Which is better a high cpu speed or a lower cpu speed?

CPU - Central Processing Unit
http://www.oempcworld.com/support/Memory_Access_vs_CPU_Speed.htm

Nowadays, all the CPUs are measured in Gigahertz (GHz). 

CPU is the place where all the actual computing is done. The higher
speed performs faster result in computing. However the rest of
components (so far) can't catch up the speed with CPU due to the
technology limitation.

To answer the question, higher is faster. Faster is generally considered better.
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This is a free comment.

Define the criteria for 'better'

CPU- 

Speed doesn't really matter when deciding which processor to have
although it cud help slightly. The thing that matters when it comes to
CPU's is the architecture (architecture- the way in-which the cpu is
built and how each part works). Take for example an 'AMD' CPU. The AMD
Athlon FX-53 runs at a pocessing speed of around 2 to 2.2GHz, then
compare this to an Intel P4 processor that runs at 2.2 and higher, the
'AMD' still has alot 'better' performance. So the question to ask
yourself when deciding which cpu, is how good is it's performance.

A while ago intel decided that they would stop doing the P3
architecture and they made a new one, P4. They thought that they would
be able to continually increase its speed up to 10GHz. They where
wrong, and by the time they relised that there older architecture
(with alterations) could perform 'better', AMD was storming ahead with
a new breed of cpu's, 'athlon'. Intel's plans now state that they are
going to mold a new architecture and it WILL include parts of the P3
architecture.

Final thought- Speed is not everything but performance is. AMD is my
reccomended CPU to anyone. Plus they can be a lot cheaper and your
computer doesn't overheat to the extremes (unlike when using an Intel
P4)

Faster CPUs (with higher speeds) tend to give off more heat, so if you
want a low-noise computer rather than one where you hear a loud fan
all the time, a slower one may be better. Note that even slow CPUs
these days are often fast enough for things such as word processing or
surfing the web / sending email.

Also, as others have noted, speed does not equal performance. CPU
speed is usually measured in MHz or GHz which means millions or (US)
billions of instructions per second: but the work that can be done
during one such instruction varies depending on the CPU architecture.

So if CPU A can process 2 billion instructions per second and CPU B
can process only 1.5 billion but can do twice as much work per
instruction as CPU A, then CPU B will be "faster" even though its GHz
number is lower.

It realy depend on how you will use it. If you want to make a soop out
of it the slow CPU is better. High CPU speed is better for the target
practice at 100 yard range in 5.56 caliber nato.

U need to look at 3 things processing power, front side bus speed, and
nano second processing time. its better to have a slow processing
power with faster FBS and NSP then a faster processor and slow FSB,
and slow NSP. u also should look at the core used in that CPU to see
how hot it can get to make sure u have the proper cooling system for
it.

Hi,

A higher CPU with lots of RAM is better.

Cheers!!!
Sanjay

You didn't say what you want to do with your CPU, so I am going to
assume you are just looking for general purpose computing CPU
recommendations.

The answer is that most any recent vintage CPU will work well.  I'll
define recent vintage as being 3 years or younger ok?

So what's better?  The price.  You don't want to overpay for basic
computing.  This means you really should ignore CPU speed and
concentrate on other elements of the computer.  If you have to make
tradeoffs do the following:

get more RAM in trade for high CPU speed,

invest in a quality computer over high cpu speed,

make support a priority over both.