For the throughput of a computer the clock frequency is at least as important as the number of cores, the IPC (instructions per clock cycle) and the amount of work done by one instruction.
Were it not for the fact that increasing the clock frequency increases the power consumption more than the throughput, clock frequency would have been the most important factor, because increasing any of the other factors increases the throughput by less than their increment, due to various inefficiencies or because not all applications can benefit from those improvements.
For the computer user only the total throughput matters, not how it is achieved.
Were it not for the fact that increasing the clock frequency increases the power consumption more than the throughput, clock frequency would have been the most important factor, because increasing any of the other factors increases the throughput by less than their increment, due to various inefficiencies or because not all applications can benefit from those improvements.
For the computer user only the total throughput matters, not how it is achieved.