Historically, the processor clock speed has been the main indicator of computer speed, and even an uneducated person who did not know how an optical disk differs from a flexible one could say with certainty that the more gigahertz in a car, the better, and no one would I did not argue with him. Today, in the middle of the computer era, this kind of fashion has passed, and developers are trying to move towards creating a more advanced architecture, increasing the number of cache memory 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 (clock cycles) that a processor can perform in a second of time.
It follows that the higher the clock speed of the processor, the more elementary operations the computer is able to perform, and, therefore, the faster it works.
The clock frequency of advanced processors ranges from two to four gigahertz. It is determined by multiplying the processor bus frequency by a certain factor. For example, the Intel Core i7 processor uses an x20 multiplier and has a bus frequency of 133 MHz, resulting in a processor clock speed of 2660 MHz.
Modern processors: cache and cores
Despite the fact that earlier “multi-core” was a novelty, today on the market there are practically no single-core processors. And there is nothing surprising in this, because the computer industry does not stand still.
Therefore, you should clearly understand how the clock frequency is calculated for processors having two or more cores.
It is worth saying that there is a common misconception about calculating the frequency for such processors. For example: "There is a dual-core processor with a clock frequency of 1.8 GHz, therefore, its total frequency will be 2 x 1.8 GHz = 3.6 GHz, right?". No, wrong. Unfortunately, the number of cores does not affect the final clock frequency in any way, if your processor worked at a speed of 3 GHz, it will work that way, but with more cores, its resources will increase, and this, in turn, will greatly increase efficiency.
Do not forget that for a modern processor, the cache size is especially important. This is the fastest computer memory in which working information is duplicated, which requires faster access at a given time.
Since this type of memory is very expensive and time-consuming to manufacture, its values are relatively small, but these indicators are enough 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, someday it will become obsolete. But do not rush to carry it to the trash and with an open wallet run to the nearest electronics store. Most modern processors and video cards provide additional (in addition to the factory) overclocking, and having a good cooling system, you can raise the level of the nominal frequency by 200-300 GHz. For extreme players and fans of large numbers, there is also an “overclocking” calling to squeeze the maximum out of technology. Many people involved in such a dangerous business can easily overclock a single-core processor to 6-7 GHz, and some even set record numbers at 8.2 GHz.