The clock rate describes the speed of the processor. It is indicated in Mhz (Megahertz)and describes the speed the processor quartz swings per second.
Current versions of the well-known processors like the AMD Athlon or the Intel Pentium possess a clock rate of more than one Gigahertz, thus more than 1024 Megahertz.
The clock rate serves for comparisons in speed between processors of one development stage of the same producer. The higher the rate, the faster the processor works. The number of Mhz of the processors of different producers (e.g. Athlon or Pentium) cannot be compared directly, because other components influence the speed as well.
In order to compare in such a case, the amount of MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) should be considered.

Please read also: Processor.






Clock Rate im deutschen Lexikon
Clock Rate in het nederlandse encyclopedie