Are these claims about modern CPUs and AES decryption true?
According to the InfoSec-themed Twitter account @SwiftOnSecurity, on a single tweet that is part of a larger thread seen here:
Fun fact: A modern CPU can decrypt AES at several gigabytes per second, at like 3% usage. Seriously this isn't even a consideration anymore.
I find this hard to believe based on my own experiences of using several different programs to crack AES-encrypted WinRAR archives. All the programs I used averaged 200 passwords a second on my Dual-Core i3-2100, and took the better part of a day to work their way through a plain-text dictionary of a few million passwords, and always by pushing the CPU to its limits at 100% usage. Granted, the i3-2100 is no longer a modern CPU, so it's theoretically possible that newer CPUs have improved dramatically.
Is the average CPU produced in 2017 capable of decrypting AES at several gigabytes per second, would such a CPU be capable of doing so at just 3% of its usage?