AGP is used as a system bus for a video card and enables fast information exchange with the motherboard and computer processor. The technology allows you to quickly display the necessary graphical information on the screen.
History of appearance
The AGP standard appeared in 1996. Intel Corporation was the developer of the method of connecting a video card to a motherboard. The main goal of the company was to increase the performance of the graphics subsystem and reduce the cost of video adapters, which would lead to an increase in the popularity of computers. AGP has come to replace the standard PCI buses that were previously used to connect a video card. Today the AGP standard is outdated, and it has been replaced by the PCI-Express x16 format, which has higher performance indicators and a more balanced power consumption system.
Standards used
The AGP standard has evolved several times. Initially, the developers released AGP 1x, which today is also almost never used anywhere, since it does not provide the required speed of access to the video memory of a video card. In 1997, AGP 2x was released, and then AGP 4x, which had the ability to transfer 4 data blocks per unit of time (cycle) of the video card. At the same time, manufacturers managed to achieve high bus bandwidth (1 GBt / s). Later, the first board with AGP 8x was released, which allows you to transfer twice as many data blocks, which makes it possible not only to get higher performance, but also to start using two or more radio modules in one system in order to increase the performance of the graphics subsystem.
Later, the interface was replaced by the new PCI Express x16 standard, which is more popular today. At the same time, support for motherboards with AGP was suspended, and the last motherboards with support for AGP 8x technology were released in 2005. PCI Express x16 gained its popularity due to the possibility of hot-swappable graphics cards directly from the motherboard, improved power consumption and management capabilities. At the same time, motherboards based on the updated technology allow you to achieve better peak performance and make it possible to overclock equipment in order to obtain higher performance.
Advantages of AGP over PCI
AGP enables hardware to operate at a higher frequency than PCI. At the same time, the throughput of the board also improves, which leads to an increase in data transfer speed and performance. At the same time, AGP makes it possible to use video cards with higher power consumption, which also has a positive effect on the speed of the motherboard.