What's this "512K" number mean?

[Garfield]

I'm looking at some specs @ newegg.com, and this is what it says about a P4...

Pentium 4 2.0AGHz 512K Socket 478 Processor

What does the "512K" mean about the processor? 512K of what? :confused:

[NookieN]

512k level 2 on die cache. This in contrast to Willamette P4's and all Athlons, which have 256k on die.

[Garfield]

Oh okay, it's the cash on the chip. Thanks! :D

[Maxvla]

Originally posted by Garfield
Oh okay, it's the cash on the chip. Thanks! :D
cache is what this is referring to. this has a great deal to do with the performance of your computer.

the higher number means more bandwidth through the processor.

[Yodums]

Cache is temporary storage. It can store more, thus loading stuff will be much faster retrieving the data on the cache. That's why the Xeons were so powerful ;) 1mb cache!

[jdmcnudgent]

Originally posted by Yodums
Cache is temporary storage. It can store more, thus loading stuff will be much faster retrieving the data on the cache. That's why the Xeons were so powerful ;) 1mb cache! look at you buddie, about to be a fellow inteller.:D

[Garfield]

Originally posted by Yodums
Cache is temporary storage. It can store more, thus loading stuff will be much faster retrieving the data on the cache. That's why the Xeons were so powerful ;) 1mb cache!

But isn't the Xeon a 64-bit processor that's not back-compatable?

[NookieN]

You're thinking of the Itanium.

The Xeons are still based on the P4 (or some on the P3) core. The ones with lots of cache rock. The next generation with 2M should kick ass (not that they'll be cheap enough to even think about).