DMA (Direct Memory Access) frees the CPU from these menial tasks. With DMA, peripheral devices do not have to ask the CPU to fetch some data for them, but can do it themselves.

Implementing direct memory access is straightforward, once you know how it works and how to configure your DMA controller. Here’s a primer on this most efficient means of moving data around in a ...

Two of the interesting memory systems the SNES uses are called DMA and HDMA. DMA stands for direct memory access, and is a way for the Super Nintendo to access memory independently of the CPU.