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

Imagine your computer is like a really fast mailman, and it needs to deliver lots of letters (data) to different places on the internet. The computer’s clock speed (measured in GHz) is like how fast the mailman can walk or run. So, if the mailman can run at 5 billion steps per second, that’s really fast!

Now, think of the internet like a superhighway where the letters need to travel. Just like cars can go really fast on a highway, the internet can carry lots of data very quickly.

When you hear about 100Gbit internet, it means the internet highway can carry 100 billion letters (bits of data) every second. Even though the mailman (your computer) can run at 5 billion steps per second, the internet highway is so much faster that it can handle all those letters from many, many computers at the same time.

So, your computer can send and receive lots of data because the internet highway is incredibly speedy, even though your computer itself might not be as fast as the internet highway.