Hello, everyone! I’ve been doing some research into computer hardware lately, and one thing that I keep coming across is this idea that the speed of a processor, while important, isn’t the only thing that affects a computer’s overall performance. I’m having a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around this because I always thought that a faster processor meant a faster computer. Can anyone explain why this isn’t necessarily the case? I’m really interested to learn more about this!
In: 97
#ELI5
Your car has the highest-horsepower engine that money can buy. Vroom vroom!
But you put the [smallest possible wheels](https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/XeoVl/s1/renders-of-cars-with-tiny-wheels.jpg) on your car.
Does that analogy help?
What good is all that horsepower if the wheels are so tiny that you can’t go fast?
A computer is more than just a processor. The processor speed matters, for sure, but:
* Data has to get TO the processor. How fast is the conduit to the processor?
* Data has to get out FROM the processor. Again, how fast is the conduit?
* How FAR is the conduit? One reason computers have gotten faster is because the distance between the processor and other things is very small. Less distance to travel means faster travel time.
* You need memory, and its speed matters too. Also the amount of memory.
* You need a hard drive too. What if your hard drive can’t read/write very fast?
Putting the strongest engine in your car, is meaningless if you have itty-bitty wheels. Also meaningless if your air intake is too small and not enough air gets to the engine. Also meaningless if the transmission isn’t built to handle all that horsepower.
Similarly, the processor is just one component of a system. Beefing up one part of the system doesn’t necessarily mean the entire system will be better.
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