How AGP Works

by Robert Valdes and Jeff Tyson

You point, you click; you drag and you drop. Files open and close in separate windows. Movies play, pop ups pop, and video ga!es fill t"e screen, i!!ersing you in a world of # $ grap"ics. T"is is t"e stuff we%re used to seeing on our co!puters.

AGP graphics card

&t all started in '()#, w"en *ero+ co!pleted t"e ,lto, t"e first co!puter to use a grap"ical user interface. T"is innovation forever c"anged t"e way t"e people work wit" t"eir co!puters. Today, every aspect of co!puting, fro! creating ani!ation to si!ple tasks suc" as word processing and e !ail, uses lots of grap"ics to create a !ore intuitive work environ!ent for t"e user. T"e "ardware to support t"ese grap"ics is called a grap"ics card. T"e way t"is card connects to your co!puter is key in your co!puter%s ability to render grap"ics. &n t"is article, you will learn about ,-., or Accelerated Graphics Port. ,-. enables your co!puter to "ave a dedicated way to co!!unicate wit" t"e grap"ics card, en"ancing bot" t"e look and speed of your co!puter%s grap"ics.

-et /ff t"e 0us

&n '((1, &ntel introduced ,-. as a !ore efficient way to deliver t"e strea!ing video and real ti!e rendered # $ grap"ics t"at were beco!ing !ore prevalent in all aspects of co!puting. .reviously, t"e standard !et"od of delivery was t"e .erip"eral 2o!ponent &nterconnect 3.2&4 bus. T"e .2& bus is a pat" used to deliver infor!ation fro! t"e grap"ics card to t"e central processing unit 32.54. , bus allows !ultiple packets of infor!ation fro! different sources to travel down one pat" si!ultaneously. &nfor!ation fro! t"e grap"ics card travels t"roug" t"e bus along wit" any ot"er infor!ation t"at is co!ing fro! a device connected to t"e .2&. 6"en all t"e infor!ation arrives at t"e 2.5, it "as to wait in line to get ti!e wit" t"e 2.5.

."oto courtesy PCI slots on a motherboard

T"is syste! worked well for !any years, but eventually t"e .2& bus beca!e a little long in t"e toot". T"e &nternet and !ost software were !ore and !ore grap"ically oriented, and t"e de!ands of t"e grap"ics card needed priority over all ot"er .2& devices.

Typical example of an AGP-based graphics card

,-. is based on t"e design of t"e .2& bus; but unlike a bus, it provides a dedicated point to point connection fro! t"e grap"ics card to t"e 2.5. 6it" a clear pat" to t"e 2.5 and syste! !e!ory, ,-. provides a !uc" faster, !ore efficient way for your co!puter to get t"e infor!ation it needs to render co!ple+ grap"ics. &n t"e ne+t section, we%ll see "ow t"is is done.

/ut 6it" t"e /ld...

,-. is built on t"e idea of i!proving t"e ways t"at .2& transports data to t"e 2.5. &ntel ac"ieved t"is by addressing all of t"e areas w"ere .2& transfers were causing data bottlenecks in t"e syste!. 0y clearing t"e traffic 7a!s of data, ,-. increases t"e speed at w"ic" !ac"ines can render grap"ics w"ile using t"e syste!%s resources !ore efficiently to reduce overall drag. 8ere%s "ow9

edicated Port T"ere are no ot"er devices connected to t"e ,-. ot"er t"an t"e grap"ics card. 6it" a dedicated pat" to t"e 2.5, t"e grap"ics card can always operate at t"e !a+i!u! capacity of t"e connection. Pipelining T"is !et"od of data organi:ation allows t"e grap"ics card to receive and respond to !ultiple packets of data in a single re;uest. 8ere%s a si!plified e+a!ple of t"is9 6it" ,-., t"e grap"ics card can receive a re;uest for all of t"e infor!ation needed to render a particular i!age and send it out all at once. 6it" .2&, t"e grap"ics card would receive infor!ation on t"e "eig"t of t"e i!age and wait... t"en t"e lengt" of t"e i!age, and wait... t"en t"e widt" of t"e i!age, and wait... co!bine t"e data, and t"en send it out.

