Performance

Clock speed - How many cycles the CPU can do in a single second (measured in hertz)

Core - Number of processors, standard sizes are dual or quad core

Random Access Memory (RAM) - Memory that is used to store the programs and data currently in use by a computer. It is volatile which means that it gets erased when the computer is switched off.

Cache - A very small amount of memory stored in the processor. 

Pipelining -  the process of fetch the next instruction while the first instruction is getting decoded.