When looking over the specifications of a new computer, the front-side bus (FSB) speed is prominently displayed. Why is the front-side bus important?
A) The FSB describes the overall speed of the computer.
B) The FSB describes the speed of the bus between the hard drives and the CPU.
C) The FSB describes the speed of the bus between the northbridge and the CPU.
D) The FSB speed is a “marketing” statistic that has very little practical meaning.
Answer: C) The FSB describes the speed of the bus between the northbridge and the CPU.
During the normal operation of a PC, the communications path between the CPU and the memory controller (the northbridge) is heavily utilized. The front-side bus is the communications path that handles all of this traffic, so it stands to reason that the speed of this communications link is a significant factor in the overall speed of a computer. Most PC technical specifications will include the speed of the FSB to assist with speed comparisons between systems.
The incorrect answers:
A) The FSB describes the overall speed of the computer.
There are many different variables that determine the overall speed of a computer, and we could probably end up having a long conversation over which components really has the largest effect on the overall speed of a system. Although the speed of the FSB certainly has an impact on the speed of a computer, it’s not the only description of speed.
B) The FSB describes the speed of the bus between the hard drives and the CPU.
Since the southbridge generally controls the communication to the relatively slower hard drives, the FSB doesn’t accurately describe the connection to storage and network devices.
D) The FSB speed is a “marketing” statistic that has very little practical meaning.
There’s good marketing and there’s bad marketing, but providing the speed of the FSB is a very useful statistic that helps understand an important aspect of a computer’s internal operations.
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Find out more about the FSB in “Motherboard Overview.”Every CompTIA A+ professional needs to have a complete understanding of motherboards and the components that reside on today’s PC motherboard technology. In this video, we’ll provide you with the information you need to instantly identify the most important motherboard features, and you’ll learn how chipset architectures relate to real-world motherboard configurations. |