What is l3 cache on a processor

The L2 cache is used to catch recent data accesses from the processor that were not caught by the Level 1 cache. The L3 or Level 3 cache is the last level of CPU cache which is used to catch recent data accesses from the processor that was not caught by the Level 2 cache. The whole idea behind the L1, L2, and L3 cache is to make a laptop or computer as fast as possible.

In the upcoming generation of processors, the L2 and L3 cache will also be located on the CPU itself to make the whole processing a lot faster. Especially the Intel or Ryzen 3 laptops under 30k have:. So this is the base cache storage. For example. The laptops with Intel i5 10th gen processor have 6MB of cache. Yes, a CPU can run without the cache memory, but the speed would be so slow that it can take hours to perform a few operations.

The simplest reason for the L1 cache being so small is the speed and cost. Another reason is cost. So there is no need to make a MB L1 cache because it will exponentially increase the cost. L1 is the fastest, but smallest. L2 sits right in the middle in both the speed and storage. CPU cache is faster than random access memory RAM , and is designed to prevent bottlenecks in performance.

When a request is made of the system the CPU requires instructions for executing that request. The CPU works many times faster than system RAM, so to cut down on delays, L1 cache has bits of data at the ready that it anticipates will be needed.

L1 cache is very small, which allows it to be very fast. With each cache miss it looks to the next level of cache. Adding that cache was sufficient to buy the Pentium 4 EE a percent performance boost over the standard Northwood line. As multicore processors became more common, L3 cache started appearing more frequently on consumer hardware. In addition to this function, the L3 cache is often shared between all of the processors on a single piece of silicon. The Zen 2 — Zen 3 topology change.

The common L3 cache is slower but much larger, which means it can store data for all the cores at once. Sophisticated algorithms are used to ensure that Core 0 tends to store information closest to itself, while Core 7 across the die also puts necessary data closer to itself.