Overview
L3 (Level 3) cache is a large pool of memory shared by all the cores in a CPU. It helps improve performance by allowing cores to share data and reducing the number of times the CPU must access the much slower system RAM.
Characteristics
- Size: Much larger than L1 or L2, often ranging from 8MB to 128MB or more (e.g., AMD's 3D V-Cache).
- Speed: Slower than L2 but still significantly faster than RAM.
- Shared Resource: All cores compete for space in the L3 cache.