I was looking for a new computer when I came across the different CPUs that were available. I noticed that the CPU specifications were in terms of threads and cores. What are these threads and cores? How does the number of cores and threads affect the performance of the CPU?
The Central Processing Unit or the CPU is the heart of your computer. It performs all computational tasks and processes. CPU specifications are in terms of threads and cores.
A thread is a single line of commands that are being processed. Each application has multiple threads. A core, on the other hand is the physical hardware of the CPU that processes the threads. Each core can process a single thread. With Hyperthreading, a single core can process up to two threads. The number of cores and threads can affect the performance of a CPU in different applications. Video editing, for example, requires higher core count with high clock speeds and a healthy GPU.
