Cache Memory

One item that can play a big role in a PC's performance is processor cache. Cache memory is random access memory (RAM) that a computer microprocessor can access more quickly than it can access regular RAM. As the microprocessor processes data, it looks first in the cache memory and if it finds the data there (from a previous reading of data), it does not have to do the more time-consuming reading of data from main memory or even slower, the disk.

Cache memory is sometimes described in levels of closeness and accessibility to the microprocessor. A level-1 (L1) cache is on the same chip as the microprocessor. Level-2 cache is usually a separate static RAM (SRAM) chip. The main RAM is usually a dynamic RAM (DRAM) chip. SRAM does not have to be electromagnetically refreshed as DRAM does, and is therefore more expensive. A popular SRAM (or cache memory) size is 1048 kilobytes (1 megabyte).

Return to Components