Some types of IO have been faster than CPU for quite a long time. For instance, a cache miss is typically about 200x slower than accessing data already in the r

Some types of IO have been faster than CPU for quite a long time. For instance, a cache miss is typically about 200x slower than accessing data already in the register file. What this means in practical terms is if you miss cache all the time (aren't garbage collected languages wonderful?) your 4GHz CPU turns into a 20MHz pumpkin (or thereabouts), and a fully sequential read from a modern _spinning drive_ (150+ MB/sec) could produce more throughput. A consumer-grade 10GbE NIC will leave it completely in the dust, as will USB3.