What is the purpose of L2 cache?

[Scubie67]

I ,like a lot of people who are getting ready to build a computer have been back and forth on which new cpu to get.I have looked at the E8400,Q6600,QX9650,Q9450 and the Q9550.From stats it looks as though the Q9550 might be the best balance for gaming,multimedia,Overclocking ability and somewhat future proofing.It is supposed to be a slight bit under the Qx9650 performance wise but just over half the price.I would like to keep a build for several years before having to upgrade.The L2 cache in Qx9650,Q9450 and Q9550 are all 12 MB.While I have heard this is better what does the higher cache do exactly And do you think it is worthwhile to go ahead and spend a little extra and get the Q9550 when it comes out because of all it has going for it?

 

[porterjw]

Short answer: it's like RAM for your CPU; the higher the L2 cache, the quicker your CPU can access commonly-used 'stuff'. I read a nice article the other day. Give me a few and I'll try to find it.

Edit: Link - http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/24/does_cache_size_matter/

 

[Scubie67]

Short answer: it's like RAM for your CPU; the higher the L2 cache, the quicker your CPU can access commonly-used 'stuff'. I read a nice article the other day. Give me a few and I'll try to find it.

Edit: Link - http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/24/does_cache_size_matter/

Ok so it is good for multitasking and such? And thx for the link Imsati.

 

[tlarkin]

There is a simple explanation of how a computer works...

You do something on your computer, anything, any task

The process is executed by the kernel of the Operating system. The kernel then pages the known resources to get instructions on what to do. It first pages the cache on the processor, which has the fastest reaction time, it then pages the RAM which also holds instruction sets and is almost as fast, it lastly pages your hard drive (virtual memory) which is the slowest.

So, the more cache you have, the more instruction sets it can hold, which means you can do more at once.

 

[Scubie67]

There is a simple explanation of how a computer works...

You do something on your computer, anything, any task

The process is executed by the kernel of the Operating system. The kernel then pages the known resources to get instructions on what to do. It first pages the cache on the processor, which has the fastest reaction time, it then pages the RAM which also holds instruction sets and is almost as fast, it lastly pages your hard drive (virtual memory) which is the slowest.

So, the more cache you have, the more instruction sets it can hold, which means you can do more at once.

I see now.Thx for the replies.I guess one of the processors with the 12 MB L2 cache would be a good investment after all