Print Article for : Never Really Matter To Me

Your Online Guide » IT Hardwares » Computer Hardware Guide

[N148]Never Really Matter To Me

by Ryan Larson, Rya

The cache is generally the most decisive factor in the tradeoff equation between the price and performance. Considering the L2 cache on some of the chips, you can easily understand that Athlon, P4 and PIII, having 256K or more L2 cache are the once with higher performance, in other words power chips.

Looking at the budget chips, you immediately notice that Celeron has 128K and the Duron only has 64K. Celeron is actually almost like a PIII with half the cache disabled. These numbers shows that the main budget issue for CPU manufacturers is to put enough cash on the chip.

You should consider the difference between the bus speeds: in the case of Athlon and P4, the bus speed between the Cache and the CPU can be 200 or 400 MHz respectively. This can give your system a major boost when you are using cache intensive utilities. The new CPUs are coming out with quad speed pushes and base 200MHz which results with 800MHz FSB like the new P4.

The numbers you would see under the name “Micron” in a CPU comparison table is basically the size of the transistors. As the number get smaller, the manufacturers can put more and more on the CPU die. The smaller transistors you have on your CPU, the smaller the CPU die becomes. The smaller the CPU die, less power is required and less heat is produced.

The CPU instruction set is the total code which tells your CPU how to process its data. The more sets you have on your CPU, the more efficient it is most likely to be. However, on this point Intel (Pentium) and AMD does not follow the same path. Intel made the first attempt to improve the basic instruction set by adding the MMX support for multimedia.

The difference's between the CPU's are getting smaller as each company sees the advantages of their rivals technology and tries to either use or emulate it. It is really hard to choose which one is better. So a good advice would be let your wallet decide which CPU your system will use.

Lately, all emphasis has been on which yarn to use for each project. Happily, this is a subject for another day; only let me say here, today's yarns are just the icing on the cake when knitting beautiful creations. With so many varied yarns, everything from wool and silk, to fun fur and cashmere, to hand-woven yarns, and most in an array of beautiful colors, just deciding which yarn to use can be a task in itself!

It is good to know, though, the difference between knitting needles and which types are recommended for which projects. Fortunately, you need look no further than this article.

There are straight knitting needles, double-pointed needles, and circular needles. All of them can be purchased in wood, metal, plastic or bamboo. As you knit, you will form a preference for the type needle you like best, so stick with those inclinations.

Straight knitting needles are great to knit with, especially when there are less than seventy-five stitches on your needles. These are used for flat knitting, for example, in making pieces of sweaters, placemats, washcloths, and any smaller knitted item.

Circular needles are usually utilized when knitting large afghans, or any project which requires a large number of stitches on the needles. Any project that calls for more than eighty stitches will always tell you to purchase a circular needle. When knitting with circular needles, you can join the yarn and knit in "rounds", or leave your knitting "open-ended" and knit back and forth as you do with straight needles.

Double pointed needles are usually used in sets of four or five, and are used when knitting socks, or can be substituted for circular knitting. Cable needles are also double-pointed, and you will need a single cable needle whenever making cables in your knitting.

Straight or circular needles also come in different lengths, so watch your instructions for that particular detail as well. All needles have an American size and a metric equivalent. For example, a size US 8 is 5mm or UK 6. Go figure.

Knitting needles, no matter which type you use, come in sizes from very small, size 0 to 4, to medium, size 5-10, and larger needles, size 11 and up. Knitting on medium sized needles is the easiest knitting to do; when knitting with very small or very large needles, believe it or not, requires more attention and can be more difficult handling, and actually "knitting" each stitch. Great care has to be taken not to have stitches slip or fall off the needles, as it is so easy to lose stitches with very small or very large needles.

As you become accustomed to knitting, you will likely experience what it's like to knit with all these needles. In time, some will be favorites and others will be used only when you need to. But, it is good news to know what each needle does, and why you need to know!

Article Source : Pg. 182

About Author

Both Ryan Larson & Alice Seidel are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Ryan Larson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Water Garden, Education and Home Management. . Ryan Larson's top article generates over 301000 views. to your Favourites.

Alice Seidel has sinced written about articles on various topics from Family, Gift Ideas and Family. Alice Seidel works as a freelance writer. She is the author of dozens of articles, a full-length book on knitting, and is the Author and Publisher of "Knit Stitch & Whimsy", a monthly knitting newsletter. For details, visit ==>. Alice Seidel's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.