CPU cache L2/L3

[42thgamer]

Hello!

What is the difference between L2 and L3 cache? Is it only a difference in speed? And do you really need faster/more cache, will you see a noticeable increase in speed? 

Thanks in advance! 

[Coaxialgamer]

10 minutes ago, 42thgamer said:

Hello!

What is the difference between L2 and L3 cache? Is it only a difference in speed? And do you really need faster/more cache, will you see a noticeable increase in speed? 

Thanks in advance! 

speed can vary , but the most important difference is actually latency , with l3 having higher latency than l2 ( it's also typically slower , but that's less important). Whether or not it'll make a difference for performance depends on the applications you run .

[rockon5622]

16 minutes ago, 42thgamer said:

Hello!

What is the difference between L2 and L3 cache? Is it only a difference in speed? And do you really need faster/more cache, will you see a noticeable increase in speed? 

Thanks in advance! 

L2 is per core and a lot faster. L3 is shared cache between all cores and slower. As for difference in performance, like all things, it depends on your use case. 

 

Edit, when I say faster that includes latency.

Also the type of caching protocol impacts this a bit.