"If you added a couple extensions coming out of the processor(the ones coming in and going out of the cache) and somehow attached a 512mb stick of ram to it, would it work?"
it wouldn't work, and if it did, and there's a small problem - the cache is just that, a cache. it wouldn't function correctly, as the computer still would think that it had to flush the cache to regular RAM. what we would need is a total computer / processor architecture rethink and redesign. one where the concept of a cache would not exist, because the memory would be so close to the processor that it would not NEED a cache.
dynamic ram is the kind of memory that you plug into the DIMM slots. dynamic ram is much smaller, uses less energy and produces far less heat than static ram, simply because each bit is represented by a capacitor and maybe 2 transistors, while static ram has MANY transistors per bit - you end up with a physically larger unit that produces MUCH more heat and uses MUCH more energy. static ram has the advantage of being much faster, as dynamic ram must constatnly be "refreshed" as capacitors have the nasty habit of losing their charge if you leave them long enough (and when you're talking about microscopic capacitors, they lose their charge VERY quickly). static ram is always ready to be used - but then you run into another problem - electrical charges are not instant, so for a very short period of time after you write to the static ram, it does not actually hold the value it's supposed to!
aren't computers fun?
OK enough of that damn DBP fanboy banner. i'm NOT a DBP fanboy in any way. i haven't used DBP in over a year, and i don't really plan on using it again.
