What Is Accelerated Graphics Port?
The Accelerated Graphics Port or AGP is a dedicated point to point channel that allows the computer processor to directly communicate with the PC's graphics card. This allows faster processing time for the PC's graphics needs. The use of the AGP helps accelerate the use and processing of 3D computer graphics.
History
The AGP slot was introduced by Intel on motherboards in 1996. It provided a more efficient way to handle the increasing demands for streaming video and 3D rendered graphics in PC's. Before the AGP, graphics processing within the motherboard is handled by the PCI or Peripheral Component Interconnect bus.
The PCI is not only the path used by the graphics card to deliver information to and from the CPU. The PCI is also used generally to deliver multiple packets of data from other sources tot he CPU. This usually results in information from the graphics card traveling along the same path as other sources of data, resulting certain delays.
Design
The AGP design was based on that of the PCI bus. The main difference is that the AGP provides a dedicated connection for the graphics card directly to the CPU. Without having to line up along with other sources of date for CPU and system memory use, graphics processing and rendering becomes faster and quicker.
Advantage
The main advantage of the AGP is that it allows the graphics card to have a direct channel of access into the CPU. For a while the PCI bus was able to do the job quite efficiently.
But as the computer software became more graphically oriented, the processing cycle began to put a toll on the PCI bus. The increasing graphics processing load seem to push the PCI bus to its limits as it also has to process other information coming from other sources.
Another advantage of AGP is that it allows the graphics card to receive and send multiple packets of data in a single request. In the PCI bus, the graphic card may have to take the multiple packets one by one at different times before processing it and then sending it out, resulting in certain delays in processing.