A high-frequency and low-power L1 cache and associated access technique. The method may include inspecting a virtual address of an L1 data cache load instruction, and indexing into a row and a column of a way predictor table using metadata and a virtual address associated with the load instruction. The method may include matching information stored at the row and the column of the way predictor table to a location of a cache line. The method may include predicting the location of the cache line within the L1 data cache based on the information match. A hierarchy of way predictor tables may be used, with higher level way predictor tables refreshing smaller lower level way predictor tables. The way predictor tables may be trained to make better predictions over time. Only selected circuit macros need to be enabled based on the predictions, thereby saving power.