subject: How Important Is CPU Cache Size? [print this page] How Important Is CPU Cache Size? How Important Is CPU Cache Size?
Are you wondering which processor will be good for your computer? There are two major brands available in the market, Intel and AMD. Both of these brands have several processors which make it difficult for the buyer to pick the best one. Whether you pick Intel processor or AMD, you should consider the cache of the processor. Don't know much about cache? In this article we will discuss more about this.
In today's world of computing the cache on your CPU has become very important. This is a very high speed and very expensive piece of memory. Cache is used to speed up the memory retrieval process. High-end processors come with more cache while budget CPU's have even less cache. There are many computer repaircompanies that offer tech support to the PC users to build computer.
How cache memory works or how important it is for your PC? Well, if there not much cache memory on your CPU, it will send a request to the main memory and after accomplishing the task, it will again get back to the cache. This eventually slows down the performance of the computer.
Let's take the example of a coffee shop where is only one counter to offer coffee. If you want to take a cup of coffee you need to wait in the queue until the person in front of you finishes up. For every person the process will take some time. The same could be said for the computer as well. Your PC performs multiple operations and to execute all these operations quickly there should be enough amount of cache.
However, it is not always important to have a huge amount of memory. If there is too much cache memory, the CPU will always check the cache memory before using the main system memory. Now we will take a look at L1, L2 and L3 cache. L3 cache is specialized memory that works together with L1 and L2 cache and help the PC to improve computer performance. L1, L2 and L3 cache are the cache of computer processing unit (CPU). CPU cache takes care of the needs of the microprocessor. CPU cache is much faster than random access memory (RAM).
L1 cache was built into the motherboard. Now-a-days both L1 and L2 caches are commonly incorporated into the CPU. L3 cache is built into the motherboard while there are also latest processors that incorporate L3 cache. The advantage of having on-board cache is that it makes the computer perform more efficiently.
So, from the discussion it is quite clear that the CPU cache size plays a very crucial role to make the PC perform efficiently.
