A set-associative cache is a type of cache in computational architecture where the cache is divided into a limited number of sets, and each set can store multiple cache lines. Each cache line in a set-associative cache is identified by a tag that specifies the memory address of the data stored in the cache. When a processor requests data that is not in the cache, the cache controller searches for the required data in all the sets simultaneously. A set-associative cache provides a compromise between the direct-mapped cache (which has a smaller cache size but limited flexibility) and the fully associative cache (which has a larger cache size but higher access latency).
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