Question

How CPU evolved over time ?

Answer 1

The Power of Exponential Growth

This essentially means that as time goes on, engineers are able to compress more and more building components (transistors) into the same amount of space. More transistors indicate that there are more units available to execute instructions, resulting in a quicker processor with more functionality.

Answer 2

From 1971 to 1972 the era of the first generation came which brought microprocessors like INTEL 4004 Rockwell international PPS-4 INTEL 8008 etc. The second generation marked the development of 8-bit microprocessors from 1973 to 1978. Processors like INTEL 8085 Motorola 6800 and 6801 etc came into existence.

Clock speeds have also suffered due to extreme miniaturization. For the past 5 years, clock speeds on mainstream processors have been stuck at around 3.7 GHz – 4 GHz. Higher clock speeds mean more energy use and therefore more heat buildup. A higher core count also helps with the problem of stagnated clock speeds.

Intel 4004

The Intel 4004 is a 4-bit central processing unit (CPU) released by Intel Corporation in 1971. Sold for US$60, it was the first commercially produced microprocessor, and the first in a long line of Intel CPUs.