Hardware

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• Integrated Memory Controller (IMC)
  Last edited: 2026-02-05
  Integrated Memory Controller (IMC)

  The Integrated Memory Controller is a modern memory controller that is integrated into the CPU . This reduces latency and increases memory bandwidth since the CPU can directly access RAM .

• Memory controller
  Last edited: 2026-02-05
  Memory controller

  The Memory Controller is a crucial hardware component responsible for managing access to physical memory . It acts as the bridge between the CPU and RAM , ensuring that memory requests from the processor are handled correctly. Most notably, it will map whatever physical RAM you have into one contiguous memory region for the Memory Management Unit (MMU) to use. There are different types of memory controllers:

• Memory Management Unit (MMU)
  Last edited: 2026-02-05
  Memory Management Unit (MMU)

  The Memory Management Unit (MMU) is a hardware component responsible for translating virtual addresses used by programs into physical addresses . It works alongside the operating system and uses page tables or segment tables to perform this translation. The MMU also enforces memory protection, preventing unauthorized access to restricted memory regions.

• Northbridge Memory Controller
  Last edited: 2026-02-05
  Northbridge Memory Controller

  The northbridge memory controller is a form of memory controller which is used in older architectures. The memory controller was located on the Northbridge chipset (separate from the CPU ). This design introduced latency since memory requests had to travel through the Northbridge before reaching RAM .

• Physical memory
  Last edited: 2026-02-05
  Physical memory

  Physical memory usually refers to the actual RAM installed in a computer. However, the term can also have more specific meanings depending on the context. A physical address is a reference to a location in this RAM , but in some cases, it may also refer to an abstraction used by the operating system , which treats memory as a contiguous block, even if the physical layout is non-contiguous. The mapping between virtual addresses and physical addresses is handled by the Memory Management Unit (MMU) and memory controller , which ensure that memory is accessed correctly and efficiently.

• Random Access Memory (RAM)
  Last edited: 2026-02-05
  Random Access Memory (RAM)

  Random access memory is used to temporarily store data relevant to an executing program. Unlike disk storage RAM is temporary and will lose its state once the machine is turned off. However, RAM is fast access which makes it more usable to programs when they need to access it frequently. Processes access RAM through virtual memory which is mapped to physical memory through page tables .

• Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB)
  Last edited: 2026-02-05
  Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB)

  The Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) is a small, high-speed cache inside the MMU that stores recently used virtual-to-physical address mappings. Since accessing these mappings in memory is slow, the TLB helps speed up address translation by reducing the need to fetch mapping table entries from RAM . A TLB hit means the translation is found instantly, while a TLB miss requires fetching the mapping from the table in main memory.