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Clock frequency (CPU) over time

Nominal operating clock. Says nothing about work done per cycle and must never be used as a proxy for performance across architectures.

Device scope
cpu
Method
Peak clock
Plotted in
hertz

Chart

4 figures from 4 machines, spanning 2011 to 2023. The lowest clock frequency here is 3.5 GHz (Sony PlayStation 5, 2020) and the highest is 6.0 GHz (Intel Core i9-14900K PC, 2023). That is a range of about 1.7× within one comparability group; the figures are plotted in Hz. Points use the release date of the machine the figure belongs to. The table below lists absent figures with their recorded reasons.

Data

One row per figure, in date order. Figures with no value stay in the table. The chart omits them because an unpublished figure is not a low one.

provisional A figure marked provisional is recorded but not accepted: its evidence is unsettled. It may rely on one source, an unconfirmed announcement, or a digit read from a damaged scan. The reason appears under the figure. The catalog shows the figure but never uses it in a multiplier. How records are judged.

Machine Released Figure Confidence Sources
Intel Core i7-2600K PC Intel Core i7-2600K January 2011 3.80 GHz Vendor-rated provisional
Sony PlayStation 5 Launch console November 2020 3.5 GHz Vendor-rated provisional
Valve Steam Deck Retail hardware February 2022 3.5 GHz Vendor-rated
Intel Core i9-14900K PC Intel Core i9-14900K October 2023 6.0 GHz Vendor-rated provisional
Intel 8086 PC Intel 8086 1978 not applicable The 8086 predates dynamic turbo modes; its selected speed grade is the nominal clock. not plotted —
Intel 80286 PC Intel 80286 1982 not applicable The 80286 predates dynamic turbo modes. not plotted —
Intel 80386DX PC Intel 80386DX 1985 not applicable The 80386DX predates dynamic turbo modes. not plotted —
Intel 80486DX PC Intel 80486DX 1989 not applicable The 80486DX predates dynamic turbo modes. not plotted —
Intel Pentium PC Intel Pentium 1993 not applicable The original Pentium predates dynamic turbo modes. not plotted —
Intel Pentium II PC Intel Pentium II 1997 not applicable The Pentium II predates dynamic turbo modes. not plotted —
Intel Pentium 4 PC Intel Pentium 4 2002 not applicable The selected Pentium 4 configuration predates Turbo Boost. not plotted —
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 PC Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 July 2006 not applicable The E6600 predates Intel Turbo Boost. not plotted —

Why this chart holds one group only

Every point on a chart is implicitly compared with every other point on it. This chart uses one comparability group: one metric, one device scope, one method . There is no chart of all clock frequencies over time because they are not one quantity.

Points use the release date of the machine a figure belongs to, including figures recorded against a part. A release date applies only to a machine that shipped. What this metric measures.