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What does a CPU's TLB (translation lookaside buffer) store?

Recent virtual to physical address translations.

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  1. Recent virtual to physical address translations ✔
  2. Recently opened files
  3. Recent network packets

Why: Every memory access with virtual memory needs an address translation, which normally means reading page tables in memory. The TLB is a small cache of recent translations. A TLB hit skips those extra trips to main memory.

Huh, didn't know that: Huge pages help because one TLB entry then covers far more memory.

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Why is the TLB so good at directions? It remembers every address it just looked up.
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References

Answer: Recent virtual to physical address translations. Every memory access with virtual memory needs an address translation, which normally means reading page tables in memory. The TLB is a small cache of recent translations. A TLB hit skips those extra trips to main memory.

  1. OpenStax Introduction to Computer Science 6.4: Memory Management openstax.org/books/introduction-computer-science/pages/6-4-memory-management
    the CPU has dedicated hardware for caching (storing) recent address translations called a translation lookaside buffer (TLB)
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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