Computer Organization & Architecture

Cache Memory

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Characteristics
• Location
• Capacity
• Unit of transfer
• Access method
• Performance
• Physical type
• Physical characteristics
• Organisation
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 Location
• It refers to whether memory is internal and
external to the computer
• The memory may locate:
– CPU: in the processor and in the control unit
– Internal: cache and main memory
– External: memory consists of peripheral storage devices,
such as disk and tape
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 Capacity
• For internal memory, this is typically expressed in terms
of bytes (1 byte 8 bits) or words.
– Common word lengths are 8, 16, and 32 bits.
• External memory capacity is typically expressed in
terms of bytes.

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 Unit of Transfer
• Unit of transfer: is the number of bits read out of or written into memory at a
time.
– It need not equal a word or an addressable unit

• Internal
 the unit of transfer is equal to the number of electrical lines into and out of
the memory module.
 may be equal to the word length,
 Usually governed by data bus width
• External
– Usually a block which is much larger than a word
• Addressable unit
– Smallest location which can be uniquely addressed ,Word internally
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 Access Methods
Sequential
◦ Start at the beginning and read through in order
◦ Access must be made in a specific linear sequence.
◦ Access time depends on location of data and previous location
◦ e.g. tape

Direct
◦ Individual blocks have unique address
◦ Access is by jumping to vicinity plus sequential search
◦ Access time depends on location and previous location
◦ e.g. disk
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 Access Methods
• Random
– The time to access a given location is independent of the sequence of prior
accesses and is constant.
– Any location can be selected at random and directly addressed and accessed
– e.g. RAM
• Associative
– random access type of memory that enables one to make a comparison of
desired bit locations within a word for a specified match
– Data is located by a comparison with contents of a portion of the store
– Access time is independent of location or previous access
– e.g. cache
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 Memory Hierarchy

• Registers
– In CPU

• Internal or Main memory

– May include one or more levels of cache

– “RAM”

• External memory
– Backing store
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 Memory Hierarchy - Diagram

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 Performance
• In the user’s point of view, the two most important characteristics of memory are

capacity and performance

• the three performance parameters are:

1. Access time
– Time between presenting the address and getting the valid data

2. Memory Cycle time

– Time may be required for the memory to “recover” before next access

– Cycle time is access + recovery

3. Transfer Rate
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Rate at which data can be moved 10
 Physical Types
• Semiconductor
– RAM
• Magnetic
– Disk & Tape
• Optical
– CD & DVD

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 Physical Characteristics
• Volatility: information decays naturally or is lost when
electrical power is switched off.
– In a nonvolatile memory, information once recorded remains
without deterioration until deliberately changed; no electrical
power is needed to retain information

• Erasable:Magnetic-surface memories are nonvolatile.

Semiconductor memory may be either

• Power consumption
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 Organization
• Physical arrangement of bits into words

• Not always obvious

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 The Bottom Line
• The design constraints on a computer’s memory can be summed up by three questions:

• How much?
– Capacity

• How fast?
– Time is money( Access time)

• How expensive?
– Cost

• There is a trade off Between

– Faster access time, greater cost per bit

– Greater capacity, smaller cost per bit

– Greater capacity, slower access time

• The designer would like to use memory technologies that provide for large-capacity memory, both

because the capacity is needed and because the cost per bit is low
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 Hierarchy List
• Registers

• L1 Cache

• L2 Cache

• Main memory
• Disk cache

• Disk

• Optical
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Tape 15
 So you want fast?
• It is possible to build a computer which uses only
static RAM (see later)
• This would be very fast

• This would need no cache

– How can you cache cache?

• This would cost a very large amount

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 Cache
• Small amount of fast memory

• Sits between normal main memory and CPU

• May be located on CPU chip or module

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Cache and Main Memory

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 Cache operation – overview
• CPU requests contents of memory location
– Check cache for this data
– If present, get from cache (fast)
– If not present, read required block from main memory
to cache
– Then deliver from cache to CPU
• Cache includes tags to identify which block of
main memory is in each cache slot

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Cache/Main Memory Structure

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Cache Read Operation - Flowchart

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 Cache Design
• Addressing

• Size
• Mapping Function

• Replacement Algorithm

• Write Policy

• Block Size
• Number of Caches
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 Cache Addressing
 Where does cache sit?
◦ Between processor and virtual memory management unit
◦ Between MMU and main memory

