why does CPUs/CPU cores seem to be capped at 3 – 4 Ghz since almost a decade?
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CPUs come with a base clock of between 3 – 4 GHz because it’s most efficient. As you increase clock speeds you must increase voltage as well. Part of the power equation is Voltage ^ 2, meaning that when you increase voltage a little, it impacts power draw more than increasing current or capacitance. More power draw equals hotter processors, but with Lithographic node shrinks you can lower the voltage needed to flip a transistor a little, freeing up more voltage to be used to push clocks higher, hence the “new node = more efficiency at the same clocks” or “new node = higher clocks at the same power level”.
TL;DR, it’s to cut down on power use. My Intel i7-11700k is built on 14nm+++ and uses 95W when clocked at 3.6GHz (it’s base clock) and draws 220W when clocked at 5.0GHz (boost clock that I’ve set to run indefinitely).
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