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 100Gb connection goes into specislised router hardware, not a generic PC / server. No single device is pushing 12GB/src of traffic.

The PC is working on 64-bit wide registers at that speed, not single bits. Intel x86 hardware takes several clocks per operation and push to main RAM is a fraction of that speed.