Technology
What Is Impact of GPU Clock Speed on Your Gaming Experience?

Recent debates about whether or not higher-end graphics cards are needed to play most games effectively have focused mostly on two things: frame rate and quality settings. Some argue that high framerates are more important than graphical fidelity, while others say it is the other way around!
If you’re looking to maximize your gaming experience by investing in higher end GPUs then definitely check out our best graphics card reviews list here at BestGraphicsCardReviews.com. We have organized this list into three different tiers: budget, midrange, and enthusiast.
This article will talk about how much of a difference there is between various GPU clocked speeds and what effects they can have on gameplay. While having a faster GPU may seem like a luxury, some modes require a minimum speed to work properly. For example, when in 1080p resolution mode, many games only need a few hundred hertz (Hz) less than their highest setting to run well.
Fortunately, we have some hard numbers that tell us just how little difference 700 MHz – 1 GHz really make.
What is the difference between a graphics card and a CPU?
A graphics card is a physical component that is used to create and output images on a display device such as a monitor or television.
It is responsible for processing and displaying 3D graphics and other graphics-related tasks. A CPU (Central Processing Unit) is a physical component that is responsible for executing instructions in the form of programs. The CPU is responsible for calculating, processing, and managing data. It is the ‘brain’ of the computer.
How important is the graphics card’s clock speed?
The clock speed of a graphics card is an important factor in determining the performance of a computer. The clock speed of a graphics card is measured in megahertz (MHz), and it indicates how many instructions per second the card can process.
The higher the clock speed of a graphics card, the faster it can process instructions and the better its overall performance.
Clock speed also affects the amount of data (in megabytes per second) that a graphics card can transfer from system memory to the graphics processor. Having a faster memory transfer rate means that the graphics card can access more data quickly, which can lead to better performance when gaming or running other graphics-intensive applications.
Clock speed also affects the amount of power that a graphics card consumes. The higher the clock speed, the more power it will consume, so it’s important to consider the power requirements when selecting a graphics card.
Overall, the clock speed of a graphics card is an important factor in determining a computer’s performance. A graphics card with a higher clock speed will have better performance and will consume more power, so it’s important to consider these factors when selecting a graphics card.
What is the difference between a gaming laptop and a gaming desktop GPU?
The main difference between a gaming laptop and a gaming desktop is portability. A gaming laptop is a portable computer that allows you to play games on the go, while a gaming desktop is a stationary computer that is typically used in one location. A gaming laptop is usually smaller and thinner than a gaming desktop and usually has a shorter battery life, so it is not ideal for marathon gaming sessions.
The primary differences between a gaming laptop and a gaming desktop GPU are their size and power. A gaming laptop GPU is much smaller and less powerful than a gaming desktop GPU. This is because gaming laptops have to fit within the confines of a laptop design and there is only so much space to work with.
As a result, the gaming laptop GPU is typically a mobile version of the desktop GPU, with lower clock speeds and fewer cores. This means that it won’t be able to perform as well as the desktop GPU. In terms of power, the gaming desktop GPU typically has more power than the gaming laptop GPU.
This is because it has more cores and more clock speed, allowing it to process more data in less time. Additionally, gaming desktop GPUs are typically more expensive than gaming laptop GPUs, which is a reflection of their greater power.
GPU clock speed doesn’t impact frame rates
A lot of people get confused about how fast their GPU is because it isn’t just one thing. It’s not only determined by the boost mode, or whether or not you have V-Sync enabled, but also what games you are playing and what settings you use in those games.
The base (or reference) graphics card clock speeds typically don’t change much from brand to brand or model to model. That means if you buy a GeForce GTX 1080, for example, it will usually run at around 1125MHz while the AMD Radeon RX 480 runs around 1450MHz — even though one costs twice as much!
This is why some people think that having a higher clocked GPU makes your game run faster; however, it doesn’t. The extra MHz almost never make a difference unless there was an unexpected power increase when running at the same quality settings and vsync is off.
If this happens then the cards would draw more power, so they would be using slightly more energy per second instead of less, which is the opposite of what we want. This is why although buying a newer, faster GPU can seem like a good idea it won’t necessarily help with performance.
Higher clock speeds aren’t always better
Recent reports claim that higher clocked GPUs are actually not as efficient as lower-clocked cards of the same type. This is due to what’s called “throttling,” or limited speed mode used by most graphics card manufacturers these days.
Most high end graphics cards have two modes: gaming mode and power saving (or idle) mode. In gaming mode, the card will run at its highest possible performance level all the time, which can make it seem like more powerful than it really is.
By running in this overclockable mode almost all the time, even when you’re not playing games, it may be limiting how well your computer performs overall because you don’t use those settings very often.
This has been seen with recent Radeon RX series cards such as the 580 and 590, both of which come in 1080p low/medium quality settings but cost around $200 more than their non-overclockable counterparts!
So while they may look slightly faster in game, it could also mean that overall performance is slower because they’re using less effective settings more of the time. It depends on the person though, some people prefer having fast performing hardware so maybe it was worth it for you.
You should always pay attention to the other factors that impact a gaming system
Although some people will try to tell you that higher clock speeds are what matters most when it comes to gaming, this is not true!
There are several reasons why having a faster GPU does not matter much when it comes to games. First of all, even very powerful graphics cards have their limitations in terms of performance.
A second reason has to do with the type of game you play. Some types of games get optimized more thoroughly than others, which means they run better on lower-end GPUs.
This includes games that were designed to use features only available on low end hardware, as well as ones that actively downclock or throttle the GPU to work around its limitations.
Closing off another potential cause, newer games often are designed to take full advantage of every bit of power your GPU can supply, making them perform just as well if not slightly better on high-end GPUs.
Some games are more sensitive to clock speed than others
A few years ago, there was an argument that higher CPU clock speeds were necessary to run most games effectively. These arguments have mostly been debunked now, however.
Many gamers now believe that having a powerful graphics card is enough to run most current generation games smoothly, with the right settings. And while it’s true that newer games sometimes require faster CPUs, older games don’t!
It seems like some game developers make the processor work too hard, limiting performance potential. This is something you can avoid by just letting the graphics chip do its job already!
So what about those rare games that still seem to benefit from slightly better CPU performance? For these games, we could try increasing your CPU clock speed to see if this makes a difference for you.
But before you go crazy buying all of the new processors that claim to be “fastest,” remember that not every gamer benefits from boosting the clocks.
GPU clock speed isn’t everything, but it is something to consider
When it comes down to it, GPU clock speed doesn’t matter all that much when comparing similar graphics cards in terms of raw performance. This is because most of the time the software you are running will limit how fast your card can perform.
There was a time where doubling the GPU clock speed would result in twice as many frames being drawn per second, but those days are gone. Nowadays there are only so many megapixels (more pixels = higher quality images) a GPU can process per unit of time!
So while one may have a faster GPU than another by a few hundred MHz, it won’t make a difference until we run out of pixels to crunch. Before then, the extra GHz will just waste energy. Even if you had a supercharged GPU, it wouldn’t do anything about the software bottleneck.
That said, having a more powerful GPU can be very helpful in some situations such as when playing older games that use low-quality textures or models. Or maybe you like producing lots of artistic content and your GPU can handle it.
Always pay attention to the other factors that impact a gaming system
As we have seen, console gamers do not care too much about the speed of their GPUs as long as they can play games just like before. For them, graphics card performance is mostly dependent on two things: how many flashy effects they are able to run and whether or not the game looks good to them.
For computer gamers who want better graphical fidelity than consoles, then it makes sense to focus more on the first factor-how fast your GPU is running. After all, if you need higher frame rates, you will probably be playing faster games, which require faster frames to keep up with.
And while having a powerful CPU is always nice to enjoy some casual games, most hardcore games these days use strong GPUs instead. This means even when you take into account the slightly slower CPUs, there are very few cases where an underpowered GPU is the bottleneck in gaming.
Technology
Pintarnya raises $16.7M to power jobs and financial services in Indonesia

