What does the processor frequency affect? What is CPU Clock Speed ​​1 2GHz


In the smartphone market, a real race has erupted between manufacturers. In 2018, the reality is that sales mobile devices significantly outperform laptops. In this regard, it would be logical to take apart the best processors for smartphones.

But first, let's clarify, because to say "processor" in the case of smartphones is not entirely correct. Phones and tablets are currently based on a SoC (System-on-a-Chip) system. It is a crystal, which includes various modules: computing unit, graphics core, communication components (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.), RAM and much more.

Go and buy new processor for your smartphone will not work, if only because they are not on sale. It should also be borne in mind that the same SoC can work differently on different smartphones, so we based on the results of tests from popular Western sources and benchmark tests and prepared the top 10 best processors in terms of performance at the end of 2018.

Top 10 best processors for smartphones

Note! All prices are for smartphone models with the processors listed below.

10 Helio X30

Ten nuclear processor
Country: China
Average price: 17,240 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.3

The first deca-core mobile system became one of the most powerful in 2017. X30 ranks 10th in terms of performance among best processors for 2018. This was facilitated by a new 10 nanometer process technology. Compared to the previous generation, the "stone" has become 35% more efficient and 50% more energy efficient. There are three clusters on the board. The first has two cores Cortex-A73 up to 2.5 GHz. The second consists of four Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 2.2 GHz, and the youngest one has four Cortex-A35 cores with a rate of 1.9 GHz. The GPU is PowerVR 7XTP-MP4 at 800 MHz. The solution is capable of decoding 10-bit 4K2K video with HDR10 support.

The introduction of new technology management of processor cores called CorePilot 4.0. It is able to save up to 25% more energy than version 3.0. An intelligent task scheduling system, along with UX Monitoring and SystemPowerAllocator (SPA) power management, helps the architecture perform well in resource-intensive tasks.

9 Snapdragon 710

Budget processor from Qualcomm
Country: China
Average price: 27,766 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.4

The 710 model is an intermediate link between the top 800 series and more budget models. It combines the flagship capabilities in the field of photography, video and provides a good artificial intelligence at the best price. In addition, increased autonomy due to improved production technology.

This stone is the heir to the best mid-budget mobile Snapdragon processor 660 released in 2016. The system has eight Kryo 360 cores on the chip, based on the architecture from ARM. Four cores with the A-75 index operate at a frequency of 2.2 GHz, four more - A-55 provide a frequency of 1.7 GHz. In fact, there are cores from Snapdragon 845, but they are understated frequencies in accordance with their category. The Adreno 616 is responsible for the graphics output, and is assisted by the Spectra 250 image processor, which supports dual 20-megapixel cameras.

8 Kirin 970

Technological breakthrough from Huawei
Country: China
Average price: 27 990 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.4

Single chip system The Kirin 970 is a real revelation from Huawei. A separate neuromorphic processor with its own single-chip system is designed to solve the most high-capacity tasks in neural networks, for machine vision and pattern recognition systems. The NPU of the processor delivers up to 25x faster performance over comparable systems and 50x better energy efficiency. Thus, performance is increased and heat generation is reduced. In addition, Huawei has given access to the internal stuffing of the NPU, which will allow developers third party applications optimize your products for this hardware.

Additionally, it should be noted the presence of a dual signal processor, which allows you to capture movements and detect faces. Bonded to these features is a four-level hybrid autofocus, improved shooting of moving subjects in low light.

7 SNAPDRAGON 835

People's favorite
Country: China
Average price: 30,790 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.6

This processor is installed on the notorious mobile Samsung smartphones Galaxy S8 and One plus 5. But unlike Exynos, this model can be easily found on a large number of other Android smartphones, most of which are more affordable than the Korean.

In terms of performance, there are 8 cores (4 cores operating at 2.45 GHz, and 4 cores - 1.9 GHz) and a good graphics accelerator - Adreno 540. Performance in synthetic tests is comparable to Exynos, the difference is about 7%, however, with day to day use, you will hardly notice this difference.