!ideband addressing <ike a letter, all re;uests and infor!ation sent fro! one part of your co!puter to t"e ne+t !ust "ave an address containing =To= and =Fro!.= T"e proble! wit" .2& is t"at t"is =To= and =Fro!= infor!ation is sent wit" t"e working data all toget"er in one packet. T"is is t"e e;uivalent of including an address card inside t"e envelope w"en you send a letter to a friend9 >ow t"e post office "as to open t"e envelope to see t"e address in order to know w"ere to send it. T"is takes up t"e post office%s ti!e. &n addition, t"e address card itself takes up roo! in t"e envelope, reducing t"e total a!ount of stuff you can send to your friend. 6it" sideband addressing, t"e ,-. issues eig"t additional lines on t"e data packet 7ust for addressing. T"is puts t"e address on t"e outside of t"e envelope, so to speak, freeing up t"e total bandwidt" of t"e data pat" used to transfer infor!ation back and fort". &n addition, it unclogs syste! resources t"at were previously used to open t"e packet to read t"e addresses.

.2&9 6asting R,M

?peed is not t"e only area w"ere ,-. "as bested its predecessor. &t also strea!lines t"e process of rendering grap"ics by using syste! !e!ory !ore efficiently. ,ny # $ grap"ic you see on your co!puter is built by a te+ture !ap. Te+ture !aps are like wrapping paper. Your co!puter takes a flat, @ $ i!age and wraps it around a set of para!eters dictated by t"e grap"ics card to create t"e appearance of a # $ i!age. T"ink of t"is as wrapping an invisible bo+ wit" wrapping paper to s"ow t"e si:e of t"e bo+. &t is i!portant to understand t"is because t"e creation and storage of te+ture !aps is t"e !ain t"ing t"at drains t"e !e!ory fro! bot" t"e grap"ics card and t"e syste! overall. 6it" a .2& based grap"ics card, every te+ture !ap "as to be stored twice. First, t"e te+ture !ap is loaded fro! t"e "ard drive to t"e syste! !e!ory 3R,M4 until it "as to be used. /nce it is needed, it is pulled fro! !e!ory and sent to t"e 2.5 to be processed. /nce processed, it is sent t"roug" t"e .2& bus to t"e grap"ics card, w"ere it is stored again in t"e card%s fra!ebuffer. T"e fra!ebuffer is w"ere t"e grap"ics card "olds t"e i!age in storage once it "as been rendered so t"at it can be refres"ed every ti!e it is needed. ,ll of t"is storing and sending between t"e syste! and t"e card is very draining to t"e overall perfor!ance of t"e co!puter.

."oto courtesy &ntel 2orporation With PCI" text#re maps are loaded from the hard dri$e to system memory" processed by the CP% and then loaded into the frameb#ffer of the graphics card&

,-.9 ?aving R,M

,-. i!proves t"e process of storing te+ture !aps by allowing t"e operating syste! to designate R,M for use by t"e grap"ics card on t"e fly. T"is type of !e!ory is called AGP memory or non local video !e!ory. 5sing t"e !uc" !ore abundant and faster R,M used by t"e operating syste! to store te+ture !aps reduces t"e nu!ber of !aps t"at "ave to be stored on t"e grap"ics card%s !e!ory. &n addition, t"e si:e of t"e te+ture !ap your co!puter is capable of processing is no longer li!ited to t"e a!ount of R,M on t"e grap"ics card. T"e ot"er way ,-. saves R,M is by only storing te+ture !aps once. &t does t"is wit" a little trickery. T"is trickery takes t"e for! of a c"ipset called t"e Graphics Address 'emapping Table 3-,RT4. -,RT takes t"e portion of t"e syste! !e!ory t"at t"e ,-. borrows to store te+ture !aps for t"e grap"ics card and re addresses it. T"e new address provided by -,RT !akes t"e 2.5 t"ink t"at t"e te+ture !ap is being stored in t"e card%s fra!ebuffer. -,RT !ay be putting bits and pieces of t"e !ap all over t"e syste! R,M; but w"en t"e 2.5 needs it, as far as it%s concerned t"e te+ture !ap is rig"t w"ere it s"ould be.

."oto courtesy &ntel 2orporation iagram of the standard architect#re of a Penti#m III-based system #sing AGP