What is the processor clock speed?

Historically, the processor clock speed is the main indicator of computer performance, and in its time even an uneducated person who does not know how an optical disk differs from a flexible one could confidently state that the more gigahertz in a machine, the better and nobody would With him did not argue. Today, in the middle of the computer era, this kind of fashion has passed, and developers are trying to move toward creating a more sophisticated architecture, increasing the number of caches and the number of processor cores, but the clock frequency is the "queen" of characteristics. In a general sense, this is the number of elementary operations (cycles) that a processor can produce in a second of time.

It follows that the higher the processor clock speed, the more elementary operations the computer can perform, and, therefore, the faster it works.

The clock speed of the advanced processors ranges from two to four gigahertz. It is determined by multiplying the frequency of the processor bus by a certain coefficient. For example, the Intel Core i7 processor uses a multiplier of x20 and has a bus frequency of 133 MHz, resulting in a processor clock speed of 2660 MHz.

Modern processors: cache memory and cores

Despite the fact that previously the "multi-core" was a novelty, today there are practically no single-core processors on the market. And there is nothing surprising in this, because the computer industry does not stand still.

Therefore, it is clear how the clock frequency is calculated for processors with two or more cores.

It's worth mentioning that there is a common misconception about calculating the frequency for such processors. For example: "There is a dual-core processor with a clock speed of 1.8 GHz, hence its total frequency will be 2 × 1.8 GHz = 3.6 GHz, right?". No, it's wrong. Unfortunately, the number of cores does not affect the final clock speed in any way, if your processor worked at 3 GHz, it will work and it will be, but with more cores, its resources will increase, and this, in turn, will greatly increase the efficiency.

Do not forget that the size of the cache is especially important for a modern processor. This is the fastest computer memory in which work information is duplicated, for which faster access is needed at a given time.

Since this type of memory is very expensive and labor-intensive in production, its values are relatively small, but these indicators are sufficient to increase the performance of the entire system without changing parameters such as the clock frequency.

Maximum processor clock speed and overclocking

No matter how good your computer is, one day it will become obsolete. But do not rush to carry it in the trash and with a spread purse to run to the nearest electronics store. Most modern processors and video cards provide additional (in addition to factory) overclocking, and having a good cooling system, you can raise the level of the nominal frequency by 200-300 GHz. For extremals and lovers of large numbers, there is also an "overclocking" calling to squeeze out the maximum of the equipment. Many people involved in such a dangerous business can easily overclock a single-core processor to 6-7 GHz, and some even put a record in 8.2 GHz.