Data from main memory are processed in the CPU of computer in any application like database-management system (DBMS), numerical applications. The computation time can be improved by the addition of processor caches. The cache takes advantage of the locality of reference in any application/calculation. This chapter discusses the two prevalent cache architectures, namely inclusive and exclusive. A new cache architecture for data only called two-type data cache proposed in the literature is presented in the following section. The performance of two-type data cache model is compared with inclusive and exclusive architectures. The energy consumed by inclusive and exclusive caches is mentioned. Methods to reduce the energy consumption are proposed for inclusive and exclusive cache architectures. The hardware and software methods for energy saving are proposed. The proposed models are simulated using SPEC2000 benchmarks. The benchmarks are for compression, combinatorial optimization, word processing, place and route simulator, object oriented database, field-programmable gate array (FPGA) circuit placement and routing. The results are presented.
Part of the book: Management of Information Systems