Clock speed for a processor is like the number of revolutions in a motor. If you compare a Ferrari to, say, the ship diesel of the largest container ship in the world, which one do you think will revolve faster? And which one will have more power?

The only time when clock speed will enter the picture is if you compare two absolutely identical processors. In this case (but only in this case) the processing power of the processors (not the system!) will almost linearly reflect the proportion of their clock speeds.

Further, "performance" is a synonym for "fitness for a defined purpose", not "being fast". If you compare a Ferrari, an SUV and a 40-tons-truck, which one is "performing best"? That depends on the purpose, the roads to be used, etc. If the road is only a gully in the forest the speed of the truck and the Ferrari is probably reduced to zero, while the SUV still can go at 20mph. If you have to transport 100 tons of cargo the truck will be probably the fastest, because it has to go only 3 times while the SUV has to go 200 times and the Ferrari probably 2000 times. If the road is an 8-lane-highway and there is no cargo to transport then probably the Ferrari is the fastest, etc.

As you see, as long as you don't define your purpose you can't compare any system. You could - instead of clock speed - as well compare weight, number of screws used to mount it in the rack or similar numbers. They are all equally meaningless.

At last, even if you have a defined purpose to base your comparison on, computer systems are highly complex, interdependent systems. To expect the change of one aspect of this system (the clock speed) to have a linear effect is naive at best. Suppose you are the new trainer of a World-Class soccer team. On your first day you see that the team trains every day for 3 hours and last year they have scored 40 goals over the season. If you double their training time to 6 hours a day, would you expect them to score 80 goals in the next season? Probably not.


I hope this helps.

bakunin