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Different Types of Buses

The document discusses different types of buses used in computer motherboards to connect internal and external components. There are two main types of buses: the internal system bus that connects the CPU and RAM, and the external expansion bus that connects peripheral devices. The internal bus consists of the data, address, and control buses. Common external buses described are ISA for low-speed devices, PCI for high-speed components, AGP for video cards, USB for external devices, and IDE for hard disks and optical drives.

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609 views2 pages

Different Types of Buses

The document discusses different types of buses used in computer motherboards to connect internal and external components. There are two main types of buses: the internal system bus that connects the CPU and RAM, and the external expansion bus that connects peripheral devices. The internal bus consists of the data, address, and control buses. Common external buses described are ISA for low-speed devices, PCI for high-speed components, AGP for video cards, USB for external devices, and IDE for hard disks and optical drives.

Uploaded by

Innocent Ramaboka
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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1.

04 – Buses – Different Types of Buses

On a motherboard, a bus is a set of physical lines on a printed circuit board (or PC board). They are used
Bus
as “connectors” between all the components on the motherboard and daughter boards (expansion cards),
as well as the devices that are connected to the computer.
The purpose of buses is to reduce the number of "communication pathways" needed for components to
communicate with each other by carrying out all communications over a single data channel. This is why
you'll often hear of a "data highway" being used.
The bus systems are nothing more than sets of wires embedded into the board which should be clearly
visible as a group of wires connecting the main components such as the CPU and RAM. There are two
types of buses on the motherboard, they are known as the Internal bus and the External bus.

The Internal bus (System bus) allows for the movement


Internal bus
of bits and bytes of information between the CPU and
(System bus) the memory (RAM). The data moves from the memory
location in the RAM via the System bus to the CPU.
The Internal Bus connects all the different internal
components of the computer's box together. The CPU,
system memory, and all other components on the
motherboard are connected via this bus. You will also
come across references to the System bus as the
Front-Side bus (FSB), which is the bus that carries data
between the CPU and the Northbridge (RAM). The
Internal bus (System bus) consists of three parts, that
is:
• the Data Bus
• the Control Bus
• the Address Bus.

Data bus Address bus Control bus


This bus moves data and This bus tells the memory where This bus carries control signals
instructions to the CPU, and the data or instructions that the and also the very important signal
moves results back to the CPU needs are located in that tells the memory whether the
memory. Therefore, there is memory. This bus has one way CPU wants to read or write.
two way communication in this communication.
bus.

The External bus (or Expansion bus) allows for the expansion of the computer's capabilities and it is
External bus
generally slower than the system bus. This bus allows for data to be either written to or read from devices.
(Expansion bus)
The external bus is made up of electronic pathways that connect the different external devices, such as
the monitor, printer, and mouse and so on to the rest of the computer. Ports, which are normally on the
sides or back of a computer, are used to make these connections and are actually part of a small circuit
board or 'card' that fits into a connector on the motherboard. The connector is often also called an
expansion slot.
The main types of external buses that are found on the common motherboard are ISA, PCI, AGP, USB
and IDE. These bus slots are easily recognized on the board where they are usually covered with pins
(sometimes made of tin or gold) on the inside channel of the slot. The pins themselves actually mount into
the internal bus and provide power to components, connect to data or connect with other buses.
Even though the ISA bus has remained largely unchanged since 1984 (when it was expanded to 16 bits),
ISA -
it is still a mainstay in modern computers. This is because there are many existing peripherals that still use
(Industry the standard, and there also still many devices for which the ISA's speed is more than sufficient. It will
Standard probably be like this for some time to come. It is the low speed work horse of a computer system and you
Architecture) will commonly find a sound card connected to this type of bus.

This bus supports 32-64 bit buses and currently sets the standard of external buses. The PCI is fast and is
PCI -
slowly making the ISA fade away. It is designed for fifth and sixth-generation systems, although the latest
(Peripheral generation 486 motherboards use a PCI bus as well. Whenever possible, select a system with a PCI bus
Component card.
Interconnect)

The AGP bus was developed because of the need for greater performance for displaying video, and
AGP
provides from 2 to 4 times the speed of the PCI bus. It is used for video expansion only. If your
(Accelerated motherboard does have this slot, make sure you use it for your video card. This will take a lot of stress off
Graphics Port) the CPU and increase the performance of your computer.

This is relatively new technology that allows you to connect to devices such as mice, keyboards, digital
USB (Universal
cameras, printers, personal media players, flash drives, and external hard drives through a process known
Serial Bus) as Daisy Chaining. For many of those devices, USB has become the standard connection method.

This bus is the most common interface for PC hard disks and can connect up to two devices such as hard
IDE (Intelligent
disks, floppy drives, and CD-ROM drives on one connection.
Drive
It is almost certain that your hard drive and CD-ROM are connected through this type of bus.
Electronics)
The interface card is on the hard drive.

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