Muistivälimuistit

Muistivälimuistit, or memory caches, are small, fast memory components located close to the processor in a computer system. Their primary purpose is to store frequently accessed data and instructions from the main memory (RAM). By keeping this information readily available, the processor can retrieve it much faster than if it had to access the slower main memory every time. This significantly speeds up the overall performance of the computer.

There are typically multiple levels of cache memory, organized hierarchically. Level 1 (L1) cache is the smallest and fastest, usually located directly on the CPU core. Level 2 (L2) cache is larger and slightly slower than L1, and Level 3 (L3) cache is the largest and slowest of the on-chip caches, often shared among multiple CPU cores. When the processor needs data, it first checks the L1 cache. If the data isn't found (a cache miss), it checks L2, then L3, and finally resorts to accessing the main memory. When data is fetched from main memory, a copy is also placed in the caches, anticipating future use. This strategy, known as caching, is fundamental to modern computer architecture.