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GCSE Computer Science help!

Is this statement true about the clock speed for a CPU? "A higher clock speed allows the CPU to execute instructions quicker"

The exam question asks "Explain how the clock speed of a CPU affects its performance"


This is the mark scheme below I'm not sure if I would get the marks as the markscheme says something different to what I put.
(edited 7 years ago)
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Original post by JackT2000
Is this statement true about the clock speed for a CPU? "A higher clock speed allows the CPU to execute instructions quicker"

The exam question asks "Explain how to clock speed of a CPU affects its performace"



This is the mark scheme below I'm not sure if I would get the marks as the markscheme says something different to what I put.
Screenshot_2.png9.0KB
Yes, what you've said is true. Increasing the clock speed decreases the time taken for the computer to execute each instruction/process each piece of data, so overall the computer will execute the instructions faster. "The faster the CPU will run" is just a slightly more general way of expressing the same idea.
Original post by emmald583
Yes, what you've said is true. Increasing the clock speed decreases the time taken for the computer to execute each instruction/process each piece of data, so overall the computer will execute the instructions faster. "The faster the CPU will run" is just a slightly more general way of expressing the same idea.


@JackT2000

Edit: Misread again, the above is pretty much correct :wink: If there is a higher clock speed, more cycles can execute per second, meaning more instructions per second.

Speaking in a general, probably post-GCSE sense, higher clock speed only really means higher performance, if:

•

The two CPUs being compared are of the same architecture.

•

The two CPUs being compared have the same number of cores.

•

The two CPUs have the same, or relatively similar IPC.

•

If the workload is tailored to prefer clock speed over the amount of cores. Several processes, like games, are still quite single-threaded.

If it's the same CPU running at a different clock in each instance, the answer will often be yes provided it's stable at that clock.

Just a bit of extra info there :wink:

My answer, assuming a GCSE context, would be: "Yes, as there are more cycles per second, more instructions will be able to be handled within the given time frame, and thus the application/machine will perform "faster""
(edited 7 years ago)
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2771024
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Original post by _gcx
@JackT2000

Edit: Misread again, the above is pretty much correct :wink: If there is a higher clock speed, more cycles can execute per second, meaning more instructions per second.



Speaking in a general, probably post-GCSE sense, higher clock speed only really means higher performance, if:

•

The two CPUs being compared are of the same architecture.

•

The two CPUs being compared have the same number of cores.

•

The two CPUs have the same, or relatively similar IPC.

•

If the workload is tailored to prefer clock speed over the amount of cores. Several processes, like games, are still quite single-threaded.

If it's the same CPU running at a different clock in each instance, the answer will often be yes provided it's stable at that clock.

Just a bit of extra info there :wink:

My answer, assuming a GCSE context, would be: "Yes, as there are more cycles per second, more instructions will be able to be handled within the given time frame, and thus the application/machine will perform "faster""


So if I wrote that in the exam I would get marks for it?

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