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Memory latency is the time (thelatency) between initiating a request for abyte or word in memory until it is retrieved by aprocessor. If the data are not in theprocessor's cache, it takes longer to obtain them, as the processor will have to communicate with the externalmemory cells. Latency is therefore a fundamental measure of the speed of memory: the less the latency, the faster the reading operation.
Latency should not be confused withmemory bandwidth, which measures thethroughput of memory. Latency can be expressed in clock cycles or in time measured innanoseconds. Over time, memory latencies expressed in clock cycles have been fairly stable, but they have improved in time.[1]
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