clock rate

Frequency of a computer's internal electronic clock. Every computer contains an electronic clock, which produces a sequence of regular electrical pulses used by the control unit to synchronize the components of the computer and regulate the fetch-execute cycle by which program instructions are processed.

A fixed number of time pulses is required in order to execute each particular instruction. The speed at which a computer can process instructions therefore depends on the clock rate: increasing the clock rate will decrease the time required to complete each particular instruction.

Clock rates are measured in megahertz (MHz), or millions of pulses a second. Microcomputers commonly have a clock rate of 8-100 MHz. The overall performance of a microcomputer depends on many factors in addition to the clock rate.