Adaptive write-back method and apparatus wherein the cache system operates in a combination of write-back and write-through modes for a cache-based microprocessor system

摘要

Method and apparatus for reducing the access time required to write to memory and read from memory in a computer system having a cache-based memory. A dynamic determination is made on a cycle by cycle basis of whether data should be written to the cache with a dirty bit asserted, or the data should be written to both the cache and main memory. The write-through method is chosen where the write-through method is approximately as fast as the write-back method. Where the write-back method is substantially faster than the write-through method, the write-back method is chosen.