CompTIA Cloud+ (CV0-003) — Question 204

A systems administrator is reviewing two CPU models for a cloud deployment. Both CPUs have the same number of cores/threads and run at the same clock speed. Which of the following will BEST identify the CPU with more computational power?

Answer options

• A. Simultaneous multithreading
• B. Bus speed
• C. L3 cache
• D. Instructions per cycle

Correct answer: D

Explanation

Instructions per cycle (IPC) is a critical metric for assessing a CPU's performance, as it indicates how many instructions can be processed in a single clock cycle. While simultaneous multithreading, bus speed, and L3 cache also affect performance, they do not provide as direct a measure of computational power as IPC does.