How to Calculate Computer Clock Speed

Understanding Clock Speed in Computers

Computer A has a clock speed of 2.5 GHz and it takes 60 seconds of CPU time to run a particular program on it. Now, we are tasked with designing Computer B with the goal of running the same program in 55 seconds of CPU time on Computer B. This requires us to determine the appropriate clock speed for Computer B.

Calculating Computer B's Clock Speed

Given that a faster clock on Computer B would result in 1.4 times the clock cycles of Computer A, we need to find Computer B's clock speed that will allow the program to run in 55 seconds.

To run the program in 55 seconds on Computer B, we need a clock speed of approximately 2.727 GHz. This can be calculated as follows:

To determine the clock speed of Computer B, we must first calculate the total clock cycles for Computer A. Since Computer A operates at 2.5 GHz (equivalent to 2.5 billion cycles per second), the total clock cycles for Computer A over 60 seconds is 150 billion cycles.

Dividing the total cycles by the desired program runtime of 55 seconds gives us the required clock speed for Computer B: 150 billion cycles / 55 seconds = 2.727 GHz.

Conclusion

Therefore, the optimal clock speed for Computer B to run the program in 55 seconds would be approximately 2.727 GHz.