Computers

[Frogon]

Ok, where did the Mhz and Ghz for computers come from? I know its with waves and stuff, but why not some other unit?

[Freethinker]

Originally posted by: Frogon

Ok, where did the Mhz and Ghz for computers come from? I know its with waves and stuff, but why not some other unit?

 

"Hertz", Hz, used to be "cycles per second" (cps). It was changed to make life easier and to honor the German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz. Immortality. Hertz is easier than Cycles per second. I lived thru the transition. I thought cps was easy enough compared to hz and in the furture we would not have to have discussions like this to explain why Hz. :-)

 

MHz is for mega-hertz. One Million cycles per second. 10^6; GHz, giga-hertz is 10^9

 

In a computer it relates to the "clock speed". There is an internal clock/ metronome that tells the processor when to do the next task. Each clock pulse tells the processor to send the data it has and get a new batch.

 

Thus the higher the clock speed, the more procecsses a processor can do in a given time period. If all else is equal, a processor with a higher clock speed will out perform one with a lower clock speed.

 

But not all else is equal!

[Freethinker]

But my dreams They aren't as empty As my conscience seems to be

[Frogon]

Thanks, : )

 

*trying to think of another somewhat intelegent question to ask...*