L2 Cache & Front Side Bus

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Thinking about upgrading to a new Dell for Digital Audio work (PC based multitrack recording, sampling & sequencing.) The machine I looked at sports a 2GB P4 CPU, with I believe a 512KB L2 Cache; & a 533MHz Front Side Bus on the motherboard. My questions are:
1) What is the Level 2 Cache (how does it work; & how is it different from memory)?

2) Is the Front Side Bus the same animal as the PCI Bus?

As a general inquiry, will these two items be more beneficial in recording audio to the PC?

Thanks in advance.

mark4man

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1) What is the Level 2 Cache (how does it work; & how is it different from memory)?

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L2 Cache is on-chip cache that runs at the speed of the processor. It’s proximity and dedication to the processor’s needs make it exceptionally fast. Cache has a HUGE impact on performance – the more, the better.

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2) Is the Front Side Bus the same animal as the PCI Bus?

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No. The front side bus is the speed at which other components (memory, disk operations) can interchange data with the processor, where the PCI bus is limited to PCI devices only. The higher this number, the more memory operations can be transferred per clock cycle – meaning more work can be done in the same amount of time as opposed to a slower bus. Multimedia tasks typically taxthe bus heavily and its benefits start shining with digital video and audio (good for you).

The biggest impact will come from the L2 cache. The more…the better. I would gladly exchange the bus speed for more L2 cache.

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Edited by WyllyWylly to add URL code. See the Quick Guide.[/size]

Here is a link to a great article if not overly detailed.

• http://www.deviantpc.com/articles/systembus/index.shtml%5B/url%5D%5B/list%5DBeing a Hardware instructor I love it when someone puts the information this way.

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Thanks WyllyWylly & KentWard

mark4man

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