Internal RAM is built into microcontroller chips and can speed up processor-intensive applications. CPUs have three levels of cache: L1, L2, and L3. L1 cache is the fastest and is assigned to each processor core, while L2 cache is slower but dedicated to each core. L3 cache is the fastest external RAM and is shared by all cores. Data is queued and processed faster through internal RAM, which can be specifically assigned to individual levels.
Internal random access memory (RAM) is computer memory that is built directly into a microcontroller chip, such as a computer’s central processing unit (CPU). It can be used by programmers to increase the speed of program functions by directly addressing internal RAM, ensuring that critical processes are queued and processed faster and with higher priority by the CPU. This can significantly speed up processor-intensive applications because frequently used instructions can be passed to the CPU much faster than drawing from external RAM.
CPUs have three levels of cache or internal RAM. The processor cache is made up of static RAM (SRAM), which is not the same as the typical memory installed on the motherboard, called dynamic RAM (DRAM). When the CPU looks for data, it first checks the level 1 (L1) cache, then level 2 (L2), then level 3 (L3). Only then will it pull the data from the DRAM.
Inside the processor, L1 cache is assigned to each processor core. This is the fastest internal RAM, because it acts as a buffer for instructions sent to each processor core as dictated by the program requesting the processing. In multi-core processors, this can significantly speed up processing if multiple cores are individually addressed via L1 cache requests.
L2 cache is in the CPU package and so is still considered internal RAM. It’s not built directly on the actual CPU chip like L1 cache is. However, each core has its own L2 cache dedicated to it and therefore can operate in parallel, taking advantage of L2 speeds. However, L2 cache is slower than L1 cache.
The L3 cache is not inside the CPU package so it is not considered internal RAM but works alongside it. It is the fastest external RAM available inside a computer. All CPU cores share L3 cache.
The whole process can be seen as enqueuing and decomposing data from external DRAM, to internal RAM, and finally to the actual processing instructions. Some functions within any program are set to a higher priority than others and these are moved to the top of the queue as part of the individual program’s optimization. Higher priority data goes directly to the L1 cache for faster processing and lower priority queues throughout the process. The main difference is where the cache is processed in a “pull from the wait queue” method, the internal RAM is software addressable, so data can be specifically assigned to individual levels of internal RAM.
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