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AGP 8X
Today, the overall PC experience is increasingly dependent
on efficient processing of graphics information. Just
consider what you use your PC for: browsing the Web,
playing games, watching videos or listening to music.
Even work applications, such as PowerPoint, are taking
more and more advantage of 3D graphics.
Already in 1996, the introduction of the accelerated
graphics port (AGP) specification defined a more optimized
path than PCI for moving data between the graphics subsystem,
the CPU and memory. This interface continues to play
a vital role, but many forces are stressing the AGP
4X bus today—necessitating the leap to a more
robust interface. With the introduction of version 3.0
of the AGP specification and AGP 8X, graphics bus bandwidth
doubles, dramatically improving the overall throughput
for today’s graphics-intensive applications. In
addition, AGP 8X introduces isochronous operation and
texturing abilities. NVIDIA is already taking advantage
of current and emerging graphics applications by offering
the industry’s first and only top-to-bottom family
of AGP 8X-ready GPUs and core logic products.
The Benefits Of AGP 8X
Increased Performance: With double the bandwidth of
AGP 4X, AGP 8X allows developers to manage scenes efficiently
with complex geometries, and dynamically switch to new
scenes in real time, improving the overall performance
of today’s fast-paced “fly-through”
applications and games.
Optimized Graphics:Increased performance yields
significant improvements for complex visualizations,
allowing for more realistic graphics environments.
Uninterrupted Streaming:The isochronous mode
operation feature of the AGP 3.0 implementation specifically
improves graphics operations that require predictable,
uninterrupted data flow, such as real-time flows of
digital information for video broadcasts and network
downloads.
New NVIDIA GPUs and PC platforms will incorporate AGP
8X capabilities and take full advantage of the AGP 3.0
specification. As always, NVIDIA solutions incorporate
new technologies and advances without compromising the
overall stability and quality of the system, and the
NVIDIA Unified Driver Architecture (UDA) makes it painless
to take advantage of new capabilities as they are introduced.
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