Questions tagged [clockspeed]

92 questions
66
votes
9 answers

Why have CPU manufacturers stopped increasing the clock speeds of their processors?

I have read that manufacturers stopped concentrating on higher clock speeds and are now working on other things to improve performance. With an old Desktop machine with Intel® Xeon® Processor E3110 with clock speed of 3.0GHz and a new server with…
46
votes
5 answers

Why are newer generations of processors faster at the same clock speed?

Why, for example, would a 2.66 GHz dual-core Core i5 be faster than a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo, which is also dual-core? Is this because of newer instructions that can process information in fewer clock cycles? What other architectural changes are…
agz
  • 8,438
26
votes
7 answers

How do I calculate clock speed in multi-core processors?

Is it correct to say, for example, that a processor with four cores each running at 3GHz is in fact a processor running at 12GHz? I once got into a "Mac vs. PC" argument (which by the way is NOT the focus of this topic... that was back in middle…
NReilingh
  • 5,883
21
votes
9 answers

Why aren't CPUs bigger?

CPUs are relatively small, and engineers are constantly trying to make them smaller and get more transistors in the same surface. Why aren't CPUs bigger? If an approximately 260mm2 die can hold 758 million transistors (AMD Phenom II x4 955). Then a…
16
votes
3 answers

What was the purpose of the turbo button?

What did the turbo button on old PCs do?
Drew
  • 1,902
13
votes
2 answers

How do I make a virtual machine with non-standard speed of time (timescale)?

I think it should be technically possible, but I don't know of any ways to do this in already existing software. What I mean — the "hardware" clock in the VM should be able to run at different speeds, for example, several times slower than normal,…
11
votes
4 answers

Why are there different clockspeeds and timings on RAM?

I don't consider myself a novice when it comes to building computers or computer hardware in general, but I've never taken the time to fully understand RAM. Can somebody tell me why there is a need for different clockspeeds when it comes to RAM? And…
ehm
  • 694
11
votes
3 answers

Will a new processor with slower clockspeed run legacy applications faster?

I'm using Linux and have an old P4 with about 3 GHz clock speed. Will a newer chip that had slower clock speed run my legacy applications faster or slower? I only use one application at a time, an old drawing program (windows app used in wine) that…
10
votes
3 answers

How does Intel Turbo Boost work?

I just got a new Intel CPU, and the specifications say 3.5GHz but with turbo boost to 3.9GHz. What does Intel Turbo Boost do? From the description it sounds like they are saying "The road's speed limit is 100 km/hr, but if you get to that speed then…
Qwertie
  • 772
9
votes
0 answers

Why did CPU clock speeds stop increasing?

Possible Duplicate: Has CPU speed already broken Moore's law? Additional Reading: Whats the deal with these new lower clock speed CPUs on Laptops? Can they still run apps well? Is a higher core count or higher clock speed more beneficial to a…
user13137
  • 1,040
7
votes
2 answers

How far do electrons physically move in a single clock cycle in a (theoretical) 4GHz processor?

I was musing last night about computers and processors and this video of a 6-bit digital adding machine, and I know that 4 GHz seems to be the practical limit of mass-produced CPUs of the current era. Why is that the case? I was trying to imagine…
atroon
  • 2,616
5
votes
3 answers

How speed and frequency of a processor are related to each other?

I think that clock rate of processor determines the speed of core, in my case it is 1.86GHz. But If I am not wrong, it also determines that how much energy it will consume. If you have more frequency then more power it will consume. I choose Power…
5
votes
1 answer

Relationship between CPU and Memory Clock Speeds

If I have a CPU with a maximum clock speed of say 2GHz, and I have a choice of memory which runs at say 2400MHz or 3200MHz, will getting the 3200MHz memory produce better performance, and how? I intuitively expect the answer is "yes", and has to do…
davidgo
  • 73,366
4
votes
1 answer

CPU gets stuck at 0.90 GHz and 53% usage cap

Configuration in question: Model - Dell 1558 CPU - Core i7 740 @ 1.73Ghz - 2.93GHz RAM - 6GB DDR3 1333Mhz OS - Windows 8 Pro MSDN Now this problem has started since yesterday. My computer blanked out suddenly (like absolutely suddenly). And when I…
4
votes
1 answer

CPU and Motherboard clock speeds

I have been doing some reading about CPU clock speeds and how CPU clock speeds are calculated. After reading several articles, I have come to the understanding that your CPU clock speed is determined by: CPU clock speed = cpu multiplier x mobo clock…
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