Cache Size

In the following sections, we’ll explain how Windows computes the size of the system cache, both virtually and physically. As with most calculations related to memory management, the size of the system cache depends on a number of factors.

Cache Virtual Size

On a 32-bit Windows system, the virtual size of the system cache is limited solely by the amount of kernel-mode virtual address space and the SystemCacheLimit registry key that can be optionally configured. (See Chapter 10 for more information on limiting the size of the kernel virtual address space.) This means that the cache size is capped by the 2-GB system address space, but it is typically significantly smaller because the system address space is shared with other resources, ...

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