Pintarnya, an Indonesian employment platform that goes beyond job matching by offering financial services along with full-time and side-gig opportunities, said it has raised a $16.7 million Series A round.
The funding was led by Square Peg with participation from existing investors Vertex Venture Southeast Asia & India and East Ventures.
Ghirish Pokardas, Nelly Nurmalasari, and Henry Hendrawan founded Pintarnya in 2022 to tackle two of the biggest challenges Indonesians face daily: earning enough and borrowing responsibly.
“Traditionally, mass workers in Indonesia find jobs offline through job fairs or word of mouth, with employers buried in paper applications and candidates rarely hearing back. For borrowing, their options are often limited to family/friend or predatory lenders with harsh collection practices,” Henry Hendrawan, co-founder of Pintarnya, told TechCrunch. “We digitize job matching with AI to make hiring faster and we provide workers with safer, healthier lending options — designed around what they can reasonably afford, rather than pushing them deeper into debt.”
Around 59% of Indonesia’s 150 million workforce is employed in the informal sector, highlighting the difficulties these workers encounter in accessing formal financial services because they lack verifiable income and official employment documentation.
Pintarnya tackles this challenge by partnering with asset-backed lenders to offer secured loans, using collateral such as gold, electronics, or vehicles, Hendrawan added.
Since its seed funding in 2022, the platform currently serves over 10 million job seeker users and 40,000 employers nationwide. Its revenue has increased almost fivefold year-over-year and expects to reach break-even by the end of the year, Hendrawn noted. Pintarnya primarily serves users aged 21 to 40, most of whom have a high school education or a diploma below university level. The startup aims to focus on this underserved segment, given the large population of blue-collar and informal workers in Indonesia.
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“Through the journey of building employment services, we discovered that our users needed more than just jobs — they needed access to financial services that traditional banks couldn’t provide,” said Hendrawan. “We digitize job matching with AI to make hiring faster and we provide workers with safer, healthier lending options — designed around what they can reasonably afford, rather than pushing them deeper into debt.”

