What exactly are the cores of a Computer?
I remember when I wanted to get a new laptop, all I was concerned about was the “core number” i.e.core i3 vs core i5 because the more cores I got the faster I thought the laptop would be and so I bought a core i7.
However, there’s more to a computer’s performance than the number of cores or the clock speed as used some years ago and this article serves to demystify all questions and doubts.
What is the core in the CPU? Simply put, it is the basic unit of the CPU that runs the programs. The more CPUs or cores a computer has, the more things it can do at once, helping improve performance on most tasks. Most computers now have CPUs with multiple cores (core i5 = 5 cores) which makes the computer even faster.
(Hyperthreading is a technique used to double the number of cores by creating virtual cores to boost CPU performance. It makes a dual-core CPU with hyperthreading faster than its counterpart but still less than a quadcore CPU )
So does that mean that core i7 machine is faster than a core i5, most of the time, yes but here are a few other determining features for computer performance example the ram size, hard drive type and size?
Basically, Random access memory, or RAM, is the temporary holding spot for data. Thus the higher the RAM the more stuff you can process without having to go to the much slower hard drive. This means multitasking would be smoother and the overall user experience more enjoyable.
RAM specs are listed in terms such as DDR3-1600. The number after the dash refers to the number of transfers the chip can handle ( 16 GB for the example given). The higher the number, the faster the memory is, and the more memory you have installed, the more transfers it can handle.
The hard drive size used to be the defining factor in the performance of the laptop but with the emergence of the Solid-state Drives (SSD), this changes the game. SSD’s are 8 times faster than the old hard disk drive so the choice of drive also matters. Also the larger the hard disk size, the faster the PC.
With all that said, the ultimate PC would be a 9th Generation core i9, 32 Gb of RAM and 1 TB of SSD which costs $4,499 or 23,847 cedis ( MSI GT75 Titan 4K-071 ).
In reality, not everyone can but even if everyone could, not everyone can use it to its maximum capacity. If you hardly do anything strenous like gaming or video editing then a 9th generation core i3 would be enough. Also older older generation flagships can aslo do the same (7th gen core i7) and you can get 12-15 hours of video playback time.
The core i5 set of laptops are for main stream users. Those who go everywhere with their laptops with some light gaming. The high end gamers can settle with the core i7. (There is a core ix for the very extreme gamers. )
Inevitably, people who want to own a core i7 pc are concerned about the graphics card and we can’t talk about graphics card without talking about GPU. A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a computer chip thatis used primarily for the purpose of rendering images.
GPU is able to render images more quickly than a central processing unit because of its parallel processing architecture, which allows it to perform multiple calculations at the same time. It is mostly used to enhance gaming. A GPU of 520 and above is great to run fifa 18 and other demanding games. You can always buy an additional GPU to better your gaming.
The performance of a PC really goes beyond just the number of cores and for an optimum experience, the RAM, Hard disk size and GPU all factor in.
