Skip to main content
Search type Search syntax
Tags [tag]
Exact "words here"
Author user:1234
user:me (yours)
Score score:3 (3+)
score:0 (none)
Answers answers:3 (3+)
answers:0 (none)
isaccepted:yes
hasaccepted:no
inquestion:1234
Views views:250
Code code:"if (foo != bar)"
Sections title:apples
body:"apples oranges"
URL url:"*.example.com"
Saves in:saves
Status closed:yes
duplicate:no
migrated:no
wiki:no
Types is:question
is:answer
Exclude -[tag]
-apples
For more details on advanced search visit our help page
Results tagged with
Search options not deleted user 76206

Direct memory access (DMA) is a feature of computerized systems that allows certain hardware subsystems to access main system memory independently of the central processing unit (CPU).

19 votes
Accepted

Does a CPU completely freeze when using a DMA?

You are correct that the CPU cannot be accessing the memory during a DMA transfer. … The device performing the DMA transfer is significantly slower than the CPU speed, so the CPU will not need to halt on every instruction but just occasionally when the DMA device is accessing the memory …
micheal65536's user avatar