Organization of Memory Device Modern memory has the same basic configuration as magnetic core memory although the rings have been replaced with electronic memory cells such as the D-Latch. The cells are arranged so that each row represents a memory location where a binary value would be stored and the columns represent different bits of those …
Memory-Processor Interfacing The previous topic presented the input and output lines for a memory device. These lines are shared across all of the devices that communicate with the processor. If you look at the electrical traces across the surface of a motherboard, you should see collections of traces running together in parallel from the processor …
Memory Terminology There are many different purposes for memory in the operation of a computer. Some memory is meant to store data and programs only while the computer is turned on while other memory is meant to be permanent. Some memory contains application code while other memory is meant to store the low-level driver code …
Characteristic of Hard Drive At the bottom of the hierarchy is long-term, high-capacity storage. This type of storage is slow making a poor choice for the processor to use for execution of programs and data access. It is, however, necessary to provide computer systems with high capacity, non-volatile storage. Hard drives are the most cost-effective …
Cache RAM Even with increases in hard drive performance, it will never be practical to execute programs or access data directly from these mechanical devices. They are far too slow. Therefore, when the processor needs to access information, it is first loaded from the hard drive into main memory where the higher performance RAM allows fast access …
Registers At the top of the memory, the hierarchy is a set of memory cells called registers. A register is a group of latches that have been combined in order to perform a special purpose. This group of latches may be used to store an integer, store an address pointing to memory, configure an I/O …