Advantages:

  • Excellent performance
  • Widespread selling
  • Low cost

6 Exynos 8895

Power at an affordable price
Country: Vietnam
Average price: 35 489 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.6

Basis for flagship smartphones, technological know-how from Samsung - this is how you can describe given processor... Its such frequency can reach 3 GHz, and the model itself will be the first in lineup Samsung, made on a 10 nanometer process technology. 8 cores will be responsible for the performance, effectively working in both single-core and multi-core modes.

Power consumption is extremely low at only 5 watts. It also has the ability to record 4K video at 120fps, which is four times higher than its competitor - the Snapdragon 835 is capped at 4K video at 30fps. One of the downsides is performance limitation due to DirectX 11 support. Despite this, the gem supports Vulkan 1.0. Data transmission is also limited to dual-band 802.11 Wi-Fi. Thus, smartphones on this mobile processor will be a great option for video recording enthusiasts.

5 Snapdragon 845

The most powerful and most widely used processor
Country: China
Average price: 21 490 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.7

This processor uses universal computing cores of its own production, and not the reference one from ARM. New 10nm LPP FinFET process technology , allows you to get a larger performance gain, in contrast to the 10 nm LPE FinFET. The best combination mass production, performance and cost have made the processor the most popular among manufacturers.

It inherited from the 835 model all the same eight-core architecture. The configuration here consists of 4 energy-efficient cores with a frequency of up to 1.8 GHz for simple tasks and 4 high-performance powerful cores with a frequency of up to 2.8 GHz, which is higher than the previous generation. In the synthetic Antutu test, it scored 270,461 points, which is higher than the 835. The Adreno 630 mobile video accelerator is one of the most powerful on the market and performs well when working with graphics, providing a high-quality image to the smartphone user.

4 Kirin 980

7 nm process technology
Country: China
Average price: 76 990 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.7

Kirin 980 is ahead of its time with the best technical innovations, including:

  • An innovative approach to the creation of the basic architecture of the processor and the latest mobile chipset with a 7 nanometer process technology;
  • Use in the architecture of the Cortex-A76 core;
  • Two neural network modules in a chip;
  • Mali-G76 graphics;
  • Integrated Cat.21 modem with data rates up to 1.4Gbps;
  • Support random access memory LPDDR4X format with a frequency of 2133 MHz.

Thanks to the transition to a 7-PNM technical process, productivity has grown by 20%, and energy savings by 40%. At the same time, the density of placement of transistors increased 1.6 times. There are about 7 billion of them in total. This also had a positive effect on performance per core, which increased performance by 75%. Thus, the power of the component is enough to beat even one of the best and most powerful processors to date - Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 in synthetic tests like GeekBench.

3 Exynos 9810

Best processor from Samsung
Country: Vietnam
Average price: 51 490 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.8

New processor from Samsung displays the degree of interaction between the owner and his device on new level... Advanced technologies make it possible to identify objects or people for quick search or image classification. There is also the ability to scan the contours of the face to unlock the smartphone. As for the structure, the processor itself belongs to the 3rd and most the last generation in the ruler. It is characterized by extensive data processing capabilities and optimized cache memory. Eight cores are divided into "user" for common tasks and "resource-intensive" for "heavy" processes.

Thus, the processor performs excellently in all tests, demonstrating excellent computing power and smooth operation when running many processes with a minimum of power consumption. In addition, data transmission channels ( 1.2 Gbps and 200 Mbps respectively) provide comfortable data transmission of any format without loss of quality.

2 A11 Bionic

One of the most powerful chipsets in the world
Country: USA
Average price: 51 990 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.9

The fifth generation processor is 25% more powerful than the A10 version. It is manufactured using a 10 nm process technology, which, together with special technology increase energy efficiency by 70%. The performance gains can be attributed to the processor cores called Monsun and Mistral. This chipset has two additional cores and is capable of asymmetric multiprocessing. This means that it can use all six cores at the same time.

The processor is equipped with a new ASP which helps with the new portrait mode. Dual-parallel cores can process up to 600 billion operations per second and create effects even on video. Delightful Animoji are made available thanks to a powerful neural engine. In spite of excellent performance, this processor can be found only in smartphones from Apple, which is a significant disadvantage.

