Lewis
Member
A front side bus (FSB) is an electrical pathway on a computer’s motherboard, which connects the various hardware components to the main microprocessor, or central processing unit (CPU). If you think of the CPU as the brain of the computer, and the memory, hard disk and other components as organs, the front side bus would be akin to the main nervous system than links the organs to the brain.
The front side bus is bi-directional, meaning data can flow both ways, allowing components to send and receive data from the CPU. Since so much data passes through the front side bus, a computer’s overall performance will be dependent, in part, on the speed of the FSB. Speed depends on how wide the front side bus is, its frequency, and the amount of data it can process per clock tick of the CPU.
The front side bus communicates with components through the computer’s chipset. The chipset consists of two processors, known as the Northbridge and the Southbridge. These two chips collect data from specific components, channeling all information to the CPU through the front side bus.
The speed of the Northbridge and Southbridge buses is dependent on the speed of the front side bus. A fast CPU installed on a motherboard with a front side bus that is not efficient enough for the CPU will result in data bottlenecks. The CPU will perform computations faster than the front side bus can process them. While this doesn’t hurt the computer, the CPU will often sit idle, waiting for new instructions from the front side bus. To realize the full performance benefits of a fast CPU, a fast front side bus is also required.
Network Speed
CPU Computer Processor
Broadband Speed
Fan Speed
To further improve performance, modern motherboards feature a back side bus that directly connects the CPU to special cache (memory) reserves. These CPU cache reserves are commonly known as Level 2 (L2) and Level 3 (L3) cache. The CPU will store frequently accessed data here for quick retrieval.
In modern computers systems, Accelerated Graphics Ports (AGPs) and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slots, both Standard and Express, use their own buses for processing graphic data directly, relieving the front side bus of traffic. This helps boost benchmarks and also improves video processing for gaming and streaming multimedia applications like movies.
What is a Front Side Bus?
The front side bus is bi-directional, meaning data can flow both ways, allowing components to send and receive data from the CPU. Since so much data passes through the front side bus, a computer’s overall performance will be dependent, in part, on the speed of the FSB. Speed depends on how wide the front side bus is, its frequency, and the amount of data it can process per clock tick of the CPU.
The front side bus communicates with components through the computer’s chipset. The chipset consists of two processors, known as the Northbridge and the Southbridge. These two chips collect data from specific components, channeling all information to the CPU through the front side bus.
The speed of the Northbridge and Southbridge buses is dependent on the speed of the front side bus. A fast CPU installed on a motherboard with a front side bus that is not efficient enough for the CPU will result in data bottlenecks. The CPU will perform computations faster than the front side bus can process them. While this doesn’t hurt the computer, the CPU will often sit idle, waiting for new instructions from the front side bus. To realize the full performance benefits of a fast CPU, a fast front side bus is also required.
Network Speed
CPU Computer Processor
Broadband Speed
Fan Speed
To further improve performance, modern motherboards feature a back side bus that directly connects the CPU to special cache (memory) reserves. These CPU cache reserves are commonly known as Level 2 (L2) and Level 3 (L3) cache. The CPU will store frequently accessed data here for quick retrieval.
In modern computers systems, Accelerated Graphics Ports (AGPs) and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slots, both Standard and Express, use their own buses for processing graphic data directly, relieving the front side bus of traffic. This helps boost benchmarks and also improves video processing for gaming and streaming multimedia applications like movies.
What is a Front Side Bus?
