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Absolutely not. In fact, it's often largely irrelevent!

Pentium4 at 3.4 GHz is actually less than 1/4 the power of an Intel i7 at 2.2 GHz, for example.

Many different things dictate the speed of a processor. The frequency (or clock speed) is only one of these- Two identical processors, one 2.2 and one 2.4 GHz, the 2.4 GHz will be slightly faster. But make any other changes and the formula is different.

Generally, the biggest impact is the number of CPU cores the processor has. Each core is effectively an individual CPU on the processor. So a dual-core is effectively 2 CPUs, compared to a single-core. And thus roughly twice the power.

Secondly is the frontside bus. This is the speed at which the CPU can communicate with other components of the computer. A slow FSB will cause the CPU to have trouble keeping up with other devices, such as RAM.

Thirdly is the CPU Cache. The more L1, L2, and L3 cache you have, the better. Although there are some exceptions, it's a fair general rule.

Fourthly are instruction sets. Newer CPUs have more instruction sets, such as SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4, and so on. Newer instruction sets allow the same CPU to do the same work in less time, with less effort and resources.

Fifthly is the construction technique. CPUs constructed in smaller scales (such as 45nm versus 65nm) are able to fit more in the same space, and also have less physical distance between CPU components, thus increasing it's response time.

Other factors also are involved, such as if it's 64-bit or 32-bit. However it should be noted that unsimilar CPUs CANNOT BE COMPARED based on their configuration. IE, an IBM CPU cannot be compared to an Intel x86 CPU, because they work fundamentally different. This is why consoles and PCs act so differently on their capabilities.

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