L2 cache

RU: L2 cache

The second level of the CPU cache hierarchy, sitting between L1 and L3. L2 is larger and slower than L1 but still substantially faster than L3 or main memory. It is typically private per core, though some architectures share it among a small cluster of cores. L2 holds data evicted from L1 and serves as a first fallback on an L1 miss.