 Logical cache (virtual cache) stores data using virtual addresses

◦ Processor accesses cache directly, not thorough physical cache
◦ Cache access faster, before MMU address translation
◦ Virtual addresses use same address space for different applications
 Must flush cache on each context switch

 Physical cache stores data using main memory physical addresses

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 Size does matter
• Cost
– More cache is expensive

• Speed
– More cache is faster (up to a point)
– Checking cache for data takes time

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Typical Cache Organization

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 Comparison of Cache Sizes
Year of
Processor Type L1 cache L2 cache L3 cache
Introduction
IBM 360/85 Mainframe 1968 16 to 32 KB — —
PDP-11/70 Minicomputer 1975 1 KB — —
VAX 11/780 Minicomputer 1978 16 KB — —
IBM 3033 Mainframe 1978 64 KB — —
IBM 3090 Mainframe 1985 128 to 256 KB — —
Intel 80486 PC 1989 8 KB — —
Pentium PC 1993 8 KB/8 KB 256 to 512 KB —
PowerPC 601 PC 1993 32 KB — —
PowerPC 620 PC 1996 32 KB/32 KB — —
PowerPC G4 PC/server 1999 32 KB/32 KB 256 KB to 1 MB 2 MB
IBM S/390 G4 Mainframe 1997 32 KB 256 KB 2 MB
IBM S/390 G6 Mainframe 1999 256 KB 8 MB —
Pentium 4 PC/server 2000 8 KB/8 KB 256 KB —
High-end server/
IBM SP 2000 64 KB/32 KB 8 MB —
supercomputer
CRAY MTAb Supercomputer 2000 8 KB 2 MB —
Itanium PC/server 2001 16 KB/16 KB 96 KB 4 MB
SGI Origin 2001 High-end server 2001 32 KB/32 KB 4 MB —
Itanium 2 PC/server 2002 32 KB 256 KB 6 MB
IBM POWER5 High-end server 2003 64 KB 1.9 MB 36 MB
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CRAY XD-1 Supercomputer 2004 64 KB/64 KB 1MB —
 Mapping Function
• Because there are fewer cache lines than main memory blocks, an

algorithm is needed for mapping main memory blocks into cache lines.

• Further, a means is needed for determining which main memory block

currently occupies a cache line.

• The choice of the mapping function dictates how the cache is organized
• Mapping function must be implemented in hardware. (Why?)
• Three different types of mapping functions:
– Direct mapped
– Associative
– Block-set associative
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 Mapping Function
• Memory Fields and Address Translation

• Example of processor-issued 32-bit virtual address:

• That same 32-bit address partitioned into two fields, a block field, and a word field. The word

field represents the offset into the block specified in the block field:

• Example of a specific memory reference: Block 9, word 11.

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 Direct Mapping
• Each block of main memory maps to only one cache
line
– i.e. if a block is in cache, it must be in one specific place

• Address is in two parts

• Least Significant w bits identify unique word

• Most Significant s bits specify one memory block

• The MSBs are split into a cache line field r and a tag
of s-r (most significant)
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 Direct Mapping Address Structure

Tag s-r Line or Slot r Word w

8 14 2

• 24 bit address
• 2 bit word identifier (4 byte block)
• 22 bit block identifier
– 8 bit tag (=22-14)
– 14 bit slot or line
• No two blocks in the same line have the same Tag field
• Check contents of cache by finding line and checking Tag
 Direct Mapping from Cache to Main Memory

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Direct Mapping Cache Line Table

Cache line Main Memory blocks held

0 0, m, 2m, 3m…2s-m

1 1,m+1, 2m+1…2s-m+1

…
m-1 m-1, 2m-1,3m-1…2s-1
 Direct Mapping Cache Organization

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 Direct
Mapping
Example

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 Direct Mapping Summary
• Address length = (s + w) bits

• Number of addressable units = 2s+w words or bytes

• Block size = line size = 2w words or bytes
• Number of blocks in main memory = 2s+ w/2w = 2s
• Number of lines in cache = m = 2r

• Size of tag = (s – r) bits

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Direct Mapping pros & cons

• Simple

• Inexpensive

• Fixed location for given block

– If a program accesses 2 blocks that map to the
same line repeatedly, cache misses are very high

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 Victim Cache
• Lower miss penalty
• Remember what was discarded
– Already fetched
– Use again with little penalty
• Fully associative
• 4 to 16 cache lines
• Between direct mapped L1 cache and next
memory level
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 Associative Mapping
• A main memory block can load into any line of
cache
• Memory address is interpreted as tag and
word
• Tag uniquely identifies block of memory
• Every line’s tag is examined for a match
• Cache searching gets expensive

