Memory bank

A memory bank is a logical unit of storage in electronics, which is hardware dependent. In computer the memory bank may be determined by the memory access controller and the CPU along with physical organization of the hardware memory slots.

In caching

Memory bank is a part of (cache) memory that is addressed consecutively in the total set of memory banks, i.e., when data item a(n) is stored in bank b, data item a(n + 1) is stored in bank b + 1. (Cache) memory is divided in banks to evade the effects of the bank cycle time (see 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.

Other meanings

Memory bank may also mean:

• Memory Bank (UK game show) was a daytime gameshow which was shown on Five in the UK
• Memory Banks (comic strip), a British comic strip
• Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, a 1983 telemovie

See also

• Computer memory
• Bank switching
• Memory organisation
• Interleaved memory
• Memory Geometry