Discussion: Why do CPU comparison websites even bother to compare clock speeds?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Archgaull

Archgaull

Admirable
Nov 12, 2014
1,873
0
6,460
This is just something I was thinking of the other day, but why do CPU comparison websites compare clock speeds between CPU's, when the clock speeds aren't directly comparable because they are from different manufacturers/processor families?

Is there any actual reason, or is it just something they compare to add an extra category?
 
Solution
jaguarskx
It is an indirect way of measuring IPC (instructions per clock) performance of CPUs. CPUs with lower IPC will need to run at higher clockspeed to perform similarly to CPUs with high IPC.

Clockspeeds be used as an indirect way determine how powerful one generation of CPUs is compared to another. For example, 2nd generation Sandy Bridge CPUs are on average 12% (based on over 2 dozen benchmarks) more powerful than 1st generation Nehalem CPUs. That means a Sandy Bridge CPU running at 2.0GHz is equivalent to a Nehalem CPU running at 2.24GHz.

Based on incremental average performance increase since Sandy Bridge, a 5th generation Broadwell 2.0GHz CPU would be roughly equivalent to a 2.64GHz 1st generation Nehalem CPU.
Sort by date Sort by votes
jaguarskx

jaguarskx

Titan
Apr 19, 2006
27,979
3
84,965
It is an indirect way of measuring IPC (instructions per clock) performance of CPUs. CPUs with lower IPC will need to run at higher clockspeed to perform similarly to CPUs with high IPC.

Clockspeeds be used as an indirect way determine how powerful one generation of CPUs is compared to another. For example, 2nd generation Sandy Bridge CPUs are on average 12% (based on over 2 dozen benchmarks) more powerful than 1st generation Nehalem CPUs. That means a Sandy Bridge CPU running at 2.0GHz is equivalent to a Nehalem CPU running at 2.24GHz.

Based on incremental average performance increase since Sandy Bridge, a 5th generation Broadwell 2.0GHz CPU would be roughly equivalent to a 2.64GHz 1st generation Nehalem CPU.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
S

ss202sl

Glorious
May 23, 2012
8,431
35
44,190
Even though it doesn't make as much of a difference anymore, there is still the fact the cpu's do run at different clock speeds. Why would they not include clock speed. Another factor is overclocking. It may be that I can get a lower end CPU to perform better than a more expensive CPU(at stock speeds) by overclocking it. The charts don't show this, they show the base clock speeds.
 
Upvote -1 Downvote
computertech82

computertech82

Distinguished
Mar 26, 2006
1,362
0
19,860
As one said, it's about instructions per cycle. Intel, for example, would be faster than a AMD at the same clock speed. the charts/benchmarks gives you an idea of the performance of each cpu.
For many, it's about getting the best performance for the least amount of money or 'BEST BANG FOR THE BUCKS".

This link is about 'best bang for the buck"
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom