Section 8.5: How Indirect Addressing Works (Frame 18)                     [prev][home][     ]

In many computers, the MAR is often longer than physical memory. Many computers have an MAR of 32 bits, which allows up to 4 gigabytes to be addressed. But few computers have 4 gigabytes of RAM, even today with continually falling memory prices. If a computer with 32-bit addresses has only 64 megabytes of RAM, then it is definitely possible for the MAR to get a number larger than 67,108,864 (64M), so a memory fault could occur and must be handled.