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

Lots of answers here are missing the point of the question.

While they’re correct that the 5ghz is referring to the CPU’s speed (how many operations it can do per second), the transfer of files from the network adapter to the hard drive is only STARTED by the CPU.

The CPU doesn’t usually move the data itself.
Instead, the adapter talks to the hard disk/RAM directly via something called “direct memory access”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_memory_access

EDIT: Lots of great replies and clarifications to my simplified explanation