Cache Sizes

Common cache sizes depend on the level of cache (L1, L2, L3, or L4) and the architecture (mobile, desktop, server, or embedded systems). Here’s a general breakdown:

1. L1 Cache (Instruction & Data)

  • Size: 16KB – 128KB per core
  • Latency: ~1-4 cycles
  • Associativity: 4-way to 8-way set-associative
  • Use case: Extremely fast, directly connected to the CPU core for low-latency access

2. L2 Cache

  • Size: 256KB – 8MB per core
  • Latency: ~10-20 cycles
  • Associativity: 8-way to 16-way
  • Use case: Acts as a backup for L1, slightly slower but much larger

3. L3 Cache (Shared across multiple cores)

  • Size: 2MB – 128MB (varies by CPU type)
  • Latency: ~30-50 cycles
  • Associativity: 12-way to 32-way
  • Use case: Shared between cores, reducing memory access bottlenecks

4. L4 Cache (Rare, used in some high-end CPUs & GPUs)

  • Size: 32MB – 256MB
  • Latency: ~100+ cycles
  • Use case: Mostly in enterprise CPUs or GPUs for large-scale data processing

Cache Sizes by Platform

If we’re working on RISC-V cache design, the sizes can vary depending on core type and target application.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cache Basics

A cache is: 1. a small memory 2. Fast Memory between the CPU and main memory that stores frequently accesos data. Key parameters: Cache Line Size : Number of bytes fetched at once (e.g., 64B). Associativity :  1. Direct-mapped,  2. set-associative,  3. or fully associative. Replacement Policy :  1. LRU,  2. PLRU,  3. Round Robin,  4. etc.
Read more

Cache Memory for RISC V

To become an expert in cache memory for RISC-V, we'll need to focus on: Cache Fundamentals – Understand direct-mapped, set-associative, and fully associative caches, along with policies like LRU, PLRU, and replacement strategies. RISC-V Cache Architecture – Study how RISC-V implementations handle cache hierarchies (L1, L2, L3) and coherence protocols (MESI, MOESI). Cache Verification – Since we're already working with UVM, mastering cache verification (hit/miss testing, replacement validation, coherence checking) will be key. Performance Optimization – Explore prefetching, write policies, and latency reduction techniques in RISC-V. Hardware Implementation – Get hands-on experience designing and optimizing cache controllers in SystemVerilog.
Read more