For a short overview read: > http://preshing.com/20120930/weak-vs-strong-memory-models/ http://preshing.com/20120930/weak-vs-strong-memory-models/ If you want

For a short overview read: > http://preshing.com/20120930/weak-vs-strong-memory-models/ http://preshing.com/20120930/weak-vs-strong-memory-models/ If you want more details of memory models of some CPU architectures, read > http://www.rdrop.com/users/paulmck/scalability/paper/whymb.2010.07.23a.pdf http://www.rdrop.com/users/paulmck/scalability/paper/whymb.2... Note that "x86 OOStore" is not a model that you should be concerned about (according to https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/linux.kernel/2dBrSeIGYT0 https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/linux.kernel/2dBrSeI... it was only used on IDT WinChip) For a perspective on memory barriers for different memory models with a focus on the Linux kernel look at > https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt If you are specifically interested in some subtile details of the x86 memory model, have a look at > http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~pes20/weakmemory/index3.html http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~pes20/weakmemory/index3.html Best begin with > http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~pes20/weakmemory/cacm.pdf http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~pes20/weakmemory/cacm.pdf --- I hope this should give you enough information to start reading up on the subject.