Speed of a CPU
Speed of a CPU is measured in hertz. One hertz is number of cycles that can be performed in one second. Speed of modern CPUs is measured in low number of gigahertz. Giga means a billion. However number of hertz it is not an only measure of CPU speed. Speed can be fast, however it is also important how many actions are performed in each cycle. For example Pentium 4 processors had incredible speed in hertz, however these processors had to execute many steps in order to complete a single operation therefore these processors were inefficient.
Speed of CPU is based upon system crystal. A system crystal made out of quartz, and when electrical current is applied to it, it oscillates with a specific frequency, later this frequency is multiplied and we get speed of CPU.
Maximum CPU speed is determined by CPU's manufacturer. It performs a series of tests to rate CPU speed.
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