How do clock speed and word size determine the performance o

How do clock speed and word size determine the performance of a CPU?

Solution

Determining the clock speed of computer is relatively easy. It is important to understand the meaning of the clock speed in a computer. Computers utilized an internal clock in synchronizing all processes and calculations. This internal clock guarantees that each and every circuit within the computer works and operates at same time. The ticks per second on the internal clock measure the computer\'s clock speed. It is important to remember that the misconception that a computer clock\'s speed is the sole determination of a computer\'s overall speed.

8-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit all refer to the word length of the processor. This is number of bits transferred to RAM of the same or transferred from RAM of the system and it is width of pointers. A word length can be any number of bits, but is usually a power of two.

Assuming a constant clock speed, there is no direct speed advantage from a 32-bit to a 64-bit processor, except when using higher-precision values, or lots of memory reads/writes are required.

For example, if i need to add two 64-bit numbers, I can do it in a single clock cycle on a 64-bit machine

However, on a 32-bit machine, I need to do this in many clock cycles, since I first need to add the lower 32-bits, and then compensate for overflow, then add the upper 64-bits.