Introduction to Cache Memory Levels

Cache memory is defined as a memory that looks like a chip-based device within the computer is
used for maintaining the speed between CPU and main memory as processor speed is faster and
main memory speed is slower therefore to balance the speed between this the cache memory is
used. Therefore, in general, the cache memory is defined as a high-speed memory which is
volatile memory for speeding up and synchronizing with high-speed processor and main memory
that acts as temporary storage in computers processor and this temporary storage is known as a
cache memory which is costlier than main memory for accessing the data in a computer
microprocessor and hence the larger the capacity of cache memory faster the data transfer and
more data can be stored with larger capacity.

1. Cache Memory Levels

Cache memory is an expensive yet fast memory that is a chip-based component in a computer
that is used for faster data transfer and also to store huge data. This cache memory is divided into
levels which are used for describing how close and fast access the cache memory is to main or
CPU memory. This cache memory is mainly divided into 3 levels as Level 1, Level 2, and Level
3 cache memory but sometimes it is also said that there is 4 levels cache. In the below section let
us see each level of cache memory in detail.

2. Level 1 Cache
Level 1 cache is also known as registers which are a type of memory that is embedded in the
processor chip as CPU chip and is a primary memory that is small but faster memory. This level
1 cache is a memory that can store data by accepting this data from the CPU where this data is
immediately stored in the CPU. The Data which the Level 1 cache contains is the data that is
very much essential for the CPU to complete certain tasks. This L1 cache is further divided into
parts within this such as information cache which provides the details regarding what operations
should be performed by CPU and another part of level1 cache is data cache where this cache
holds the data regarding the details of the data on which these operations should be performed.

Usually, we cannot determine or get any standard L1 cache size was to determine this level 1
cache memory size we need to check the CPU specs which will help us to choose the size of
level  1 cache, therefore the size of level 1 cache depends on the CPU. Some of the commonly
used level 1 cache is accumulator, address register, program counter, etc. There are many
different level 1 cache with 1 MB size such as intel i9 which is expensive but there are other
server chipsets that are economically affordable level 1 cache with size 1 – 2 MB size such as
Intel’s Xeon range.

3. Level 2 Cache
Level 2 caches are known as a cache memory which is considered as slower memory than level 1
cache as data stored in this memory is temporarily stored but the storage capacity for the level2
cache is larger when compared to level 1 cache which can be either embedded on the CPU or
separated chip where this level 2 cache is a secondary type of cache memory and is located on a
computer microprocessor. Level 2 cache size also depends on CPU which are hence provided
with different sizes as level 1 cache where the level 2 cache has some typical size range such as
256KB to 8MB sizes where this size is considered smaller at the present generation further or in
developing stage this level 2 cache size may exceed the 8MB size also. Though when comparing
the speed between level 1 and level 2 cache, level 2 cache is much slower than level 1 but still
faster than the system RAM but level 2 cache has a bigger capacity to store than level 1 cache.

Types of Cache Memory

Cache memory within a computer is classified under various types depending upon its physical
location within the computer whether they are:

1. Part of the processor chip (Primary Cache L1)

2. Located between the processor and main memory (Secondary Cache L2)