Internal vs External speed?

[mikehende]

I searched all over the net and can't find anything at all explaining the following, can anyone please explain to me what is meant by both "Internal" and "External" speed when referring to a pc's speed? Thanks.

[dbarrow]

You got me stumped on this... can you post the quote or question in full context?
Is "external" referring to network transfer speeds, internet speeds, modem speeds?
I would say "internal" would generally be considered clock speed of the processor, ie: "It's a 3.4"

[mikehende]

"looks" like I got the answer here DBarrow

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=83145#post83145

Can you do me a favor please and double check his reply letting me know if it's accurate before I transfer some of it's content to an index card? Thanks.

p.s. If you don't have the time then no problem at all, from now on I will try to give more info when I am posting so everyone will not have to guess what I am asking about [sorry].

[kern]

certforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=83145#post83145

Can you do me a favor please and double check his reply letting me know if it's accurate before I transfer some of it's content to an index card? Thanks.

the "internal" cpu speed is determined by the number of clock cycles at which the cpu's system crystal can operate. clock multiplying is used to increase the internal clock speed of the cpu, to improve system performance.
the "external" speed of the cpu is determined by the speed of the system bus (external data bus & address bus).

[mikehende]

Alright Kern, appreciate the reply, let us compare the 2 answers I have gotten, yours and this

"I think you're referring to the CPU speed,but correct me if I'm wrong.

You may have a motherboard that runs at 133Mhz for example,this would be your external speed you refer to.

You may have an xyz123 processor fitted to that motherboard.133Mhz would be pretty slow for all the calculations the CPU has to cope with,so the CPU uses a MULTIPLIER to give a much higher 'internal' speed,where internal refers to the CPU speed.

You will come across processors with,for example,a 10 X multiplier.That means the INTERNAL cpu speed is 10 X the motherboards external speed.

Motherboard=133Mhz external
CPU multiplier is 10 X,so 10 X 133 would give an internal speed of 1330Mhz or 1.3Ghz."

From what I can gather comparing the 2 posts, it seems to me that you're both saying the same thing concerning "Internal" speed but I think your answers are different when it comes to "External" speed? Care to comment Kern and/or anyone else?

[kern]

Alright Kern, appreciate the reply, let us compare the 2 answers I have gotten, yours and this

"I think you're referring to the CPU speed,but correct me if I'm wrong.

You may have a motherboard that runs at 133Mhz for example,this would be your external speed you refer to.

You may have an xyz123 processor fitted to that motherboard.133Mhz would be pretty slow for all the calculations the CPU has to cope with,so the CPU uses a MULTIPLIER to give a much higher 'internal' speed,where internal refers to the CPU speed.

You will come across processors with,for example,a 10 X multiplier.That means the INTERNAL cpu speed is 10 X the motherboards external speed.

Motherboard=133Mhz external
CPU multiplier is 10 X,so 10 X 133 would give an internal speed of 1330Mhz or 1.3Ghz."

From what I can gather comparing the 2 posts, it seems to me that you're both saying the same thing concerning "Internal" speed but I think your answers are different when it comes to "External" speed? Care to comment Kern and/or anyone else?

same thing, just stated differently:
cpu external speed = speed of motherboard system bus.

[mikehende]

Got it! Appreciate it Kern!