Cache Considerations
Latency when fetching data from the cache is 4-5 times lower than when fetching directly from main memory
Effective cache use reduces contention for bandwidth to main memory
Memory locations that are 8192 words apart map to the same four way cache “slot”
- Four loads with this stride will fill it up (“thrashing”)
Notes:
- Recalling the memory bandwidth numbers, we can see why getting data from the cache is desireable
- Satifying a memory request from cache also help minimize memory demands both on the module board connection and on the main memory system itself
- One scenario where cache utilization can be reduced is even strides through memory.