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IT Support & Hardware · Foundational

CPU Core

An independent processing unit within a CPU that can execute its own instruction stream.

Definition

Modern CPUs contain multiple cores on one package, allowing true parallel execution of threads. Some designs mix core types, such as Intel Performance-cores (P-cores) and Efficient-cores (E-cores) or ARM big.LITTLE, with the OS scheduler assigning work to each. More cores benefit multithreaded workloads like video rendering and virtualization.

Example

A 6-core/12-thread CPU has six physical cores, each running two hardware threads.

Exam tip

Distinguish physical cores from logical processors; Task Manager shows both counts.

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