CPUs

The CPU is the core of any computer. It's what's also known as the processor, and is
a lot smaller than most people imagine. The shiny metal that you see is only a
heatsink, called the "integrated heat spreader", and is mounted on top of the actual
chip. It transfers heat away from the CPU to ensure stable operation (silicon
transistors have certain temperature ranges in which they perform optimally, and
would get damaged without proper cooling).
The CPU is made up of a control unit and an arithmetic and logic unit (ALU). The
control unit controls how incoming data is processed by the CPU, and hands the
processed result to its destination.
This input data comes from the computer's memory. Present day computers are
designed around the stored program architecture, also known as the Von Neumann
Architecture. What this means (in the sense of method, plan or algorithm) is that
data must be loaded from memory, and the result processed by the ALU must be
stored into memory as well.

This exchange happens via a memory interface, under the directive of the control
unit. This interface tracks two things: the memory location from which the data is
read/ written, and the data transfer process itself.
So how does the ALU know what to do with the data? Well, we'll have to split the
program code (residing in memory) into two parts: instructions and data. Basically,
the CU expects the first thing read from the memory to be an instruction operation
code, or simply "opcode" which describes the physical resources needed on the
ALU, and the amount of data expected to follow. Thus, the first few bytes will be the
instruction op code, and the next few bytes will be the data to be processed.
Depending upon what specific instructions the ALU receives, it can do different
things with the data.

CPU Cooling

Being the brain of the computer system and having to perform high level
calculations constantly the central processor emits a substantial amount of heat,
that without proper cooling would be detrimental to the CPU its self. A central
processor would not have a long lifespan without a system put in place to properly
cool and draw heat away from it, thus the term CPU cooling systems.
Ever heard of the term heat sink?
No! Not a sink filled with hot water, if that whats on your mind.
A Heat Sink put simply is a component designed to lower the temperature of an
electronic device by dissipating heat into the surrounding air. It basically draws heat
from the device it is placed on and sends it into the air.
Heat sinks in the case of processors are usually found in two form/types, which are
Active Heat Sinks and Passive Heat sinks which are defined as follows:

Active Heat Sink this is an

Passive Heat Sink -