Problem 2 - Hardware

Answer the following questions on computers with cache memory.

1.

Why is it possible to make computers faster using cache memory? Give the answer whithin five lines.

2.

Describe briefly the three association methods of cache directories: the direct map method, the set associative method, and the full associative method. How are they different from the viewpoint of cache miss ratio?

3.

Explain merits and demerits of having more than one data cache memory for one CPU in order to enlarge memory access band width.

See [PAT97] for a detailed answer.