The processor is the engine of the computer and provides the computational power for most of your system needs, we say most because components such as the graphics and sound cards are designed to reduce the workload on the processor by taking their specific number crunching duties away from the main CPU. The raw power of the processor is measured by its clock speed in GHz, however caution is advised against putting too much stock in this figure as a lot of other factors affect the actual speed. For example our systems currently use AMD™ processors which due to advanced steamlined architecture and superior technology out classes their equivalent Intel™ processors in real World performance using much lower clock speeds, this is why AMD uses the naming convention of 3000, 3200 etc to indicate performance that compares (favourably) with Intel’s™ 3.0 GHz and 3.2 GHz chips respectfully.

AMD™ has designed their 64 bit Athlon chips from the ground up to not only be compatible with today’s software but tomorrow’s too, with the next version of Windows™ utilising 64 bit technology you’ll want to ensure that your processor of choice is ready and able.