WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.090 --> 00:00:00.923 In this lesson, 2 00:00:00.923 --> 00:00:03.540 we're going to talk about CPU architectures. 3 00:00:03.540 --> 00:00:06.030 Now, the CPU or central processing unit, 4 00:00:06.030 --> 00:00:08.550 which is normally just referred to as the processor, 5 00:00:08.550 --> 00:00:10.950 is the device that's going to be the brains of your computer 6 00:00:10.950 --> 00:00:13.140 and it's used to execute the different program code 7 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:15.810 that exists within your software or firmware. 8 00:00:15.810 --> 00:00:18.570 This tells the computer exactly how to do its job 9 00:00:18.570 --> 00:00:20.850 for whatever type of function you want to do. 10 00:00:20.850 --> 00:00:23.940 Essentially, the CPU is going to perform the basic operations 11 00:00:23.940 --> 00:00:25.770 on each and every instruction. 12 00:00:25.770 --> 00:00:28.170 The CPU is first going to fetch that instruction, 13 00:00:28.170 --> 00:00:30.180 take the next instruction in the sequence 14 00:00:30.180 --> 00:00:31.620 from the system memory 15 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:33.810 or the cache inside of the processor, 16 00:00:33.810 --> 00:00:36.690 which is essentially a very high-speed type of memory. 17 00:00:36.690 --> 00:00:38.850 Then, the control unit or processor 18 00:00:38.850 --> 00:00:41.280 is going to be able to decode each of those instructions 19 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:42.660 and then either execute it 20 00:00:42.660 --> 00:00:44.700 or pass it on to a secondary unit 21 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:46.650 that's going to help it do that process. 22 00:00:46.650 --> 00:00:48.570 For example, in a lot of processors, 23 00:00:48.570 --> 00:00:50.850 there are things like a floating point unit 24 00:00:50.850 --> 00:00:52.620 or an arithmetic logic unit, 25 00:00:52.620 --> 00:00:54.690 and these can be used to do different instructions 26 00:00:54.690 --> 00:00:55.800 based on the type of code 27 00:00:55.800 --> 00:00:57.900 and the type of instruction being run. 28 00:00:57.900 --> 00:00:59.520 Then, once the processor is done 29 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:01.470 doing the execution of that instruction, 30 00:01:01.470 --> 00:01:04.080 it's going to send that information back to the register, 31 00:01:04.080 --> 00:01:06.450 cache, or memory, so that it can be stored 32 00:01:06.450 --> 00:01:07.770 and used later on by the system 33 00:01:07.770 --> 00:01:09.120 later on during the program 34 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:11.400 or present its output to the user 35 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:13.260 for them to be able to take action on. 36 00:01:13.260 --> 00:01:15.210 This is the basic way that processors work 37 00:01:15.210 --> 00:01:17.940 in the motherboard and inside of your computer. 38 00:01:17.940 --> 00:01:20.040 Now, as we look at the processor itself, 39 00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:21.960 it has its own architecture. 40 00:01:21.960 --> 00:01:23.610 And similar to the way that the motherboard 41 00:01:23.610 --> 00:01:26.190 has a form factor that defines what it can do, 42 00:01:26.190 --> 00:01:28.320 the processor's architecture is going to define 43 00:01:28.320 --> 00:01:30.750 what capabilities that processor has. 44 00:01:30.750 --> 00:01:32.400 There are three main architectures 45 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:33.480 that you're going to come across 46 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:35.340 in the field as a technician. 47 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:38.130 The first one is known as X86. 48 00:01:38.130 --> 00:01:41.970 Now, X86 is also sometimes called the IA-32 49 00:01:41.970 --> 00:01:45.510 or Intel architecture 32-bit instruction set. 50 00:01:45.510 --> 00:01:48.840 This is because X86 was originally developed by Intel 51 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:50.160 with some of the first PCs 52 00:01:50.160 --> 00:01:53.280 all the way back in the 1970s and 1980s. 53 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:55.380 Over time, computers went from being 8-bit, 54 00:01:55.380 --> 00:01:58.620 to 16-bit, to 32-bit, and all along the way, 55 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:00.810 Intel created this backwards compatibility 56 00:02:00.810 --> 00:02:01.980 and all of those systems 57 00:02:01.980 --> 00:02:05.580 became known as this X86 generation of processors. 58 00:02:05.580 --> 00:02:07.230 And this is because the first processors 59 00:02:07.230 --> 00:02:08.790 used in computers by Intel 60 00:02:08.790 --> 00:02:11.040 was called the 8086 series. 