Welcome to The Drive, a weekly column looking at some wacky, interesting, cool, and pivotal things within the tech space!

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 ...

The processors in today’s computers have grown tremendously in performance, capabilities and complexity over the past decade. Clock speed has skyrocketed, and size has dwindled, even as the number of ...

What do the HP-1000 and the DEC VAX 11/730 have in common with the video games Tempest and Battlezone? More than you might think. All of those machines, along with many others from that time period, ...

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 ...

Brendan is a freelance writer and content creator from Portland, OR. He covers tech and gaming for Lifehacker, and has also written for Digital Trends, EGM, Business Insider, IGN, and more. September ...