Welcome to The Drive, a weekly column looking at some wacky, interesting, cool, and pivotal things within the tech space! Curated by PC Hardware Lead Editor Richard Edmonds through almost two decades covering the sector. The microprocessor is a computer ...

The CPU (Central Processing Unit, or simply “processor”) is arguably the most important component in a computer, perhaps only second to the GPU if you’re a gamer. However, upgrading to the best processor isn’t always straightforward; it can be ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Building your first computer is a memory worth cherishing for years, and the amount of research that goes into picking the right parts is what makes the experience that much more personal.

Computer engineers have developed a new AI method for accurately predicting the power consumption of any type of computer processor more than a trillion times per second while barely using any computational power itself. Dubbed APOLLO, the technique has ...

In the eighties, computer processors became faster and faster, while memory access times stagnated and hindered additional performance increases. Something had to be done to speed up memory access and make the whole system work more efficiently. The ...

PC freezing, going slow, or running into hitches where it shouldn’t? Even if you have one of the best processors, high CPU usage could be to blame. Unfortunately, if you aren’t too computer savvy, what this means, what part of your computer causes the ...

Your computer's central processing unit, or CPU, is the equivalent of a computer's brain. It helps to power your computer's behavior, telling everything connected to it what to do by making calculations after fetching and executing a program's instructions.