Memory Hierarchy
The main purpose of memory hierarchy is to bridge the gap
between the speed of the CPU and the slower access times of primary and
secondary memory.
Two main goals to use Memory hierarchy
- To maximize access speed
- To minimize the per-bit costs
Levels
- CPU Registers: Fastest, located within the CPU itself.
- Cache Memory: Small, fast memory and stores frequently used data and instructions.
- Primary Memory: Larger, slower memory that holds actively used programs and data.
- Secondary Memory: Slowest, but offers large storage capacities for long-term data retention.
- Tertiary Storage: Very slow (slower than secondary memory), Non-volatile, Lowest cost per Bit, and Rarely used archival storage for infrequently accessed data.
Some important definitions:
·
Memory Access Time: The time it takes to locate and
retrieve data from memory.
·
Memory Capacity: The amount of data that can be
stored in memory.
·
Memory Latency: The delay between a request for data
and its delivery.
Memory Bandwidth: The rate at which data can be transferred between memory and the CPU.
No comments:
Post a Comment