A memory bank is a logical unit of storage in electronics, which is
hardware-dependent. In a
computer
A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...
, the
memory
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...
bank may be determined by the
memory controller
A memory controller, also known as memory chip controller (MCC) or a memory controller unit (MCU), is a digital circuit that manages the flow of data going to and from a computer's main memory. When a memory controller is integrated into anothe ...
along with physical organization of the hardware memory slots. In a typical
synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) or
double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), a bank consists of multiple rows and columns of storage units, and is usually spread out across several
chips. In a single read or write operation, only one bank is accessed, therefore the number of bits in a column or a row, per bank and per chip, equals the memory bus width in bits (single channel). The size of a bank is further determined by the number of bits in a column and a row, per chip, multiplied by the number of chips in a bank.
Some computers have several identical memory banks of RAM, and use
bank switching to switch between them.
Harvard architecture
The Harvard architecture is a computer architecture with separate computer storage, storage and signal pathways for Machine code, instructions and data. It is often contrasted with the von Neumann architecture, where program instructions and d ...
computers have (at least) two very different banks of memory, one for program storage and another for data storage.
In caching
A memory bank is a part of
cache memory
In computing, a cache ( ) is a hardware or software component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsew ...
that is addressed consecutively in the total set of memory banks, i.e., when data item is stored in bank , data item is stored in bank . Cache memory is divided in banks to evade the effects of the bank cycle time (see above) ''
> missing "bank cycle" definition, above'. When data is stored or retrieved consecutively each bank has enough time to recover before the next request for that bank arrives.
The number of memory modules needed to have the same number of data bits as the bus. A bank can consist of one or more memory modules.
See also
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Bank switching
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Interleaved memory
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Memory rank
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Memory geometry
In the design of modern computers, memory geometry describes the internal structure of random-access memory. Memory geometry is of concern to consumers upgrading their computers, since older memory controllers may not be compatible with later pr ...
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Memory organisation
Further reading
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References
{{Reflist
Computer memory