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cache

Cache memory is a high-speed memory that acts as a buffer between RAM and the CPU, storing frequently requested data to reduce access time. It operates on principles such as hit ratio and various mapping techniques, including direct, associative, and set-associative mapping. Cache memory types include primary and secondary caches, and its performance is influenced by locality of reference, which can be spatial or temporal.

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4 views

cache

Cache memory is a high-speed memory that acts as a buffer between RAM and the CPU, storing frequently requested data to reduce access time. It operates on principles such as hit ratio and various mapping techniques, including direct, associative, and set-associative mapping. Cache memory types include primary and secondary caches, and its performance is influenced by locality of reference, which can be spatial or temporal.

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abhaypratapsingh05644
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
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Cache Memory

Cache Memory is a special very high-speed memory. It is used to speed


up and synchronize with a high-speed CPU. Cache memory is costlier
than main memory or disk memory but more economical than CPU
registers. Cache memory is an extremely fast memory type that acts as a
buffer between RAM and the CPU. It holds frequently requested data and
instructions so that they are immediately available to the CPU when
needed.
Cache memory is used to reduce the average time to access data from
the Main memory. The cache is a smaller and faster memory that stores
copies of the data from frequently used main memory locations. There
are various independent caches in a CPU, which store instructions and
data.
Cache Performance: When the processor needs to read or write a
location in the main memory, it first checks for a corresponding entry in
the cache.
• If the processor finds that the memory location is in the cache,
a cache hit has occurred and data is read from the cache
• If the processor does not find the memory location in the cache,
a cache miss has occurred. For a cache miss, the cache allocates a
new entry and copies in data from the main memory, then the request
is fulfilled from the contents of the cache.

The performance of cache memory is frequently measured in terms of a


quantity called Hit ratio.
Hit ratio = hit / (hit + miss) = no. of hits/total accesses
We can improve Cache performance using higher cache block size,
higher associativity, reduced miss rate, reduced miss penalty, and
reduced time to hit in the cache.
Cache Mapping: There are three different types of mapping used for
cache memory which are as follows: Direct mapping, Associative
mapping, and Set-Associative mapping. These are explained below.

Direct Mapping – The simplest technique, known as direct mapping,


maps each block of main memory into only one possible cache line. or
In Direct mapping, assign each memory block to a specific line in the
cache. If a line is previously taken up by a memory block when a new
block needs to be loaded, the old block is trashed. An address space is
split into two parts index field and a tag field. The cache is used to store
the tag field whereas the rest is stored in the main memory. Direct
mapping`s performance is directly proportional to the Hit ratio.
i = j modulo m
where
i=cache line number
j= main memory block number
m=number of lines in the cache
For purposes of cache access, each main memory address can be
viewed as consisting of three fields. The least significant w bits identify a
unique word or byte within a block of main memory. In most
contemporary machines, the address is at the byte level. The remaining s
bits specify one of the 2 s blocks of main memory. The cache logic
interprets these s bits as a tag of s-r bits (most significant portion) and a
line field of r bits. This latter field identifies one of the m=2 r lines of the
cache.

Associative Mapping –
In this type of mapping, the associative memory is used to store the
content and addresses of the memory word. Any block can go into any
line of the cache. This means that the word id bits are used to identify
which word in the block is needed, but the tag becomes all of the
remaining bits. This enables the placement of any word at any place in
the cache memory. It is considered to be the fastest and the most flexible
mapping form.

Set-associative Mapping – This form of mapping is an enhanced form of


direct mapping where the drawbacks of direct mapping are removed. Set
associative addresses the problem of possible thrashing in the direct
mapping method. It does this by saying that instead of having exactly one
line that a block can map to in the cache, we will group a few lines
creating a set. Then a block in memory can map to any one of the lines of
a specific set..Set-associative mapping allows each word that is present
in the cache can have two or more words in the main memory for the
same index address. Set associative cache mapping combines the best
of direct and associative cache mapping techniques.
In this case, the cache consists of a number of sets, each of which
consists of a number of lines. The relationships are
m=v*k
i= j mod v

where
i=cache set number
j=main memory block number
v=number of sets
m=number of lines in the cache number of sets
k=number of lines in each set

Application of Cache Memory –


1. Usually, the cache memory can store a reasonable number of blocks
at any given time, but this number is small compared to the total
number of blocks in the main memory.
2. The correspondence between the main memory blocks and those in
the cache is specified by a mapping function.

Types of Cache –
• Primary Cache – A primary cache is always located on the processor
chip. This cache is small and its access time is comparable to that of
processor registers.
• Secondary Cache – Secondary cache is placed between the primary
cache and the rest of the memory. It is referred to as the level 2 (L2)
cache. Often, the Level 2 cache is also housed on the processor chip.

Locality of reference – Since the size of cache memory is less as


compared to main memory. So, to check which part of the main memory
should be given priority and loaded in the cache is decided based on the
locality of reference.

Types of Locality of Reference


1. Spatial Locality of reference This says that there is a chance that
the element will be present near the reference point and next time if
again searched then more close proximity to the point of reference.
2. Temporal Locality of reference In this Least recently used algorithm
will be used. Whenever there is page fault occurs within a word will
not only load word in main memory but complete page fault will be
loaded because spatial locality of reference rule says that if you are
referring any word next word will be referred in its register that’s why
we load complete page table so the complete block will be loaded.
3. Spatial Locality of reference This says that there is a chance that
element will be present in the close proximity to the reference point
and next time if again searched then more close proximity to the
point of reference.
4. Temporal Locality of reference In this Least recently used
algorithm will be used. Whenever there is page fault occurs within a
word will not only load word in main memory but complete page
fault will be loaded because spatial locality of reference rule says
that if you are referring any word next word will be referred in its
register that’s why we load complete page table so the complete
block will be loaded.

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