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Thread ID: 34699	2003-06-21 08:08:00	FSB Front Side Bus - Can Someone define this for me please	Term_X (560)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
154021	2003-06-21 08:08:00	i was wondering can someone explain to me exactly what the FSB is without gettin too wordy?. i know its the link between the CPU and the RAM and thats it.. but just keen to understand how it ties in with pc performance cheers!	Term_X (560)
154022	2003-06-21 09:29:00	FSB is the bus from the CPU to the NorthBridge chip (part of the chipset). One of the devices off the Nth Bridge is the RAM. Backside Bus goes to the onboard cache. Despite what the specs tell you, I think that the fastest FSB is 133MHz (or at least until recently?) By using mulitple bursts of data between clock pulses, more data can be sent. 2 lots of data *133MHz=266MHz, 4*133=533, etc.	JohnD (509)
154023	2003-06-21 09:33:00	The FSB is the main communications path to the outside world (motherboard) from the CPU. It is no use having a blistering CPU speed if communication to the rest of the hardware is at snail pace.	JohnD (509)
154024	2003-06-22 23:39:00	> The FSB is the main communications path to the > outside world (motherboard) from the CPU. It is no > use having a blistering CPU speed if communication to > the rest of the hardware is at snail pace. FSB has me confused as well. In addition to these explanations, can someone do similar for the comparisons between AMD and Intel. Intel has got as high as 533Mhz, while it seems that AMD only recently got as high as 400Mhz. In plain terms, does that make AMD the slower/less efficient performer? How significant are these differences?	Lizard (2409)
154025	2003-06-23 00:31:00	The difference between AMD and Intel, very generally stated is only a matter of different approaches to CPU performance. Intel processors rely on sheer clock cycle speed, whereas AMD processors rely on an instruction set enabling more efficient processesing per instruction cycle. Its similar to asking which method enables you to translate a document faster, using an electronic translator that is only able to translate one word at a time, or using a paper dictionary which lets you translate more than one word at a time. They are simply two different approaches, speed of execution and efficiency of execution are both factors in determining how well a processor works. This is why benchmarking applications give varying results when testing AMD and Intel processors, as each one has a different instruction set, for some purposes, AMD outperforms Intel, for some purposes Intel outperforms AMD. The difference in approaches of the two manufacturers is the basis of AMD's nomenclature, an XP2000+ actually only runs at 1.667GHz, but it implies that an XP processor running at 1667MHz can (supposedly) complete the same amount of work in a given time period as a Pentium 3 2000MHz. For a reasonably good guide to FSB speeds check out www.tomshardware.com Iain	Iain Walmsley (3372)
154026	2003-06-23 00:59:00	Well since you are only talking about FSB and CPU I'll try and clear most things up with modern computers (32bit processors and address bus) First of all bus is the collection of all wires which data is transmitted, look at it as a motorway with many lanes (32bits, 32 lanes wide). Now the only places you can get off on the FSB is CPU or RAM. The MHz is the speed limit for that highway, the faster it is the faster cars can get from A to B, the CPU sends 32 cars (bits of data) to the RAM at the speed limit. So if cars are doing 400K/hr (400Mhz/sec) it is far slower than 533K/hr (533Mhz/sec). CPU speed however to the rest of the hardware is on another highway (another set of wires) but that's another story... Basically AMD and Intel those FSB speeds means how fast they can talk to the RAM, which is heavily used with programs, the other speed that the CPUs have is how fast they can talk to the hardware on another set of lanes (bus) but it's still 32 cars at those speeds. In theory Intel would seem faster but then again Hardware and Software is like comparing Oranges to Apples. You can write software to perform better on Intel than AMD or vice versa so it's really impossible to judge, If you are only creating software for a particular machine you can get more out of it although this is still dependant on the OS unless you build that too. I hope this is correct as it's been a while since I've read up on this.	Kame (312)
154027	2003-06-23 02:53:00	very interesting guys!! i guess the performance is based on a variety of factors.. great reading.. any more? thanks to everyones input, i do understand the fsb and cpu connection much better cheers Termz	Term_X (560)
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