Storage system and method for accessing same

A method of operating a data access system, such that the data access system comprises a storage system and a GPU having GPU cache, the storage system including a memory module that includes a first memory system and a second memory system, the first memory system including a non-GPU cache module having a non-GPU cache controller and non-GPU cache, and the GPU is in communication with the controller cache, the method comprising:

• receiving, at the non-GPU cache controller, a request from the GPU for data required by the GPU that is not cached in the GPU cache, the request including a physical address for the data required by the GPU;
• attempting to generate a virtual address with the non-GPU cache controller based on the physical address, which corresponds to a physical location within the non-GPU cache;
• and
• in response to successfully translating the physical address to the virtual address with the non- GPU cache controller, retrieving the data required by the GPU from the physical location within the non-GPU cache of the first memory system and providing the data required by the GPU to the GPU CPU;
• and
• in response to determining the physical address can not be translated to the virtual address by the non-GPU cache controller, the non-GPU cache controller retrieving the data required by the GPU directly from the second memory system without use of the system bus and providing the data required by the GPU to the GPU.

A data access and storage system comprising:

• a main memory module comprising:
• a first memory module comprising a cache module having a non-processor cache controller and a non-processor cache, the non-processor cache comprising DRAM memory and a memory controller, such that the cache module is configured to receive, over a system bus, a request for processor required data from a processor when the processor required data is not in a processor cache;
• and
• a second memory module comprising non-volatile memory, such that the non-processor cache controller can directly access the non-processor cache and the non-volatile memory;
• wherein the non-processor cache controller is configured to:
• attempt to generate a virtual address based on translation of the physical address that is received from the processor, such that the virtual address corresponds to a physical location within the non-processor cache;
• in response to determining the physical address can be translated to a virtual address, the non-processor cache controller retrieving the processor required data from the non-processor cache;
• and
• in response to determining the physical address can not be translated to a virtual address, the non-processor cache controller retrieving the processor required data from the non-volatile memory of the second memory module.