L1-L2-L3 Caches

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L1 cache (~32-64KB, ~1-4 cycles) is fastest and smallest, per-core. L2 cache (~256KB-1MB, ~10 cycles) is per-core. L3 cache (~8-64MB, ~30-40 cycles) is shared across cores. Each level trades size for latency, with main memory at ~100+ cycles.

memory-models cache l1 l2 l3