61 00:02:11.040 --> 00:02:13.470 And the next one became the 286 series, 62 00:02:13.470 --> 00:02:16.470 then 386, then 486, then 586, 63 00:02:16.470 --> 00:02:17.303 and then at that point 64 00:02:17.303 --> 00:02:19.170 they shifted over to using brand names, 65 00:02:19.170 --> 00:02:23.010 things like Celeron or Pentium, and things like that. 66 00:02:23.010 --> 00:02:24.810 Either way, though, all of these devices 67 00:02:24.810 --> 00:02:27.810 originally were X86 processors, 68 00:02:27.810 --> 00:02:29.460 and it kept that way all the way up 69 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:32.160 until we got to 64-bit processors. 70 00:02:32.160 --> 00:02:34.770 Once we moved into a 64-bit processor, 71 00:02:34.770 --> 00:02:37.710 we started calling this an X64 processor 72 00:02:37.710 --> 00:02:39.930 or X64 architecture. 73 00:02:39.930 --> 00:02:42.930 Now, anytime you see X64 as the instruction set, 74 00:02:42.930 --> 00:02:45.930 this means that we have now extended the X86 75 00:02:45.930 --> 00:02:47.730 or 32-bit instruction set 76 00:02:47.730 --> 00:02:50.520 to be able to support 64-bit operations. 77 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:52.080 This is an important thing to understand 78 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:54.870 because when you're dealing with 32-bit processors, 79 00:02:54.870 --> 00:02:57.060 which are X86 processors, 80 00:02:57.060 --> 00:02:59.250 they can only support a maximum amount of memory 81 00:02:59.250 --> 00:03:01.050 of four gigabytes of RAM. 82 00:03:01.050 --> 00:03:02.370 They physically cannot address 83 00:03:02.370 --> 00:03:04.140 anything higher than four gigabytes 84 00:03:04.140 --> 00:03:07.050 because there's only 32 bits available for addressing. 85 00:03:07.050 --> 00:03:09.360 And if you take 2 to the 32nd power, 86 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.760 you get about 4 billion bits, 87 00:03:11.760 --> 00:03:13.740 which is about four gigabytes. 88 00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:15.540 So you can see why it was important for us 89 00:03:15.540 --> 00:03:17.610 to move beyond the X86 processor 90 00:03:17.610 --> 00:03:19.230 because four gigabytes of RAM 91 00:03:19.230 --> 00:03:21.510 is really not a lot in modern systems. 92 00:03:21.510 --> 00:03:22.470 In fact, that would be considered 93 00:03:22.470 --> 00:03:24.720 a very low memory system these days. 94 00:03:24.720 --> 00:03:27.630 Most computers are going to have 8, 16, 32, 95 00:03:27.630 --> 00:03:29.820 or even 64 gigabytes of RAM 96 00:03:29.820 --> 00:03:31.380 as their main system memory. 97 00:03:31.380 --> 00:03:33.120 And to be able to address all of that, 98 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:35.610 you need to move into a 64-bit instruction set 99 00:03:35.610 --> 00:03:38.130 using an X64 processor. 100 00:03:38.130 --> 00:03:40.050 Oftentimes, you'll hear this referred to 101 00:03:40.050 --> 00:03:44.340 based on their brand name, either AMD64 or Intel 64, 102 00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:46.050 depending on which model is being made 103 00:03:46.050 --> 00:03:47.430 by which manufacturer. 104 00:03:47.430 --> 00:03:50.610 But they are both considered X64-based architectures 105 00:03:50.610 --> 00:03:52.560 for that particular processor. 106 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:54.000 Now, another important thing to remember 107 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.670 when it comes to 64-bit versus 32-bit 108 00:03:56.670 --> 00:03:58.500 is the fact that 32-bit systems 109 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:00.840 can only run 32-bit programs 110 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:04.710 but 64-bit processors can run 64-bit programs 111 00:04:04.710 --> 00:04:06.330 and 32-bit programs 112 00:04:06.330 --> 00:04:08.760 because they are fully backwards compatible. 113 00:04:08.760 --> 00:04:09.660 For this reason, 114 00:04:09.660 --> 00:04:11.670 most systems you're going to come across these days 115 00:04:11.670 --> 00:04:14.310 are going to be X64-based processors 116 00:04:14.310 --> 00:04:17.190 because that is heavily used in the PC market 117 00:04:17.190 --> 00:04:20.610 and supported widely by Windows and all of its variants. 118 00:04:20.610 --> 00:04:23.010 Now, the third type of processor you may come across 119 00:04:23.010 --> 00:04:25.800 is what's known as an ARM processor. 120 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:28.560 ARM stands for the advanced RISC machines 121 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:30.480 and RISC is actually an acronym itself, 122 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:32.340 that's spelled R-I-S-C, 123 00:04:32.340 --> 00:04:35.190 which is the reduced instruction set computer. 