1 A12 Bionic

Best processor from Apple
Country: USA
Average price: 91,900 rubles.
Rating (2019): 5.0

The A12 version is considered the best and powerful processor in the world. When examining it, a balanced use of the area of ​​the lithographic plate without imbalance to one or another component is immediately thrown. The two large performance cores run at just under 2.5 GHz. Nearby is a monstrously large 8MB cache, divided into 4 clusters grouped into two blocks. The most notable change was the increase in the level 1 cache from 64 + 64 to 128 + 128. The 4 energy efficient tempest cores also have a L2 cache in two blocks, approximately per megabyte. The system cache has remained in place and is still moved outside the boundaries of the CPU. High-performance cores in the new iteration have become more powerful by 15%, and energy efficiency has increased to 50%.

The processor has a graphics accelerator with a block neural processing... It consists of 6 cores in a 2 + 4 configuration and performs up to 5 trillion operations per second, which is 9 times higher than the previous generation. This "stone" can be found in latest models smartphones IPhoneXS / XR, in addition, a variant of the chip with the index 12X is used in the iPad PRO.

That clock frequency is the most well-known parameter. Therefore, it is necessary to specifically deal with this concept. Also, within the framework of this article, we will discuss understanding clock frequency multi-core processors , because there are interesting nuances that not everyone knows and takes into account.

Enough long time the developers made their bets on increasing the clock frequency, but over time, the "fashion" has changed and most of the developments are spent on creating a more perfect architecture, increasing the cache memory and developing multi-core, but no one forgets about the frequency either.

What is CPU clock speed?

First you need to understand the definition of "clock frequency". The clock speed tells us how much the processor can perform calculations per unit of time. Accordingly, the higher the frequency, the more operations the processor can perform per unit of time. The clock speed of modern processors is generally 1.0-4 GHz. It is determined by multiplying the external or base frequency by a certain factor. For example, processor Intel Core The i7 920 uses a 133 MHz FSB and a multiplier of 20, resulting in a clock speed of 2660 MHz.

The frequency of the processor can be increased at home by overclocking the processor. There are special models of processors from AMD and Intel, which are focused on overclocking by the manufacturer itself, for example, the Black Edition from AMD and the K-series line from Intel.

I want to note that when buying a processor, the frequency should not be a decisive factor in your choice, because only part of the processor's performance depends on it.

Understanding Clock Speed ​​(Multi-Core Processors)

Nowadays, there are no single-core processors left in almost all market segments. Well, it is logical, because the IT industry does not stand still, but is constantly moving forward with leaps and bounds. Therefore, you need to clearly understand how the frequency is calculated for processors that have two or more cores.

Visiting many computer forums, I noticed that there is a common misconception about understanding (calculating) the frequencies of multi-core processors. Immediately I will give an example of this incorrect reasoning: "There is a 4-core processor with a clock frequency of 3 GHz, so its total clock frequency will be: 4 x 3GHz = 12 GHz, right?" - No, not like that.

I will try to explain why the total processor frequency cannot be understood as: “the number of cores NS the specified frequency ".

Let me give you an example: “A pedestrian is walking along the road, his speed is 4 km / h. This is analogous to a single core processor on N GHz. But if 4 pedestrians are walking along the road at a speed of 4 km / h, then this is similar to a 4-core processor on N GHz. In the case of pedestrians, we do not believe that their speed will be 4x4 = 16 km / h, we just say: "4 pedestrians are walking at a speed of 4 km / h"... For the same reason, we do not perform any mathematical operations with the frequencies of the processor cores, but simply remember that the 4-core processor is N GHz has four cores, each of which operates at a frequency N GHz ".

Historically, the clock frequency of the processor is the main indicator of the speed of a computer, and at one time even an uneducated person who did not know how optical disc differs from flexible, I could say with confidence that the more gigahertz in the car, the better, and no one would argue with him. Today, in the middle of the computer era, this kind of fashion has passed, and developers are trying to move towards creating a more perfect architecture, increasing the amount of cache memory and the amount processor cores but the clock speed is the queen of performance. V general sense, this is the number of elementary operations (clock cycles) that the processor can perform per second of time.

It follows from this that the higher the clock frequency of the processor, the more elementary operations the computer can perform, and, therefore, the faster it works.

