Cache on modern processors is so insanely fast it's already essentially an extension of the register file. IIRC, under ideal circumstances a L1 cache hit on Co

Cache on modern processors is so insanely fast it's already essentially an extension of the register file. IIRC, under ideal circumstances a L1 cache hit on Core i7 can take as little as 2-3 cycles, and averages about 4 cycles.