With regards to the 336, the CPU (Central Processing Unit) has limitations wrt the maximum clock frequency it can operate at. When the power supply voltage decreases or if the temperature increase/decreases (depends on technology such as CMOS etc) the maximum clock frequency will become lower. The CPU clock is directly proportional to the ring oscillator clock frequency and the CPU probably has a combination of dividers and multipliers to convert the ring oscillator clock to its desired frequency. If the environment changes then ring oscillator frequency also needs to change proportionally and in the same direction since the combination of dividers and multipliers will remain the same ie if CPU clock limit goes down then ring oscillator clock frequency has to go down proportionally and the same when the CPU clock limit goes up.

You can use the judge and his wife walking as an example. IF they have to be walking side by side and the judge is taller, then if the judge walks faster then in order to walk side by side his wife has to walk faster as well not slower.So direction does matter.

The only way direction will not matter in the case of the 336 architecture is if the combination of dividers and multipliers are different each time the environment changes and in this case that scenario does not apply.