Core

A core may refer to any of the following:

1. A core, or CPU core, is the "brain" of a CPU (Central Processing Unit). It receives instructions and performs calculations or operations to satisfy those instructions. A CPU can have multiple cores.

A processor with two cores is called a dual-core processor; with four cores, a quad-core; six cores, hexa-core; eight cores, octa-core. Most consumer CPUs feature between two and twelve cores. Workstation and server CPUs may feature as many as 48 cores.

Each CPU core can perform operations separately from the others. Multiple cores may also work together to perform parallel operations on a shared set of data in the CPU's memory cache.

2. With processors, the Intel Core, code-named Yonah, is the successor to the Intel Pentium M and was introduced on January 5, 2006. The Intel Core is the computer processor used with laptop computers.

3. A memory core is memory used before RAM (Random-Access Memory) as we know it today. The first memory chip to utilize wires, in the form of a grid, for addressing memory cores was invented by Jay Forrester in 1949. However, Forrester's electronic wire memory chip wasn't developed until around 1953. The picture shows a memory core used in the Atlas 1 computer that was 12 centimeters square and contained 64 cores, courtesy of Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

4. Short for core dump, a core describes when a computer, computer device, network device, or other related product errors and cannot display a proper error message. When this issue occurs, a large list of data is shown to help identify what's causing the problem.

Computer abbreviations, Core 2, Core Duo, CPU terms, CUDA, Dump, Memory terms, Virtual core