How Does a Memory Cache Speed Up Computer Processing?
Introduction Computer processors constantly request information from computer memory at a very fast rate, but the main memory, usually called random access memory (RAM), is unable to respond to these requests at the same speed. Because of this, the processor has to wait for the main memory to return the information it requests, which forces the processor to work at a speed below its maximum capacity. A memory cache is a small amount of memory used by the computer processor to store information that can be retrieved very quickly, reducing the need for the processor to wait for responses from the main memory. Design of Cache Memory Most processors today use multiple levels of memory caching, with some of the fastest levels of memory cache built into the processor itself and some of the slower cache levels residing on the motherboard. Each memory cache level increases in size as it gets further away from the processor. The memory cache structure has an index, a pointer to the index in the
