Cache
Updated Feb 15, 2026
Alias: D-cacheAlias: I-cacheAlias: P-cacheAlias: Cache hitAlias: Cache miss
Definition
High speed memory in a device strategically used to reduce read and write times by only storing a part of the memory at once.
D-cache: Used to store data from the RAM I-cache or P-cache: Used to store instructions for a computing unit
Levels of cache: Different levels of cache: L1 is usually built into a CPU or GPU, directly connecting to the registers or sometimes the ALU. L2 connects swaps data in and out of L1, and is larger than L1.
Cache miss: When a processor attempts to retrieve data from the cache however the data requested is not found in the cache
Cache hit: The opposite of cache miss: The data requested is found in the cache