Introduction to the special section on high performance memory systems
Haldun Hadimioglu, David R Kaeli, Fabrizio Lombardi · IEEE Transactions on Computers · 2001
1 Appeared in IEEE Transactions on Computers, Introduction to the special issue devoted to “Advances in High Performance Memory Systems,” November 2001. While microprocessor designs have continued to increase in speed and complexity, dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) have failed to keep pace. This trend has created a widening gap in performance between microprocessors and their supporting memory systems. While hierarchical memories (i.e., caches) have been used to bridge this gap in the past, the distance (in terms of cycles) between caches and DRAMs continues to grow. Our inability to design memory systems that can keep pace has warranted us to look for new approaches bridging the memory wall.