AGP

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port or Advanced Graphics Port) was created by Intel and is a high-speed point-to-point channel for connecting a graphics card to the motherboard of a computer. This is done to primarily support the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. One AGP controller is capable of controlling only one device, thus most mainboards have only single AGP slots although motherboards generally have multiple independent AGP slots. An x86 compatible system board first had AGP slots based on Socket 7 Pentium and Slot 1 Pentium II processors. In mid-October 1997, the AGP support was launched by Intel with the i440LX Slot 1 chipset. This chipset featured the well recognised PIIX4 south bridge.

The first version of the AGP titled "AGP specification 1.0" was released by Intel in 1997 and included 1x and 2x speeds. The 4x speed was documented in the AGP specification 2.0, while AGP specification 3.0 documented the 8x speed. AGP 1x was a 32 bit channel that operated at 66 MHz which resulted a maximum data rate of 266 megabytes per second. The AGP 2x was a 32-bit channel that operated at an effective speed of 133 MHz (66 MHz x 2). The AGP 4x was a 32-bit channel operating at 66 MHz quad pumped to an effective speed of 266 MHz while the AGP 8x was a 32-bit channel operating at 66 MHz speed and delivering an effective speed of 533 MHz.