Computer Speed
The useful work that can be done with any computer depends on many factors besides the processor speed. These factors include the processor architecture, the internal layout of the machine, the speed of the disk storage system, the speed of other attached devices, the efficiency of the operating system, and most importantly the high level design of the application software in use.
For users and purchasers of a computer system, instructions per clock is not a particularly useful indication of the performance of their system. For an accurate measure of performance relevant to them, application benchmarks are much more useful. Awareness of its existence is useful, in that it provides an easy-to-grasp example of why clock speed is not the only factor relevant to computer performance.
Read more about this topic: Instructions Per Cycle
Famous quotes containing the words computer and/or speed:
“Family life is not a computer program that runs on its own; it needs continual input from everyone.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honor in one eye, and death i’th’ other,
And I will look on both indifferently;
For let the gods so speed me as I love
The name of honor more than I fear death.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)