AN-136 - Integrated Device Technology

AN-136 A NEW GENERATION

and explanations in this application note apply to both unless otherwise noted. CACHE AND TAG BASICS For those new to caches, a brief review of cache basics may be worthwhile. A cache is a memory that provides a CPU with high speed access to a subset of the data from main memory. Our discussions are focused on the secondary cache, which is also known as th.

Features

to significantly ease the design of high performance cache subsystems for today’s high speed processors. These Tag RAMs are designed for easy interfacing to Intel and PowerPC processors, but are very flexible and can easily be used in other applications as well. This application note first provides some background information on caches, then describes in detail the architecture and operation of the 71215 and 71216. This is followed by three application examples, then a brief discussion of cache coherency protocol implementation using these Tag RAMs. Since the 71215 and 71216 are very similar, .