PC Users Bible

The microprocessor chip, or CPU, is the core of your computer's operation. Everything else-disk drives, keyboard, video monitor, and Internet connection, among others-is there either to provide instructions to the CPU, respond to data from the CPU, or both.

The CPU is a large and expensive integrated circuit that contains the equivalent of millions of individual transistors. It operates in response to stored instruction sets that it receives from one of several forms of memory.