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PC Architecture. A book by Michael B. Karbo

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In practise there are always at least two close stores. They are called Level 1, Level 2, and (if<br />

applicable) Level 3 cache. Some processors (like the Intel Itanium) have three levels of cache, but<br />

these are only used for very special server applications. In standard <strong>PC</strong>’s we find processors with L1<br />

and L2 cache.<br />

Fig. 70. The cache system tries to ensure that relevant data is constantly being fetched from RAM, so<br />

that the CPU (ideally) never has to wait for data.<br />

L1 cache<br />

Level 1 cache is built into the actual processor core. It is a piece of RAM, typically 8, 16, 20, 32, 64 or<br />

128 K<strong>by</strong>tes, which operates at the same clock frequency as the rest of the CPU. Thus you could say the<br />

L1 cache is part of the processor.<br />

L1 cache is normally divided into two sections, one for data and one for instructions. For example, an<br />

Athlon processor may have a 32 KB data cache and a 32 KB instruction cache. If the cache is common<br />

for both data and instructions, it is called a unified cache.<br />

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