<s>
COASt	O
,	O
an	O
acronym	O
for	O
"	O
cache	B-General_Concept
on	I-General_Concept
a	I-General_Concept
stick	I-General_Concept
"	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
packaging	O
standard	O
for	O
modules	O
containing	O
SRAM	B-Architecture
used	O
as	O
an	O
L2	B-General_Concept
cache	I-General_Concept
in	O
a	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
COASt	O
modules	O
look	O
like	O
somewhat	O
oversized	O
SIMM	B-General_Concept
modules	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
modules	O
were	O
somewhat	O
popular	O
in	O
the	O
Apple	O
and	O
PC	O
platforms	O
during	O
early	O
to	O
mid-1990s	O
,	O
but	O
with	O
newer	O
computers	O
cache	O
is	O
built	O
into	O
either	O
the	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
or	O
the	O
motherboard	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
COASt	O
modules	O
decoupled	O
the	O
motherboard	B-Device
from	O
its	O
cache	O
,	O
allowing	O
varying	O
configurations	O
to	O
be	O
created	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
COASt	O
modules	O
were	O
equipped	O
with	O
pipelined-burst	B-Architecture
SRAM	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
could	O
be	O
found	O
in	O
many	O
Apple	B-Device
Macintosh	I-Device
in	O
the	O
early-to-mid-90s	O
,	O
but	O
disappeared	O
as	O
the	O
Mac	O
moved	O
to	O
the	O
PowerPC	B-Architecture
platform	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Intel	O
also	O
used	O
the	O
COASt	O
standard	O
for	O
their	O
Pentium	B-General_Concept
systems	O
,	O
where	O
it	O
could	O
be	O
found	O
as	O
late	O
as	O
1998	O
in	O
Pentium	B-General_Concept
MMX	O
systems	O
utilizing	O
Intel	B-Device
chipsets	I-Device
such	O
as	O
430VX	O
and	O
430TX	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
,	O
Intel	O
combined	O
this	O
architecture	O
with	O
the	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
and	O
created	O
the	O
Slot	B-Device
1	I-Device
CPU	B-General_Concept
cartridge	O
which	O
contained	O
both	O
the	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
and	O
separate	O
cache	O
chips	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
modules	O
contained	O
256K	O
or	O
512K	O
of	O
fast	O
pipeline	O
burst	O
SRAM	B-Architecture
,	O
plus	O
8	O
or	O
11	O
bits	O
of	O
even	O
faster	O
static	B-Architecture
RAM	I-Architecture
per	O
line	O
to	O
store	O
the	O
cache	O
tags	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
The	O
module	O
provides	O
pins	O
for	O
11	O
lines	O
,	O
but	O
many	O
motherboards	B-Device
and	O
modules	O
provided	O
only	O
8	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
variants	O
(	O
illustrated	O
to	O
the	O
right	O
)	O
placed	O
the	O
tag	O
RAM	O
on	O
the	O
motherboard	B-Device
and	O
only	O
the	O
main	O
cache	O
RAM	O
was	O
on	O
the	O
module	O
.	O
</s>
