Computer technology is developing so fast that computer owners do not have time to complete a complete upgrade of their computer, as manufacturers release another innovation, and it seems that the upgrade process will never end. This happened when an AGP connector appeared on the motherboard. What is the story of his appearance and why did he so quickly go into oblivion?
Appearance story
AGP-connector is a specialized connector for connecting a video card to the motherboard and, accordingly, it is installed on this board. In English, the abbreviation AGP stands for Accelerated Graphics Port, or "fast graphics port." Why was he called that and how did he appear?
Until 1996, the graphics interface used by video card manufacturers was PCI. But the speed of information exchange on this graphics bus was quite low. And the requirements that gradually arose among software developers could not be satisfied using this interface, not to mention developments for future periods. Therefore, Intel is developing an AGP connector and installing it on the motherboard; in parallel with this, a video card with the same interface is being developed. And twenty years ago, a new set of the motherboard and its corresponding video card appeared.
Advantages of a video card with AGP connector
If we talk about the advantages acquired by computers with an AGP-connector, it should be noted that the bandwidth of this bus was doubled immediately. How did you manage to do this? First of all, by increasing the frequency of exchange on this interface. AGP-connector has increased the speed of information exchange up to 66 MHz. This allowed us to create more powerful video cards; programmers began to develop appropriate applications for this interface. And just at that time new software products appeared, including gaming ones. These advantages have forced computer owners to modernize their own equipment. But for this, it was necessary to replace not only the motherboard, processor, but also the video card.
It was at this time that for those who could not afford a complete modernization of the computer, an adapter with AGP (a PCI connector will be introduced later) is being developed , which made it possible to save money for some time replacing at least a video card. Of course, over time, one way or another had to do a complete replacement of computer hardware. An example of such an adapter is shown in the photo.
What types of AGP connectors are available?
The AGP interface existed until 2004. Over the past eight years, developers have significantly upgraded this interface, increasing its performance. If we talk about the capacity of this bus, then in all its variants it is 32-bit. Computers with a 64-bit bus appeared a bit later. Therefore, developers had to use the 32-bit interface and look for other opportunities to improve the performance of video cards and the AGP interface itself. What was the solution?
The developers solved the problem using packet data. So, the first AGP-1 card in one cycle transmitted one packet of information. But this turned out to be not enough, AGP-2 was developed almost immediately, which transmitted two packets per cycle. At the same time, the data transfer rate doubled. Two years later, the developers are releasing AGP-4, and the speed is doubled compared to the predecessor card.
At the same time, the performance or throughput of the AGP-4 interface was one gigabit per second. But this was also not enough. A few years later, AGP-8 video cards appeared on sale, which operated with eight blocks of information per cycle and an interface throughput channel of two gigabits per second.
But at the same time, there was a problem of power transmission through the AGP connector. The AGP-8 slot could not provide good contact when transmitting high power on the power of the video card. And developers specifically for powerful gaming cards are developing an AGP Pro slot. This was the last modification of this interface.
Further history of the AGP slot
Be that as it may, but over time it became clear that computers needed a new interface that could replace the AGP connector. The motherboard needed a new slot, which could have even greater bandwidth, on the one hand, and provide an ever-increasing power consumption - on the other. And since 2004, PCI Express is replacing the AGP slot.
The advantage of this slot was the ability to work with 64-bit buses, which significantly increased the computer's ability to work with graphics. At this time, large-sized monitors are beginning to enter the market. And in order to accurately display such an image on the monitor, it was necessary to work with high resolutions. In addition, video game manufacturers are constantly developing products that require even greater system requirements for the computer’s video system. In this case, the AGP connector, whose photo is visible on the motherboard, is hopelessly a thing of the past. But, is everything so bad for this interface?
When will the AGP slot disappear?
Can it be said that the AGP era is now irrevocably gone? Probably, such days will soon come when it will be impossible to find either a motherboard with such a connector or a video card of such a plan. Unless in specialized museums or at a computer flea market. But today this interface is very actively used. Yes, the equipment has not been manufactured with him for a long time, and very soon his last stocks will be exhausted. And those instances of equipment that are in computers will gradually become worthless. And then people will start to forget about AGP-slots. But this is still a long way off.
The use of AGP-slots in modern conditions
As already mentioned above, computers with AGP-interface cannot be used in those machines that work with graphics, video and gaming applications. But the number of computers working with such applications in the total mass of computers is not so great. The largest sector is occupied by computers that work with office applications, and the speed of the video stream is not so important for them.
In addition, quite a lot of computers that have an AGP slot work to this day. And since the reliability of these machines is quite high, many companies are in no hurry to abandon them in their offices. And it seems that this situation will continue for more than one year. Of course, sooner or later the AGP slot will be replaced by a newer and more modern one, but this will take some time.
A compromise between motherboard designers
Computer developers have suggested that replacing the AGP slot with PCI Express will go fast. But this did not happen, at the last stage of its development, AGP-video cards were so good that many users are in no hurry to refuse them to this day.
On the other hand, such an upgrade required a lot of money, and therefore, restrained many users. Given this, motherboard manufacturers compromised. They decided to install two AGP and PCI Express video slots simultaneously on the motherboard. True, it was impossible to use both slots at the same time, and the user could choose the slot for which he had a video card.
Ability to use the AGP-connector for other purposes
Many users have a question about which devices can be connected to the AGP connector, as it is often freed up and not used in the computer systems described above. But it is worth remembering that this interface was specially designed for managing a video card. Is it possible to apply it for other purposes? In principle, this is possible, but for this it is necessary to redo the management of this interface, and it is unlikely that the effectiveness of such management will increase. There are other interfaces that are designed to solve a variety of problems, so it is better to use one of them.