The clock speed of advanced processors ranges from two to four gigahertz. It is determined by multiplying the processor bus frequency by a certain factor. For example, the Core i7 uses a x20 multiplier and has a 133MHz bus speed, resulting in a processor clock speed of 2660MHz.

Modern and Kernels

Despite the fact that previously "multicore" was a novelty, today there are practically no single-core processors left on the market. And there is nothing surprising in this, because the computer industry does not stand still.

Therefore, you should be clear about how the clock speed is calculated for processors with two or more cores.

It is worth saying that there is a common misconception about calculating the frequency for such processors. For example: "You have a dual-core processor with a clock speed of 1.8 GHz, therefore, its total frequency will be 2 x 1.8 GHz = 3.6 GHz, right?" No, it’s wrong. Unfortunately, the number of cores does not affect the final clock speed in any way, if your processor was running at 3 GHz, it will work this way, but with more cores, its resources will increase, and this, in turn, will greatly increase performance.

It should also be remembered that the amount of cache memory is especially important for a modern processor. This is the fastest computer memory, in which working information is duplicated, for which more fast access v this moment time.

Since this one is very expensive and time consuming to manufacture, its values ​​are relatively small, but these indicators are enough to increase the performance of the entire system without changing parameters such as clock frequency.

Maximum CPU clock speed and overclocking

No matter how good your computer is, it will eventually become outdated. But do not rush to carry it to the trash and run to the nearest electronics store with an open wallet. Most modern processors and video cards provide for additional (in addition to the factory) overclocking, and, having good system cooling, you can raise the nominal frequency level by 200-300 GHz. For extreme lovers and fans of big numbers, there is also "overclocking" calling to squeeze the maximum out of the technique. Many people involved in such a dangerous business can easily overclock a single-core processor up to 6-7 GHz, and some even set a record figure of 8.2 GHz.

As you know, the clock speed of a processor is the number of operations performed as such per unit of time, in this case, per second.

But this definition is not enough to fully understand what this concept really means and what meaning it has for us, ordinary users.

There are many articles on the Internet about this, but all of them are missing something.

More often than not, this "something" is the very key that can open the door to understanding.

Therefore, we tried to collect all the basic information, as if it were puzzles, and make up a single integral picture from them.

Content:

Detailed definition

So, clock speed is the number of operations a processor can perform per second. This value is measured in Hertz.

This unit of measurement is named after a famous scientist who conducted experiments aimed at studying periodic, that is, repeating processes.

And where is Hertz to operations in a second?

This question arises when reading most of the articles in people who did not study physics very well in school (maybe through no fault of their own).

The fact is that this unit just denotes the frequency, that is, the number of repetitions, of these very periodic processes per second.

It allows you to measure not only the number of operations, but also all kinds of other indicators. For example, if you make 3 entries per second, then the breathing rate is 3 Hertz.

As for the processors, a variety of operations can be performed here, which boil down to the calculation of certain parameters.

Actually, the number of calculations of these same parameters per second is called.

Simple as that!

In practice, the concept of "Hertz" is used extremely rarely, more often we hear about megaHertz, kiloHertz, and so on. Table 1 shows the "decryption" of these values.

Table 1. Symbols

The former and the latter are used extremely rarely at present.

That is, if you hear that it has 4 GHz, then it can perform 4 billion operations every second.

Far from it! To date, this is the average. Surely, very soon we will hear about models with a frequency of teraHertz or even more.

How is formed

So in it there are the following devices:

  • clock resonator- is an ordinary quartz crystal, enclosed in a special protective container;
  • clock generator- a device that converts one type of vibration into another;
  • metal cover;
  • data bus;
  • textolite backing to which all other devices are attached.

So, a quartz crystal, that is, a clock resonator, oscillates due to the supply of voltage. As a result, fluctuations in the electric current are formed.

A clock generator is attached to the substrate, which converts electrical vibrations into pulses.

They are transferred to the data buses, and thus the result of the calculations goes to the user.

This is exactly the way the clock frequency is obtained.

I wonder what about of this concept there are a lot of misconceptions, in particular, regarding the relationship between nuclei and frequency. Therefore, this is also worth talking about.

