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Processor cache is intermediate memory between the processor itself and main memory (RAM).

Because processors can read data so much faster than main memory, the speed of a processor would essentially be limited to the speed of RAM if we couldn't find a way to increase the efficiency of accessing data in main memory. Caches, which have a much lower access time than RAM, help to mitigate this problem.

Caches work on the principle of spacial locality. That is to say, they use the idea that if you access a location in main memory, then it is highly likely that the next memory location you want to access is very close to where you are. When you access main memory, the cache will actually pull in a "chunk" of data (often called a "cache line") in the hope that the next time you try to access data it will already be in the cache.

Typically there are two levels of cache (though with the increasing popularity of multi-core processors, three levels of cache are becoming more and more necessary).

The first level of cache (L1 cache) is what is directly accessed by the processor and is therefore the fastest (and most expensive) cache. L1 cache is usually split into two parts: data cache and instruction cache. The instruction cache holds the instructions of running programs that the processor needs to execute. The data cache holds the data being used by current instructions.

The second level of cache (L2 cache) is where the L1 cache pulls in information from. L2 cache is slower than L1 cache, but is more affordable and can be much larger than L1. With the exception of L3 caches mentioned above, this is the cache which pulls information in from main memory.

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What is a cache outside the processor called?

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What memory serves as a staging area from the processor?

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What is on chip memory?

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What is the name of the memory that sits between the processor and the primary memory?

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