As an application is running, the smart circuit figures out how much memory is needed by counting the number of times in every one-thousandth of a second that cache memory is unable to find the information requested. More memory is automatically made available if the cache memory is unable to retrieve requested information at a certain rate. The trick is to reduce power consumption as much as possible while keeping performance at the highest possible level. Computer simulations of the Purdue design have shown the potential to reduce the amount of energy consumed by a computer's cache memory by 62 percent while at the same time degrading overall performance by only 4 percent. The high performance provided by the cache memory of a modern computer comes at the cost of conserving energy.
Full power is used all the time, with few ways to conserve it.
Most laptops, for example, offer a power saving feature that has only one option, shutting down the whole system. Another feature of the new smart circuit is a reduction in the amount of electricity that is normally leaked from the memory circuits in the computer's microprocessor chip. Any reduction in leakage could drastically increase a battery's life span. All Rights Reserved.