One of the first things I used to notice while going through the specs of a CPU was its clock speed, because it seemed like an easy way to judge single-core performance at first glance. Modern CPUs list both base and boost clock speeds on the spec sheet, but until recently, I always prioritized the latter as a gamer. It felt natural to a**ume that higher boost clocks meant better performance in the games I play. After all, if one CPU claims to hit 4.8 GHz while another tops out at 4.5 GHz, the difference should be obvious, right?