COA_Ch06_Exam

________ memory is a small, high-speed, high-cost memory that servers as a buffer for frequently accessed data.

• ROM
• RAM
• cache
• SRAM

The approach of using a combination of memory types to provide the best performance at the best cost is called:

• caching
• hierarchical memory
• solid state memory
• off-line memory

When the requested data resides in a given level of memory, we call this a ________.

• hit
• penalty
• miss
• locality of reference

Which of the following types of memory has the shortest (fastest) access time?

• cache memory
• main memory
• secondary memory
• registers

Which of the following types of memory needs to be refreshed periodically to maintain its data?

• SRAM
• DRAM
• ROM
• all of the above

A major advantage of direct mapped cache is its simplicity and ease of implementation. The main disadvantage of direct mapped cache is:

• it is more expensive than fully associative and set associative mapping
• it has a greater access time than any other method
• its performance is degraded if two or more blocks that map to the same location are used alternately
• it does not allow the cache to store the tag that corresponds to the block currently residing in that cache location

Memory that is accessed by searching for content is called:

• read only memory
• erasable memory
• associative memory
• virtual memory

Cache memory is effective because:

• it is very inexpensive
• it is very large
• it is very small
• of the principle of locality

What characteristic of RAM makes it unsuitable for permanent storage?

• not reliable
• too slow
• volatile
• all of the above

Cache mapping is necessary because:

• the address generated by the CPU must be converted to a cache location
• cache is so small that its use requires a map
• cache is larger than main memory and mapping allows us to store multiple copies of each piece of data from main memory
• none of the above