<p>It seems like the <em>memory access granularity</em> is a more broad term and it can be applied to any kind of memory. Therefore, the <em>cache line size</em> is simply a granularity of the on-chip caches[<a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1605.06483.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1</a>].</p>
<p>Quote from the link:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In most modern systems, the memory subsystem is managed and accessed at multiple
different granularities at various resources. The software stack typically accesses data at
a word granularity (typically 4 or 8 bytes). The on-chip caches store data at a cache line
granularity (typically 64 bytes).</p>
</blockquote>
Memory access granularity vs Cache line
<p>I'm trying to note the concept of <em>memory access granularity</em>, which I've found mentioned in some articles.</p>
<p>It's being said that <em>memory access granularity</em> is [<a href="https://developer.ibm.com/technologies/systems/articles/pa-dalign/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1</a>]:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the size in which a processor accesses memory</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the other hand, the <em>cache line</em> is [<a href="https://medium.com/software-design/why-software-developers-should-care-about-cpu-caches-8da04355bb8a#:%7E:text=A%20cache%20line%20is%20the,region%20is%20read%20or%20written." rel="nofollow noreferrer">2</a>]:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the unit of data transfer between cache and memory</p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>How does the <em>size</em> of a cache line relate to the <em>granularity</em> of the memory?</li>
<li>Do they mean the same thing?</li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks!</p>