High speed RAM which is used by the computer processor to store often-used operations for the purpose of taking less time to perform large computational tasks
Questions tagged [cpu-cache]
54 questions
50
votes
7 answers
Why has the size of L1 cache not increased very much over the last 20 years?
The Intel i486 has 8 KB of L1 cache. The Intel Nehalem has 32 KB L1 instruction cache and 32 KB L1 data cache per core.
The amount of L1 cache hasn't increased at nearly the rate the clockrate has increased.
Why not?
eleven81
- 16,182
44
votes
6 answers
Where exactly L1, L2 and L3 Caches located in computer?
Where exactly L1, L2 and L3 Caches Located in computer ?
I know, we use Cache to increase performance by picking DATA and INSTRUCTIONS from Cache rather than Main Memory.
Following are my questions
Where exactly L1 Cache located ? .
is on the CPU…
siva
18
votes
3 answers
When is CPU cache flushed back to main memory?
If I have a CPU with two cores, each core has it's own L1 cache, is it possible that Core1 and Core2 caches a same part of memory at the same time?
If it is possible, what the value of the main memory will be if both Core1 and Core2 have edited…
MeloS
- 293
17
votes
1 answer
Why is SRAM faster than DRAM?
In modern multi-core processors, the processor caches (L1,L2 and L3) are made up of SRAM with decreasing speeds(L2 caches are higher speed SRAM than L3 caches which is a cost trade-off). The main reason to use SRAM is its speed advantage over the…
Geek
- 1,611
14
votes
1 answer
Processors cache L1, L2 and L3 are all made of SRAM?
Are Processor caches L1, L2 and L3 all made of SRAM? If true, why L1 is faster than L2 and L2 is faster than L3? I did not understand this part when I read about them.
Acaz Souza
- 231
14
votes
2 answers
L2 and L3 Cache Difference?
While I understand that the computer cache is:
A CPU cache is a cache used by the central processing unit of a computer to reduce the average time to access memory. The cache is a smaller, faster memory which stores copies of the data from the most…
L84
- 3,911
13
votes
4 answers
Is whatever I see on the Internet temporarily present in the RAM?
Whatever I browse on the Internet, whatever page, is stored in the browser cache on my HDD. The browser cache is stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder on the C drive on the HDD. But was it also stored temporarily (at the time when I browsed…
Yashveer Singh
- 149
8
votes
6 answers
Is the cache size or number of cores more important when weighing CPU performance?
I'm shopping for a laptop for my son to use for school, so it doesn't need to be a gaming machine. I've put together PC's from scratch before, but it's been a while.
I've noticed that a number of the available entry-level machines are equipped…
David
- 381
8
votes
4 answers
Can I increase the L2 cache memory of my CPU?
I noticed that my laptop seems to have 4x the amount of "L2 cache memory" than my desktop, is that normal?
laptop: Intel Core Duo CPU T2450 @ 2.00GHz, L2 cache memory 2 MB, system bus 533 MHz
desktop: Intel Celeron D CPU 347 3.06GHz, bus 533 MHz,…
Edward Tanguay
- 14,615
7
votes
1 answer
Why do we need multiple levels of cache memory?
In general a cache memory is useful because the speed of the processor is higher than the speed of the ram (they are both increasing in speed but the difference still remains). So reducing the number of memory accesses is desiderable to increase…
Kami
- 175
7
votes
2 answers
What is a processor cache?
I recently downloaded CPU-Z just to check things out, and saw a tab marked Cache on it. It shows what appears to be different memory sizes, and I have seen processors being advertised with an X sized cache. What is the function of this, and how big…
Simon Sheehan
- 9,204
7
votes
1 answer
What does L4 cache hold on some CPUs?
All modern multi-core CPUs have at least a three-level cache (refer to Why do we need multiple levels of cache memory?).
L1 is the fastest and smallest, L2 has slightly more latency but is larger, and L3 holds data that is shared among all cores in…
MathuSum Mut
- 119
6
votes
2 answers
How can I get to know CPU cache size on Windows 7
WMIC CPU command displays a lot of information about the CPUs on a machine. It only displays the information about L3 cache, is there a way to figure out the size of L1 and L2 caches using a command or a tool on Windows 7?
coder_bro
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6
votes
3 answers
L2 Vs. L3 CPU cache speed and performance
In the past few years, looking at Intel CPUs, there has been a move from large size L2 cache to large size L3 cache.
A lot of this is due to having more cores on the CPU and wanting to share the cache between them (an L3 advantage).
But supposing I…
thedrs
- 334
6
votes
1 answer
How is the micro-op cache tagged?
According to Real World Technologies’ article on “Intel’s Sandy Bridge Microarchitecture”:
“Sandy Bridge’s uop cache is organized into 32 sets and 8 ways, with 6 uops per line, for a total of 1.5K uops capacity. The uop cache is strictly included…
Lewis Kelsey
- 590