The processor bus connects the CPU to the north bridge, which sends messages to computer memory and other parts of the computer. The motherboard chipset also includes the south bridge, which sends signals at a slower rate using the PCI bus. Other buses on the motherboard include the internal bus, memory bus, and AGP bus.
A processor bus, also known as a front-side bus, refers to a specific electrical connection within a computer that connects a computer’s processor to a chip known as a north bridge. For a computer to function properly, the processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), must issue orders and send information to the computer’s memory. The processor bus carries messages back and forth between the processor and the north bridge, which in turn sends messages to computer memory and other parts of the computer. This allows your computer to perform multiple tasks simultaneously at fast speeds.
The front-side or processor bus is not the only bus found within a computer. The motherboard chipset consists of two main chips, the north bridge and the south bridge. The processor bus carries messages from the north bridge, also known as the memory controller hub, to the CPU. This area deals primarily with memory and graphics, and messages travel faster on the processor bus. The South Bridge takes care of processes that don’t need to be acted upon as quickly as those of the North Bridge, and sends signals at a slower rate using the PCI bus.
Thinking of a motherboard in a computer as a highway and buses as actual buses carrying passengers is one way to understand computer buses. Each passenger represents an electrical signal that the processor must send to memory to store until it is ready for use. The data arrives on the bus and the bus carries the data to the north bridge, which then sends it to memory. When the process needs to use it, the data “carries” the bus back to the processor waiting for further instructions.
Other buses on the motherboard that help connect parts to the north and south main bridge include the internal bus, memory bus, and AGP bus. The internal bus connects the North Bridge to the South Bridge so that they can communicate with each other and with other parts of the computer. The memory bus connects the north bridge to memory. When the CPU needs to save something to the computer’s temporary memory, it sends it to the North Bridge which transmits it to the computer’s memory. The AGP bus, short for accelerated graphics port, works with information related to graphics display, but is becoming less common and is often replaced by an expansion card known as PCI-E or PCI Express.
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