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 Associative Mapping from
Cache to Main Memory

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 Fully Associative Cache Organization

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 Associative
Mapping
Example

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 Associative Mapping
Address Structure
Word
Tag 22 bit 2 bit
• 22 bit tag stored with each 32 bit block of data
• Compare tag field with tag entry in cache to check for hit
• Least significant 2 bits of address identify which 16 bit word is
required from 32 bit data block
• e.g.
– Address Tag Data Cache line
– FFFFFC FFFFFC 24682468 3FFF

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 Associative Mapping Summary
• Address length = (s + w) bits
• Number of addressable units = 2s+w words or
bytes
• Block size = line size = 2w words or bytes
• Number of blocks in main memory = 2s+ w/2w
= 2s
• Number of lines in cache = undetermined
• Size of tag = s bits
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 Set Associative Mapping
• Cache is divided into a number of sets
• Each set contains a number of lines
• A given block maps to any line in a given set
– e.g. Block B can be in any line of set i
• e.g. 2 lines per set
– 2 way associative mapping
– A given block can be in one of 2 lines in only one
set

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 Set Associative Mapping
Example
• 13 bit set number
• Block number in main memory is modulo 213
• 000000, 00A000, 00B000, 00C000 … map to
same set

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 Mapping From Main Memory to Cache:
v Associative

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 Mapping From Main Memory to Cache:
k-way Associative

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 K-Way Set Associative Cache
Organization

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 Set Associative Mapping
Address Structure
Word
Tag 9 bit Set 13 bit 2 bit

• Use set field to determine cache set to look in

• Compare tag field to see if we have a hit
• e.g
– Address Tag Data Set number
– 1FF 7FFC 1FF 12345678 1FFF
– 001 7FFC 001 11223344 1FFF

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 Two Way Set Associative Mapping
Example

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 Set Associative Mapping Summary
• Address length = (s + w) bits
• Number of addressable units = 2s+w words or
bytes
• Block size = line size = 2w words or bytes
• Number of blocks in main memory = 2d
• Number of lines in set = k
• Number of sets = v = 2d
• Number of lines in cache = kv = k * 2d
• Size of tag = (s – d) bits
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 Direct and Set Associative Cache
Performance Differences

• Significant up to at least 64kB for 2-way

• Difference between 2-way and 4-way at 4kB
much less than 4kB to 8kB
• Cache complexity increases with associativity
• Not justified against increasing cache to 8kB or
16kB
• Above 32kB gives no improvement
• (simulation results)
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 Figure 4.16
Varying Associativity over Cache Size

1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
Hit ratio

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
1k 2k 4k 8k 16k 32k 64k 128k 256k 512k 1M
Cache size (bytes)
direct
2-way
4-way
8-way
16-way

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 Replacement Algorithms (1)
Direct mapping
• No choice
• Each block only maps to one line
• Replace that line

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 Replacement Algorithms (2)
Associative & Set Associative
• Hardware implemented algorithm (speed)
• Least Recently used (LRU)
• e.g. in 2 way set associative
– Which of the 2 block is lru?
• First in first out (FIFO)
– replace block that has been in cache longest
• Least frequently used
– replace block which has had fewest hits
• Random
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 Write Policy
• Must not overwrite a cache block unless main
memory is up to date
• Multiple CPUs may have individual caches
• I/O may address main memory directly

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 Write through
• All writes go to main memory as well as cache
• Multiple CPUs can monitor main memory
traffic to keep local (to CPU) cache up to date
• Lots of traffic
• Slows down writes

• Remember bogus write through caches!

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 Write back
• Updates initially made in cache only
• Update bit for cache slot is set when update
occurs
• If block is to be replaced, write to main
memory only if update bit is set
• Other caches get out of sync
• I/O must access main memory through cache
• N.B. 15% of memory references are writes
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 Line Size
• Retrieve not only desired word but a number of adjacent
words as well
• Increased block size will increase hit ratio at first
– the principle of locality
• Hit ratio will decreases as block becomes even bigger
– Probability of using newly fetched information becomes less than
probability of reusing replaced
• Larger blocks
– Reduce number of blocks that fit in cache
– Data overwritten shortly after being fetched
– Each additional word is less local so less likely to be needed
• No definitive optimum value has been found
• 8 to 64 bytes seems reasonable
• For HPC systems, 64- and 128-byte most common

