COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS

COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE

MEMORY SYSTEMS

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
What is the fastest form of memory?
A
Level 1 cache
B
Level 2 cache
C
RAM
D
ROM
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -L1 cache is the fastest cache memory, since it is already built within the chip with a zero wait-state interface, making it the most expensive cache among the CPU caches .

Detailed explanation-2: -The first-level (L1) cache is small enough to provide a one-or two-cycle access time. The second-level (L2) cache is also built from SRAM but is larger, and therefore slower, than the L1 cache. The processor first looks for the data in the L1 cache. If the L1 cache misses, the processor looks in the L2 cache.

Detailed explanation-3: -L1 cache has extremely fast transfer rates, but is very small in size. The processor uses L1 cache to hold the most frequently used instructions and data. L2 cache is bigger in capacity than L1 cache, but slower in speed. It is used to hold data and instructions that are needed less frequently.

Detailed explanation-4: -L1 or L2 can be significantly faster than L3, though L3 is usually double the speed of DRAM. With multicore processors, each core can have dedicated L1 and L2 cache, but they can share an L3 cache. If an L3 cache references an instruction, it is usually elevated to a higher level of cache.

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