The way I see it, they're linked. The memory hierarchy has a direct impact on a number of architectural concerns: data organisation, choice of components, commu

The way I see it, they're linked. The memory hierarchy has a direct impact on a number of architectural concerns: data organisation, choice of components, communication patterns between components, etc. It can make the difference between a system that meets its functional requirements and one that doesn't. These are all things an architect is supposed to care about, so to me it seems reasonable to expect an expert architect to be aware of the factors influencing them. I get the feeling we're not going to agree about this though.