Clock Speed
Also called clock rate, the speed at which a microprocessor executes instructions. Every computer contains an internal clock that regulates the rate at which instructions are executed and synchronizes all the various computer components. The CPU requires a fixed number of clock ticks (or clock cycles) to execute each instruction. The faster the clock, the more instructions the CPU can execute per second.
Clock speeds are expressed in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz ((GHz).
The internal architecture of a CPU has as much to do with a CPU’s performance as the clock speed, so two CPUs with the same clock speed will not necessarily perform equally. Whereas an Intel 80286 microprocessor requires 20 cycles to multiply two numbers, an Intel 80486 or later processor can perform the same calculation in a single clock tick. (Note that clock tick here refers to the system’s clock, which runs at 66 MHz for all PCs.) These newer processors, therefore, would be 20 times faster than the older processors even if their clock speeds were the same. In addition, some microprocessors are superscalar, which means that they can execute more than one instruction per clock cycle.
Like CPUs, expansion buses also have clock speeds. Ideally, the CPU clock speed and the bus clock speed should be the same so that neither component slows down the other. In practice, the bus clock speed is often slower than the CPU clock speed, which creates a bottleneck. This is why new local buses, such as AGP, have been developed.
Read Also:
- clock tick
Same as a cycle, the smallest unit of time recognized by a device. For personal computers, clock ticks generally refer to the main system clock, which runs at 66 MHz. This means that there are 66 million clock ticks (or cycles) per second. Since modern CPUs run much faster (up to 3 GHz), the CPU […]
- clock tripling
The process used on some older 486 computers to triple the internal processing speed of the CPU while maintaining the manufacturer’s original clock speed for I/O transfers. In most cases, clock-tripling would normally yield a lower than 100 percent overall system performance boost (e.g., 30 to 70 percent), not an actual tripling of the clock […]
- clone
A computer, software product, or device that functions exactly like another, better-known product. In practice, the term refers to any PC not produced by one of the leading name-brand manufacturers, such as IBM and Compaq.
- close
(1) To finish work on a data file and save it. (2) In graphical user interfaces, to close a window means to exit an application or file, thereby removing the window from the screen.
- closed loop reporting
Reporting capability to measure the effectiveness of a particular ad on the Web by tracking which ad viewers actually bought which product, requested a catalog, or took other specific actions on the Web site.