What is Clock Speed?

Your clock is running at 133.33333 MHz. The memory is quad pumped (runs at 4x the input clock speed) so it runs at 533 MHz. The processor does an internal frequency multiplication of x18 so it runs at 2400 MHz.

johnp999,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

Here is a definition that may make this term a little more clear.

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

Thanks for explaining that Derf but I am still confused as to what Clock speed

really means.  My memory runs at 533 mhz   My processor runs at 2400 mhz

My clock runs at 133 mhz ....   What does it all mean in practice?

Well, I'm certainly no expert on exactly how things work, but in general, the higher the clock speed the faster operations get done.

For example, a certain process within the system processor may take 2400 clock cycles to complete. If you processor runs at 2400 MHz, that means that process takes 1 millionth of a second (1 microsecond) to complete. If your processor was running at 1800 MHz, that same process would take 1.5 microseconds.

If your memory is running at 533 MHz, that means you can get 533 million reads and/or writes per second. If the memory was running at 100 MHz, you would get only 100 million reads/writes per second.

Is this more what you were looking for?

Thanks for taking the time for an explanation.  My mind boggles at the integration of the concept.

I do now have a clue thanks to you...