If computer clocks max out somewhere around 5GHz, how is it possible for 100Gbit internet to exist? How does the computer possibly transfer that much data per second?

Question

If computer clocks max out somewhere around 5GHz, how is it possible for 100Gbit internet to exist? How does the computer possibly transfer that much data per second?

In: 591

Answer 1

The CPU is not directly involved in a transfer, as it does not do a calculation for every bit.

The CPU is used more for encrypting/decrypting the data you are streaming. That would indeed be a problem if you used a really long, oldschool RSA key, rather than a new, more efficient, short elliptic curves key, that requires fewer calculations. Then your CPU may not be able to handle gigabit transfer with a singlecore decryption/encryption process.

But that is taken care of behind the scenes. Ciphers are always evolving to become more efficient.