Memory architecture describes the methods used to implement electronic computer data storage in a manner that is a combination of the fastest, most reliable, most durable, and least expensive way to store and retrieve information. Depending on the specific application, a compromise of one of these requirements may be necessary in order to improve another requirement.

For example, dynamic memory is commonly used for primary data storage due to its fast access speed. However dynamic memory must be repeatedly refreshed

Memory refresh

Memory refresh is the process of periodically reading information from an area of computer memory, and immediately rewriting the read information to the same area with no modifications. Each memory refresh cycle refreshes a succeeding area of memory. Memory refresh is most often associated with...

 with a surge of current millions of time per second, or the stored data will decay and be lost. Flash memory

Flash memory

Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...

 allows for long-term storage over a period of years, but it is much slower than dynamic memory, and the static memory storage cells wear out with frequent use.

Similarly, the data bus is often designed to suit specific needs such as serial or parallel data access, and the memory may be designed to provide for parity error detection or even error correction

ECC memory

Error-correcting code memory is a type of computer data storage that can detect and correct the more common kinds of internal data corruption...

 in expensive business systems.

See also

• 8-bit
  8-bit
  The first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor was the Intel 8080, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, often running the CP/M operating system. The Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 6800 were also used in similar computers...
  
  
• 16-bit
  16-bit
  -16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16...
  
  
• 32-bit
  32-bit
  The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
  
  
• 64-bit
  64-bit
  64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
  
  
• Cache-only memory architecture (COMA)
• Cache memory
• Conventional memory
  Conventional memory
  In DOS memory management, conventional memory, also called base memory, is the first 640 kilobytes of the memory on IBM PC or compatible systems. It is the read-write memory usable by the operating system and application programs...
  
  
• Deterministic memory
  Deterministic memory
  With respect to computers, Deterministic Memory is computer memory which contains values that can be depended on from access to access. The term is also used in conjunction with achieving Real-Time functionality, especially in conjunction with embedded processor applications.- External links :* *...
  
  
• Distributed shared memory
  Distributed shared memory
  Distributed Shared Memory , in Computer Architecture is a form of memory architecture where the memories can be addressed as one address space...
  
   (DSM)
• Dual-channel architecture
  Dual-channel architecture
  Multi-channel architecture is a technology that increases the transfer speed of data between the RAM and the memory controller by adding more channels of communication between them. Theoretically this multiplies the data rate by exactly the number of channels present. Dual-channel memory employs...
  
  
• ECC memory
  ECC memory
  Error-correcting code memory is a type of computer data storage that can detect and correct the more common kinds of internal data corruption...
  
  
• Expanded memory
  Expanded memory
  In DOS memory management, expanded memory is a system of bank switching introduced April 24, 1985 that provided additional memory to DOS programs beyond the limit of conventional memory. Expanded memory uses parts of the address space normally dedicated to communication with peripherals for program...
  
  
• Extended memory
  Extended memory
  In DOS memory management, extended memory refers to memory above the first megabyte of address space in an IBM PC or compatible with an 80286 or later processor. The term is mainly used under the DOS and Windows operating systems...
  
  
• Flat memory model
  Flat memory model
  Flat memory model or linear memory model refers to a memory addressing paradigm in low-level software design such that the CPU can directly address all of the available memory locations without having to resort to any sort of memory segmentation or paging schemes.Memory management and...
  
  
• Harvard architecture
  Harvard architecture
  The Harvard architecture is a computer architecture with physically separate storage and signal pathways for instructions and data. The term originated from the Harvard Mark I relay-based computer, which stored instructions on punched tape and data in electro-mechanical counters...
  
  
• High Memory Area (HMA)
• Lernmatrix
  Lernmatrix
  Lernmatrix, an associative-memory-like architecture of an artificial neural network, invented around 1960 by Karl Steinbuch.- External links :***...
  
  
• Memory hierarchy
  Memory hierarchy
  The term memory hierarchy is used in the theory of computation when discussing performance issues in computer architectural design, algorithm predictions, and the lower level programming constructs such as involving locality of reference. A 'memory hierarchy' in computer storage distinguishes each...
  
  
• Memory level parallelism
  Memory level parallelism
  Memory Level Parallelism or MLP is a term in computer architecture referring to the ability to have pending multiple memory operations, in particular cache misses or translation lookaside buffer misses, at the same time....
  
  
• Memory model
  Memory model (computing)
  In computing, a memory model describes the interactions of threads through memory and specifies the assumptions the compiler is allowed to make when generating code for segmented memory or paged memory platforms.-History and significance:...
  
  
• Memory protection
  Memory protection
  Memory protection is a way to control memory access rights on a computer, and is a part of most modern operating systems. The main purpose of memory protection is to prevent a process from accessing memory that has not been allocated to it. This prevents a bug within a process from affecting...
  
  
• Memory-disk synchronisation
• Non-Uniform Memory Access
  Non-Uniform Memory Access
  Non-Uniform Memory Access is a computer memory design used in Multiprocessing, where the memory access time depends on the memory location relative to a processor...
  
   (NUMA)
• PCI memory hole
• Processor register
  Processor register
  In computer architecture, a processor register is a small amount of storage available as part of a CPU or other digital processor. Such registers are addressed by mechanisms other than main memory and can be accessed more quickly...
  
  
• Registered memory
  Registered memory
  Registered memory modules have a register between the DRAM modules and the system's memory controller. They place less electrical load on the memory controller and allow single systems to remain stable with more memory modules than they would have otherwise...
  
  
• Shared memory
  Shared memory
  In computing, shared memory is memory that may be simultaneously accessed by multiple programs with an intent to provide communication among them or avoid redundant copies. Depending on context, programs may run on a single processor or on multiple separate processors...
  
  
• Shared Memory Architecture
  Shared Memory Architecture
  In computer architecture, Shared Memory Architecture refers to a design where the graphics chip does not have its own dedicated memory, and instead shares the main system RAM with the CPU and other components....
  
   (SMA)
• Stack-based memory allocation
  Stack-based memory allocation
  Stacks in computing architectures are regions of memory where data is added or removed in a last-in-first-out manner.In most modern computer systems, each thread has a reserved region of memory referred to as its stack. When a function executes, it may add some of its state data to the top of the...
  
  
• Tagged architecture
  Tagged architecture
  In computer science, a tagged architecture is a particular type of computer architecture where every word of memory constitutes a tagged union, being divided into a number of bits of data, and a tag section that describes the type of the data: how it is to be interpreted, and, if it is a reference,...
  
  
• Uniform Memory Access
  Uniform Memory Access
  Uniform Memory Access is a shared memory architecture used in parallel computers.All the processors in the UMA model share the physical memory uniformly...
  
   (UMA)
• Universal memory
  Universal memory
  Universal memory may mean:* any memory device combining cost benefits of DRAM, speed of SRAM, and non-volatility of flash memory** magnetoresistive random-access memory ** Bubble memory** Racetrack memory** ferroelectric random-access memory...
  
  
• Video memory
  Video memory
  Video memory is a term generally used in computers to describe some form of writable memory, usually RAM, dedicated to the purpose of holding the information necessary for a graphics card to drive a display device...
  
  
• von Neumann architecture
  Von Neumann architecture
  The term Von Neumann architecture, aka the Von Neumann model, derives from a computer architecture proposal by the mathematician and early computer scientist John von Neumann and others, dated June 30, 1945, entitled First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC...
  
  
• X86 memory segmentation