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 Multilevel Caches
• High logic density enables caches on chip
– Faster than bus access
– Frees bus for other transfers
• Common to use both on and off chip cache
– L1 on chip, L2 off chip in static RAM
– L2 access much faster than DRAM or ROM
– L2 often uses separate data path
– L2 may now be on chip
– Resulting in L3 cache
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 Hit Ratio (L1 & L2)
For 8 kbytes and 16 kbyte L1

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 Unified v Split Caches
• One cache for data and instructions or two,
one for data and one for instructions
• Advantages of unified cache
– Higher hit rate
• Balances load of instruction and data fetch
• Only one cache to design & implement
• Advantages of split cache
– Eliminates cache contention between instruction
fetch/decode unit and execution unit
• Important in pipelining
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 Pentium 4 Cache
• 80386 – no on chip cache
• 80486 – 8k using 16 byte lines and four way set associative
organization
• Pentium (all versions) – two on chip L1 caches
– Data & instructions
• Pentium III – L3 cache added off chip
• Pentium 4
– L1 caches
• 8k bytes
• 64 byte lines
• four way set associative
– L2 cache
• Feeding both L1 caches
• 256k
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• 8 way set associative
 Intel Cache Evolution Processor on which feature
Problem Solution first appears
Add external cache using faster 386
External memory slower than the system bus. memory technology.

Move external cache on-chip, 486

Increased processor speed results in external bus becoming a operating at the same speed as the
bottleneck for cache access. processor.

Add external L2 cache using faster 486

Internal cache is rather small, due to limited space on chip technology than main memory

Contention occurs when both the Instruction Prefetcher and Create separate data and instruction Pentium
the Execution Unit simultaneously require access to the caches.
cache. In that case, the Prefetcher is stalled while the
Execution Unit’s data access takes place.

Create separate back-side bus that Pentium Pro

runs at higher speed than the main
(front-side) external bus. The BSB is
Increased processor speed results in external bus becoming a dedicated to the L2 cache.
bottleneck for L2 cache access.
Move L2 cache on to the processor Pentium II
chip.

Add external L3 cache. Pentium III

Some applications deal with massive databases and must  
have rapid access to large amounts of data. The on-chip
caches06/06/2020
are too small. Move L3 cache on-chip. Pentium 4 64
 Pentium 4 Block Diagram

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 Pentium 4 Core Processor
• Fetch/Decode Unit
– Fetches instructions from L2 cache
– Decode into micro-ops
– Store micro-ops in L1 cache
• Out of order execution logic
– Schedules micro-ops
– Based on data dependence and resources
– May speculatively execute
• Execution units
– Execute micro-ops
– Data from L1 cache
– Results in registers
• Memory subsystem
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– L2 cache and systems bus
 Pentium 4 Design Reasoning
• Decodes instructions into RISC like micro-ops before L1 cache
• Micro-ops fixed length
– Superscalar pipelining and scheduling
• Pentium instructions long & complex
• Performance improved by separating decoding from scheduling &
pipelining
– (More later – ch14)
• Data cache is write back
– Can be configured to write through
• L1 cache controlled by 2 bits in register
– CD = cache disable
– NW = not write through
– 2 instructions to invalidate (flush) cache and write back then invalidate
• L2 and L3 8-way set-associative
– Line size 128 bytes

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 ARM Cache Features
Core Cache Cache Size (kB) Cache Line Size Associativity Location Write Buffer
Type (words) Size (words)

ARM720T Unified 8 4 4-way Logical 8

ARM920T Split 16/16 D/I 8 64-way Logical 16

ARM926EJ-S Split 4-128/4-128 D/I 8 4-way Logical 16

ARM1022E Split 16/16 D/I 8 64-way Logical 16

ARM1026EJ-S Split 4-128/4-128 D/I 8 4-way Logical 8

Intel StrongARM Split 16/16 D/I 4 32-way Logical 32

Intel Xscale Split 32/32 D/I 8 32-way Logical 32

ARM1136-JF-S Split 4-64/4-64 D/I 8 4-way Physical 32

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 ARM Cache Organization
• Small FIFO write buffer
– Enhances memory write performance
– Between cache and main memory
– Small c.f. cache
– Data put in write buffer at processor clock speed
– Processor continues execution
– External write in parallel until empty
– If buffer full, processor stalls
– Data in write buffer not available until written
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• So keep buffer small 69
 ARM Cache and Write Buffer Organization

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 Internet Sources
• Manufacturer sites
– Intel
– ARM
• Search on cache

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