While Indonesia already has job platforms like JobStreet, Kalibrr, and Glints, these primarily cater to white-collar roles, which represent only a small portion of the workforce, according to Hendrawan. Pintarnya’s platform is designed specifically for blue-collar workers, offering tailored experiences such as quick-apply options for walk-in interviews, affordable e-learning on relevant skills, in-app opportunities for supplemental income, and seamless connections to financial services like loans.
The same trend is evident in Indonesia’s fintech sector, which similarly caters to white-collar or upper-middle-class consumers. Conventional credit scoring models for loans, which rely on steady monthly income and bank account activity, often leave blue-collar workers overlooked by existing fintech providers, Hendrawan explained.
When asked about which fintech services are most in demand, Hendrawan mentioned, “Given their employment status, lending is the most in-demand financial service for Pintarnya’s users today. We are planning to ‘graduate’ them to micro-savings and investments down the road through innovative products with our partners.”
The new funding will enable Pintarnya to strengthen its platform technology and broaden its financial service offerings through strategic partnerships. With most Indonesian workers employed in blue-collar and informal sectors, the co-founders see substantial growth opportunities in the local market. Leveraging their extensive experience in managing businesses across Southeast Asia, they are also open to exploring regional expansion when the timing is right.
“Our vision is for Pintarnya to be the everyday companion that empowers Indonesians to not only make ends meet today, but also plan, grow, and upgrade their lives tomorrow … In five years, we see Pintarnya as the go-to super app for Indonesia’s workers, not just for earning income, but as a trusted partner throughout their life journey,” Hendrawan said. “We want to be the first stop when someone is looking for work, a place that helps them upgrade their skills, and a reliable guide as they make financial decisions.”
Technology
OpenAI warns against SPVs and other ‘unauthorized’ investments

In a new blog post, OpenAI warns against “unauthorized opportunities to gain exposure to OpenAI through a variety of means,” including special purpose vehicles, known as SPVs.
“We urge you to be careful if you are contacted by a firm that purports to have access to OpenAI, including through the sale of an SPV interest with exposure to OpenAI equity,” the company writes. The blog post acknowledges that “not every offer of OpenAI equity […] is problematic” but says firms may be “attempting to circumvent our transfer restrictions.”
“If so, the sale will not be recognized and carry no economic value to you,” OpenAI says.
Investors have increasingly used SPVs (which pool money for one-off investments) as a way to buy into hot AI startups, prompting other VCs to criticize them as a vehicle for “tourist chumps.”
Business Insider reports that OpenAI isn’t the only major AI company looking to crack down on SPVs, with Anthropic reportedly telling Menlo Ventures it must use its own capital, not an SPV, to invest in an upcoming round.
Technology
Meta partners with Midjourney on AI image and video models

Meta is partnering with Midjourney to license the startup’s AI image and video generation technology, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang announced Friday in a post on Threads. Wang says Meta’s research teams will collaborate with Midjourney to bring its technology into future AI models and products.
“To ensure Meta is able to deliver the best possible products for people it will require taking an all-of-the-above approach,” Wang said. “This means world-class talent, ambitious compute roadmap, and working with the best players across the industry.”
The Midjourney partnership could help Meta develop products that compete with industry-leading AI image and video models, such as OpenAI’s Sora, Black Forest Lab’s Flux, and Google’s Veo. Last year, Meta rolled out its own AI image generation tool, Imagine, into several of its products, including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Meta also has an AI video generation tool, Movie Gen, that allows users to create videos from prompts.
The licensing agreement with Midjourney marks Meta’s latest deal to get ahead in the AI race. Earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on a hiring spree for AI talent, offering some researchers compensation packages worth upwards of $100 million. The social media giant also invested $14 billion in Scale AI, and acquired the AI voice startup Play AI.
Meta has held talks with several other leading AI labs about other acquisitions, and Zuckerberg even spoke with Elon Musk about joining his $97 billion takeover bid of OpenAI (Meta ultimately did not join the offer, and OpenAI denied Musk’s bid).
While the terms of Meta’s deal with Midjourney remain unknown, the startup’s CEO, David Holz, said in a post on X that his company remains independent with no investors; Midjourney is one of the few leading AI model developers that has never taken on outside funding. At one point, Meta talked with Midjourney about acquiring the startup, according to Upstarts Media.
Midjourney was founded in 2022 and quickly became a leader in the AI image generation space for its realistic, unique style. By 2023, the startup was reportedly on pace to generate $200 million in revenue. The startup sells subscriptions starting at $10 per month. It offers pricier tiers, which offer more AI image generations, that cost as much as $120 per month. In June, the startup released its first AI video model, V1.
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Meta’s partnership with Midjourney comes just two months after the startup was sued by Disney and Universal, alleging that it trained AI image models on copyrighted works. Several AI model developers — including Meta — face similar allegations from copyright holders, however, recent court cases pertaining to AI training data have sided with tech companies.
Got a sensitive tip or confidential documents? We’re reporting on the inner workings of the AI industry — from the companies shaping its future to the people impacted by their decisions. Reach out to Rebecca Bellan at [email protected] and Maxwell Zeff at [email protected]. For secure communication, you can contact us via Signal at @rebeccabellan.491 and @mzeff.88.
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