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SIMPLEExplained Simply · #7EP.152 · 24 s

Explained Simply #7: How does a CPU do billions of things a second?

Cover of the lesson: Explained Simply #7: How does a CPU do billions of things a second?Coming to YouTube soon
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// WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

A clock ticks billions of times a second (GHz); on every tick the transistors take one tiny step.

// LESSON NOTES

Your phone does BILLIONS of things every second. How? 🤯

Inside the chip, a tiny clock ticks 3 billion times a second — that's 3 GHz. ⏱️
On every tick, tiny switches (transistors) flip and the CPU takes one small step:
1️⃣ Fetch an instruction
2️⃣ Decode it
3️⃣ Do it — like adding 2 + 3 = 5 ✅

One tick is SO short (0.33 billionths of a second) that light only travels about 10 cm (4 in)! 💡
And a phone chip has about 8 cores, all working at the same time. 🔥

Read the voiceover (transcript)
  1. Your phone does billions of things a second. How?
  2. Inside the chip, a clock ticks three billion times a second!
  3. On every tick, tiny switches flip: one small step.
  4. Fetch an instruction, decode it, do it, like adding!
  5. In one tick, how far does light go?
  6. Just ten centimetres!
  7. And eight cores all work at once!
  8. Next: how does a speaker make sound? Follow for more!

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