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COEN 180: Memory Hierarchy

The document discusses the memory hierarchy, where different types of memory have greater capacity but slower access times. It explains how exploiting spatial and temporal locality can improve performance by storing frequently accessed data in faster memory. The key aspects are caching popular data in fast memory and less popular data in slower memory.

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76 views18 pages

COEN 180: Memory Hierarchy

The document discusses the memory hierarchy, where different types of memory have greater capacity but slower access times. It explains how exploiting spatial and temporal locality can improve performance by storing frequently accessed data in faster memory. The key aspects are caching popular data in fast memory and less popular data in slower memory.

Uploaded by

gaurab
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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COEN 180

Memory Hierarchy
Memory Hierarchy
We are therefore forced to
recognize the possibility of
constructing a hierarchy of
memories, each of which has
greater capacity than the preceding
but which is less quickly accessible.

A. W. Burks, H. H. Goldstine, J. von Neumann: Preliminary Discussion of


the Logical Design of Electronic Computing Instrument, Part I, Vol. I,
Report prepared for the U.S. Army Ord. Dept.
28 June 1946
Computer Components
There are three basic hardware modules
(Bell, Newell: Computer Structures, 1971):

 Processors
 Memory
 Communication
Memory / Storage Evaluation
 Costs
 Capacity
 Speed
 Reliability
 Volatility
 Other criteria such as transportability
Memory / Storage Evaluation
Memory Hierarchy
Exploiting the Memory
Hierarchy
 Not all stored data is equally important.
 Put important data in the upper ranges
of the memory / storage hierarchy.
 Put unimportant data in the lower
ranges.
Exploiting the Memory
Hierarchy
 Locality
 Spatial Locality:
 Data is more likely to be accessed if
neighboring data is accessed.
 Temporal Locality:
 Data is more likely to be accessed if it has been
recently accessed.
Exploiting the Memory
Hierarchy
 Executables
 Program executions tend to spend a great portion of time
in loops.
 Spatial locality: if a statement in the loop is executed,
then so are the statements surrounding it.
 Temporal locality: if a statement is executed, it is likely to
be executed again.
Exploiting the Memory
Hierarchy
 Relational Databases
 Store data in relations
 Relation consists of fields
 Often with Record ID.
 Stored in a B+ tree or in a (linear) hash table.
 Spatial Locality
 Accessing all records in order, records are stored in B+
tree.
 Makes sense to move records in bunches from disk / tape
to main memory.
 Typical transaction has no spatial locality.
 Accesses a record here and there all over the place.
 No spatial locality.
Exploiting the Memory
Hierarchy
 Relational Databases
 Temporal Locality
 Some records are hot, most are cold.
 Records of current students vs. records of graduates.
 Active accounts in a bank database.
 Current patients versus other patients.
 Some transactions look at the same record
several times (due to inefficiencies).
Exploiting the Memory
Hierarchy
 File System
 Temporal Locality:
 Few files are frequently accessed (OS kernel,
killer apps, data in current projects).
 Most are written and never read again.
 Spatial Locality:
 Not only individual files, but also directories can
become hot.
Exploiting the Memory
Hierarchy
 Caching strategy:
 Keep popular items in expensive, small,
and fast memory.
 Keep less popular items in cheap, big, and
slow memory.
 Use spatial & temporal locality to guess
what items are popular.
Exploiting the Memory
Hierarchy
 Use Caches throughout the Memory
Hierarchy
 Registers & SRAM versus DRAM (main
memory)
 Disk buffer versus Disk platter
 Disks versus Tapes
 Local Storage versus Remote Storage
Cache Analysis
 Assume two levels of memory:
 Cache: fast, small, expensive.
 Main: slow, large, cheap.
 Data access:
 Read
 Write
 Assume read only access
 Given data identifier, read data.
Cache Analysis
 Hit rate h: chances of satisfying read
request from cache.
 Miss rate m: chances having to read
from main.
 h+m=1
Cache Analysis
 tC Time to read from cache
 tM Time to read from main
 tC < tM
 Expected access time = system access time
 tSystem = h tC + m tM

 Hit rates high: system access time close to


cache access time
Caching Issues
 Larger cache  slower access times
 Selection of items into cache
 Good selection takes more time and uses more
resources
 Cache architecture depends on the situation
 Cache between main memory and processor
 Cache between disk drive(s) and main memory
 Cache between remote and local storage

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