Has clock speed outlived its usefulness as a processor specification?

There was once a time when a processor ran at a single, set clock speed. It ran at that speed all day, every day, unless it was purposely over or under-clocked by a user. In this simpler time there was no question what you’d receive when you bought a CPU. A 1GHz chip ran at 1GHz, end of story.

Today, though, the story is more complex. Intel introduced Turbo Boost, a dynamic, automatic over-clocking feature, in 2008, and it’s become more and more common since. Most processors sold today change their clock speed based on power draw and thermal headroom.