One component of a computer that can seriously slow things down is the Central Processing Unit (CPU) or the processor for short. Computer processor upgrades can easily work miracles in making a computer run faster and only plays second fiddle to RAM memory upgrades. Unfortunately, a computer processor upgrade is not always completely straight forward.

First off though, what does the computer processor do? A good answer can be found at in the CPU page at Wikipedia.org and put simply; a computer processor takes information from memory and manipulates it. The computer processor is essentially the brains of the computer and does all of the work necessary to run programs. It manages the computer hardware, software, and operating system and is the device that is responsible for all that computational power.

Computer processors are rated in GHz (GigaHertz) in reference to the number of instructions a processor can handle in a single second. Today’s processors running at 3 GHz process an outrageous 3 BILLION instructions per second. The faster the processor runs, the more it can process, and the faster the computer runs.

Newer computer processors run so fast, that they have reached the point where if they were to run faster, they would overheat so much as to be unusable. In order to keep up with demand for faster and faster processors, manufacturers are no longer making their processors faster; they’re packing more of them onto a single chip. Dual core processors have two distinct processors on the same chip and quad core have four.

A computer processor has very small pins protruding from the bottom tht fit into a socket on the motherboard. If the replacement processor is of the same type – but faster – as the old one, it’s a simple matter of:

• Raising the latch that holds the processor in
• Pulling the old processor out
• Lining up the marked corner of the socket and marked corner of the processor
• Gently -- you don’t want to bend those tiny pins! -- inserting the new one
• Resetting the latch to hold the CPU firmly in place

The trouble is, there are as many different types of socket that it may be difficult to find a replacement processor that will fit in your motherboard.  That’s especially true when it’s an older computer. In that case you’ll need to replace the motherboard and possibly RAM memory as well to upgrade the processor.

So that’s the quick lowdown on computer processor upgrades. I hope you found it useful.