The clock rate is the funamental rate in cycles per second (measured in hertz) at which a computer performs its most basic operations such as adding two numbers or transferring a value from one processor register to another. More generally, it is the frequency of the clock in any synchronous circuit. Different chips on the motherboard may have different clock rates (see CPU multiplier, Memory divider). Usually when referring to a computer, the term "clock rate" is used to refer to the speed of the CPU.