CPU cache

[Mero_de]

does the cpu cache matter in games ? 

[Tabs]

22 minutes ago, Mero_de said:

does the cpu cache matter in games ? 

More of it will generally increase performance, but it depends on a lot of factors. The overall effect beyond 1.5MB per core tends to diminish rapidly, but I don't have any hard data to back that up - it's a hard metric to gauge, since it's rare that a CPU will ship and be identical in all ways except cache amount.

 

If you're looking to compare individual CPU's, it's best to compare the full CPU directly rather than looking purely at the numbers.

 

One CPU with 12MB of cache may perform poorer than another with 8MB, simply because it's arranged differently.

 

AMD CPU's for example, tend to have more cache than Intel ones, but it has a different architectural layout - It's laid out as a "victim cache" in AMD CPU's, but on intel CPU's, it's an "inclusive cache". The difference is that on AMD CPU's, the L1, L2 and L3 caches all contain *different* data. Any data one core needs is cached in its own L1 or L2, but if another core needs that data, it has to be moved into L3 first and then into the cores own L1 or L2. Intel is different because all data stored in all L1 and L2 caches is included as a copy in L3; meaning that all cores have access to all data directly by accessing the L3, meaning no copy operating has to be performed and speeding up operations.

 

Super hard to compare directly.

 

Edit: Updated the paragraph about cache since 1. What I said was wrong and 2. it wasn't even what I intended to say.

Edited August 5, 2018 by Tabs

[moderategamer]

cache is just really fast memory inside the CPU that's used to store lines to be executed so yes it is essential in making games run. However also no as your CPU has enough cache for gaming and any task the CPU is asked to perform. The CPU is designed to execute the machine code it's given and all modernish processors will have adequate cache to do so it's not something you need to worry about.   

[Mero_de]

thx guys