile processors.

Generally in mobiles SoC are implemented.  SoC or a System-on-a-Chip. The chips which power our smartphones are no longer just CPUs, but a CPU plus a GPU plus a memory controller plus a DSP plus a radio for GSM, 3G and 4G LTE comms, unlike desktop processors.

Currently in this world, these are some of the  major manufacturers that develop processors for mobile devices.

• Qualcomm with its premium Snapdragon range
• Samsung with its Exynos chips
• MediaTek with its MT and Helio processors; and 
• Huawei’s Kirin chips made by its subsidiary HiSilicon
• Intel with its Atom series

MediaTek Line up:

MediaTek’s most noteworthy chips are Helio X20, Helio X10, MT6595 and MT6592. MediaTek has provided cheaper and relatively efficient solutions for smartphone makers based out of Asia.

The Snapdragon Series:

The 200 series for low end phones, 400 for mid range, 600 for upper midrange and 800 for flagship devices. The Snapdragon 845 platform, Qualcomm’s latest 64-bit chipset, was revealed in Hawaii earlier in December. It’s built on Samsung’s 10nm LPP FinFET process technology and it’s is expected to power a number of 2018’s most powerful phones. A recent discovery in the Chromium repository suggests it may also power some of the next Chromebooks, too.

Exynos:
It is developed by Samsung. But in the US, Samsung continue to use Snapdragon chips in the US when their own Exynos chips perform better in benchmarks, because it is quite weak in radio performance compared to Qualcomm. Exynos 8 Octa 8890 Processor is the best in the series.