Effects of PC Clock Rate on Execution Speed of Instruction

Effects of PC Clock Rate on Execution Speed of Instruction

Determining the computer’s clock speed is somewhat important. A computer uses an internal clock to synchronize or coordinate all calculations and processes. It certifies that every circuit or every component in the computer works and functions at the same time. It is always a misunderstanding that a computer’s clock rate is the determining factor of its overall speed.

A CPU’s clock rate is usually verified by the frequency of an oscillator crystal. A crystal oscillator normally creates a permanent sine wave, the frequency reference signal. A clock speed can also be defined as the speed at which a processor can finish a processing cycle. The speed is usually measured in megahertz [MHz] or gigahertz [GHz].

One megahertz is equivalent to one million cycles per second,and one gigahertz is equivalent to one billion cycles per second. This would mean that a 1.8 GHz processor has twofold the clock rate of a 900 MHz processor. But it doesn’t mean that a 1.8 GHz processor is two times as fast as a 900 MHz processor.

This is because different processors frequently use different architectures.