Do you have know all the facts about AGP technology? My guess is that this
topic of AGP still baffles many computer enthusiasts out there.
There are many AGP video cards out there is the market. These are connected
to your processor via the AGP bus. However, what is this AGP bus and how
does it work?
Well, this article presents some important facts about AGP for you to know.
Read on and find out more about this important concept in computer technology.
A typical AGP video card available in the market
1. What is AGP?
The first thing we want to discuss is - what is AGP? Well, AGP stands for
Accelerated Graphics Port. It used to be that video cards were installed on the
PCI bus. The problem was data transfer rate. The speed at which the PCI bus
transfers data to and from the video card was too slow.
Hence, the AGP bus was launched to increase the data transfer rate of video
cards. There are three specification of AGP - they are AGP 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. The
latest incantation of AGP is AGP 3.0.
2. Operation Modes
Here are more facts about AGP. If we look at the AGP bus, we will see that there
are three operation modes that it works in. The oldest (and slowest) operation
mode is the 1X AGP bus. This transfers data at a rate of 266 MB/s. The fastest
8X AGP bus, in contrast, transfers data at an impressive 2,133 MB/s.
3. AGP Slot Types
It is also good to understand the different slot types for AGP. These slots
refer to the AGP slots on the motherboard.
And here are further facts about AGP. In the initial versions of AGP, there were
only 3.3V slots on the motherboard. They could only accommodate 1X and 2X AGP
modes. Later on, 1.5V slot types came up in the motherboard, to accomodate 4X
and 8X AGP modes.
Incidentally, there is a new AGP slot type called AGP Pro which appears in the
latest motherboards.
Conclusion
I hope this article has helped you understand some basic facts about AGP and its
video bus. Understanding the AGP bus is useful in understanding video card
technology. So do remember the above points when you're next shopping for a
video card!
