How many of you guys actually know how a CPU works?

[Guilty Baby]

I sure don't. It's super complicated and I don't get how a series of circuits flashing can calculate math. We're supposed to be "computer geeks", yet most of us only know the products. Sometimes I think we're just good at shopping, lol.

 

Anybody actually know and isn't as dumb as I am? Admittedly I never bothered to research it properly.

[Godlygamer23]

I know how CPUs work, but still understanding how semiconductors function.

[ADZ_123_!"£]

I understand it a bit.

[wyattzx]

0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1.....

[TheProfosist]

Well how cpu's work is actually a very complex question. The first thing you have to start out with is the question "At what level?". There are many things between the OS and transistors on the CPU.

I will say that I'm not really qualified to explain it either.

[Speaker1264]

Electricity gets sucked up from the outlet attached to your wall, and cool images pop up onto your screen.  What more is there to know?

[Godlygamer23]

Electricity gets sucked up from the outlet attached to your wall, and cool images pop up onto your screen.  What more is there to know?

So my PC is a vacuum sucking up electricity and vomiting stuff onto my screen?

[ZetZet]

0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1.....

actually that's way too far in.

 

off, on, off, off, off, on, on, off, on... is more like it.

[spenser_l]

This is a pretty good book to read if you want to gain a much deeper understanding of how a computer works, including the CPU:  http://www.amazon.ca/Structured-Computer-Organization-6th-Edition/dp/0132916525

 

If you don't want to buy it, it's pretty simple to find a PDF online.

 

It was apart of a computer architecture course I took, and although it's a dense read, I felt it was pretty comprehensive.

[Bogica]

I had a subject about PC architecture and I passed, but I still don't fully know how it works. It gets really complicated.

[AlwaysFSX]

Someone here has to remember the name of the guy who designed his own simple CPU. It was the best explanation of how it works.

[Speaker1264]

So my PC is a vacuum sucking up electricity and vomiting stuff onto my screen?

 

Yup, and then there is this series of tubes called the internet.

[szomeret]

I don't think there exists even a single person who understands any modern CPU (in its entirety).

[EIijah]

To a certain level I guess, or at least the theory behind it

[Nomy]

Never thought about it and have no clue about it.

To me it has always been this little magical chip which I hold in my hand as Excalibur and then place into it's stone(motherboard).

For I am Arthur, king of the make my PC work damn you!

[AlwaysFSX]

I don't think there exists even a single person who understands any modern CPU (in its entirety).

If that were true then there wouldn't be any further development in architecture..

[harrynowl]

Well the series of circuits 'flashing' calculate math as each state of the semi-conductor (on or off) represents a binary digit (1,0). Then instructions can take care of the rest. You can arrange transistors to make various gates for certain types of output based on the input; a good way to get a visible demonstration is Redstone on MineCraft.

 

Then there are parts of the CPU that do some crazy maths such as the ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit)and FPU (Floating-point Unit).

[Godlygamer23]

Never thought about it and have no clue about it.

To me it has always been this little magical chip which I hold in my hand as Excalibur and then place into it's stone(motherboard).

For I am Arthur, king of the make my PC work damn you!

Calling on the power of Zeus to make it all work.

If that were true then there wouldn't be any further development in architecture..

Certain people though may focus on certain aspects of the CPU architecture.

[Blebekblebek]

ofcourse we know

 

[AlwaysFSX]

Certain people though may focus on certain aspects of the CPU architecture.

Someone has to know it all otherwise I doubt they could really piece it together.

[Guest trucker2]

A good book is "inside the PC"  and a great place to start is to try understanding the 8088 and older cpus. Funny thing the term registers is borrowed from the mechanical calculater. I failed to fully understand the subject matter but just the attempt will help you smell some of the BS better

[szomeret]

If that were true then there wouldn't be any further development in architecture..

That's not how it works. You work on a small set of components, like an ALU or a branch predictor. You use a standard cell library, which the function you may understand completely. But you won't know how each transistor is actually being manufactured, just that it operates as a "AND" or some other logic unit. The number of people who do component design and those that do standard cell design have a small overlap.

There are smaller processors, with awful performance, that could be completely understood by one person. But in the time it'd take anyone one person to become intimately acquainted with a modern x86 processor, said processor would no longer be modern.

[chamath]

Basic element is the transistor. You can make gates like NOT, AND, OR etc. from that. Then combining gates you can make bit adders, memory storages, binary shifting and respective components. then there are some other CPU architectures which mention about CPU registers and other things which will perform calculations (Little man computer or LMC). 

 

Then intel and other companies improved LMC and made processors

 

Thats what I heard of

[yuh25]

I just finished a computer architecture subject at uni, so I have some idea how the MIPS architecture works but that's it. I even made my own 4-bit adder in Minecraft a few years ago.

[slightlyjaded]

I understand the hardware part, i understand the software part (at need i can function as a sparky if I have a wiring diagram, and I can code in basic, C++ and java)

I can't wrap my head around the interface though.