How frequency is related to nuclei

The core is, in fact, the processor. This means the same crystal that makes the entire device perform certain operations.

That is, if there are two cores in one model or another, this means that it has two crystals that are connected to each other using a special bus.

According to a common misconception, the more cores, the higher the frequency. It's not for nothing that developers are now trying to fit more and more cores into them. But this is not the case. If it is 1 GHz, even if it has 10 cores, it will remain 1 GHz and will not become 10 GHz.

The fact is that each core performs its own specific function and takes on part of the total load on the processor.

It happens that, due to the large number of cores, the device will work even slower, since the bus that connects them will not withstand the load due to poor quality. Although this is extremely rare.

This can be illustrated by simple example... If 4 people are walking along the road at a speed of 4 km / h, this does not mean that all together they are walking at a speed of 16 km / h (4 * 4).

They all move at a speed of 4 km / h.

If you have any questions, ask them in the comments. We will be happy to answer!

In times when mobile phones were thick and black and white, the processors were single-core, and the gigahertz seemed an insurmountable bar (20 years ago), the only characteristic for comparing the power of the CPU was the clock frequency. A decade later, the second important characteristic was the number of cores. Nowadays, a smartphone less than a centimeter thick contains more cores, and the clock frequency is higher than a simple PC of those years. Let's try to figure out what affects the processor clock speed.

The processor frequency affects the speed at which the processor transistors (and there are hundreds of millions of them inside the chip) switch. It is measured in the number of switches per second and is expressed in millions or billions of hertz (megahertz or gigahertz). One hertz is one switching of the processor transistors per second, therefore, one gigahertz is one billion such switching in the same time. For one switch, to put it simply, the kernel does one mathematical operation.

Following the usual logic, we can come to the conclusion that the higher the frequency, the faster the transistors in the cores switch, the sooner the problems are solved. That is why in the past, when the bulk of processors were essentially improved Intel x86, architectural differences were minimal, and it was clear that the higher the clock frequency, the faster the calculations. But over time, everything changed.

Is it possible to compare the frequencies of different processors

In the 21st century, developers have taught their processors to process more than one instruction per clock cycle. Therefore, processors with the same clock rate, but based on different architectures, provide different levels of performance. Intel Core i5 2 GHz and Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 2 GHz are two different things. Although the second core has more, it will be weaker in difficult tasks. Therefore, the very frequency of different types of cores cannot be compared; it is also important to take into account the specific performance (the number of instruction executions per clock cycle).

If we draw an analogy with cars, then the clock frequency is the speed in km / h, and specific productivity- carrying capacity in kg. If a car (an ARM processor for a smartphone) and a dump truck (an x86 chip for a PC) are driving nearby, then at the same speed, a car will carry a couple of hundred kilos at a time, and a truck - several tons. If we talk about different types cores specifically for smartphones (Cortex A53, Cortex A72, Qualcomm Kryo) - these are all cars, but with different capacities. Accordingly, the difference here will no longer be so huge, but also significant.

You can only compare the clock speeds of cores on the same architecture. For example, MediaTek MT6750 and Qualcomm Sanapdragon 625 each have 8 Cortex A53 cores. But at MTK their frequency is up to 1.5 GHz, and at Kualkomm - 2 GHz. Consequently, the second processor will run approximately 33% faster. But the Qualcomm Snapdragon 652, although it has a frequency of up to 1.8 GHz, is faster than the 625 model, since it uses more powerful Cortex A72 cores.

What gives a high processor frequency in a smartphone

As we have already found out, the higher the clock frequency, the faster the processor works. Consequently, the performance of a smartphone with a higher-frequency chipset will be higher. If one smartphone processor contains 4 Kryo cores at 2 GHz, and the second - 4 of the same Kryo cores at 3 GHz, then the second will be about 1.5 times faster. This will speed up the launch of applications, reduce turn-on time, allow faster processing of heavy sites in the browser, etc.

However, when choosing a smartphone with high processor frequencies, you should also remember that the higher they are, the more power consumption is. Therefore, if the manufacturer clocked up more gigahertz, but did not optimize the device properly, it may overheat and enter "throttling" (forced reset of frequencies). Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, for example, suffered from such a disadvantage at one time.

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