124 00:04:35.190 --> 00:04:36.990 Now, ARM for a long time was used 125 00:04:36.990 --> 00:04:38.220 for low-power devices, 126 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:41.010 things like tablets and cell phones and things like that. 127 00:04:41.010 --> 00:04:43.020 But back in the early 2020s, 128 00:04:43.020 --> 00:04:45.450 Apple decided to release a new series of processors 129 00:04:45.450 --> 00:04:47.310 for their desktops and laptops 130 00:04:47.310 --> 00:04:49.080 that used ARM chips as well 131 00:04:49.080 --> 00:04:51.030 and these are known as the M1 series, 132 00:04:51.030 --> 00:04:53.100 the M1 Pro, the M1 Max, 133 00:04:53.100 --> 00:04:54.540 and now the newer ones are coming out 134 00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:57.060 with the M2 series and beyond. 135 00:04:57.060 --> 00:04:58.350 All of these are now being moved 136 00:04:58.350 --> 00:05:00.180 into this ARM instruction set 137 00:05:00.180 --> 00:05:02.940 because ARM allows you to do some very special things 138 00:05:02.940 --> 00:05:07.140 that you can't do in an X86 or X64-based processor. 139 00:05:07.140 --> 00:05:08.310 The most important of these 140 00:05:08.310 --> 00:05:10.470 is actually extended battery life. 141 00:05:10.470 --> 00:05:12.540 ARM actually produces a lot less heat 142 00:05:12.540 --> 00:05:14.730 to be able to do all of the same calculations 143 00:05:14.730 --> 00:05:18.120 as an X64 or X86-based processor, 144 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:20.130 and this actually saves a lot of battery power 145 00:05:20.130 --> 00:05:21.690 and a lot of cooling. 146 00:05:21.690 --> 00:05:24.660 So it's very popular in system on a chip configurations, 147 00:05:24.660 --> 00:05:26.910 things like smart TVs, smart speakers, 148 00:05:26.910 --> 00:05:29.670 and other devices as well as newer laptops. 149 00:05:29.670 --> 00:05:30.990 And so when you're using something 150 00:05:30.990 --> 00:05:32.580 that is not Windows-based, 151 00:05:32.580 --> 00:05:34.710 such as an Apple device, a Chromebook, 152 00:05:34.710 --> 00:05:36.840 or even an Android phone or tablet, 153 00:05:36.840 --> 00:05:39.120 these tend to use ARM-based processors 154 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:41.820 instead of X64 or X86 155 00:05:41.820 --> 00:05:43.410 because of its longer battery life 156 00:05:43.410 --> 00:05:45.360 and lower power consumption 157 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:48.030 that creates less heat inside of the device. 158 00:05:48.030 --> 00:05:51.060 Now, when you look at a RISC-based or ARM-based processor 159 00:05:51.060 --> 00:05:54.480 versus an X64 or X86-based processor, 160 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:56.760 you are dealing with this reduced instruction set 161 00:05:56.760 --> 00:05:59.520 instead of a full complex instruction set. 162 00:05:59.520 --> 00:06:01.950 Now you may think this actually gives you less capability 163 00:06:01.950 --> 00:06:03.060 but it doesn't. 164 00:06:03.060 --> 00:06:05.040 When you're using a RISC-based system, 165 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:08.040 these RISC systems use a smaller number of instructions 166 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:09.930 to be able to do all the same task 167 00:06:09.930 --> 00:06:12.480 but they rely more on code to be able to do it. 168 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:15.270 This allows each piece of code inside of that RISC 169 00:06:15.270 --> 00:06:17.730 to do more things with less code 170 00:06:17.730 --> 00:06:19.860 and this causes less consumption of power 171 00:06:19.860 --> 00:06:21.810 and longer battery life. 172 00:06:21.810 --> 00:06:23.700 As we continue to evolve in computers, 173 00:06:23.700 --> 00:06:26.160 you're going to see that RISC and ARM-based processors 174 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:27.780 are going to become more popular 175 00:06:27.780 --> 00:06:29.130 in a wide variety of systems 176 00:06:29.130 --> 00:06:30.900 including desktops and laptops. 177 00:06:30.900 --> 00:06:32.490 And this is already starting to make its way 178 00:06:32.490 --> 00:06:33.840 into the Windows environment 179 00:06:33.840 --> 00:06:36.360 as they are now starting to offer Windows 11 versions 180 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:39.330 that will support an ARM-based processor. 181 00:06:39.330 --> 00:06:42.150 Once that goes out of beta and into general production, 182 00:06:42.150 --> 00:06:44.490 we're going to see a larger amount of desktops and laptops 183 00:06:44.490 --> 00:06:47.523 using ARM beyond just using them for Apple systems.