AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port)

AGP is a legacy computer bus interface designed specifically for connecting a video card to a computer's motherboard. Introduced in 1997 by Intel, AGP was created to replace the older PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) interface for graphics cards, which was becoming a bottleneck for video performance. AGP provided a dedicated high-speed connection between the graphics card and the computer's main memory, allowing for faster data transfer and improved graphics performance compared to PCI. AGP slots come in different versions (1x, 2x, 4x, 8x) with increasing bandwidth for each subsequent version. However, with the development of the newer and faster PCIe (PCI Express) interface, AGP has been phased out and is no longer used in modern computers.

Picture AGP as a dedicated express lane on a highway, specifically built for high-performance sports cars (graphics cards). This express lane allows the sports cars to travel at much higher speeds and with less traffic compared to the regular lanes (PCI), which are shared by various other types of vehicles (peripherals). The different versions of AGP (1x, 2x, 4x, 8x) can be thought of as incremental improvements to the express lane, with each new version allowing for even faster speeds and more traffic capacity. However, as technology progressed, a new type of highway (PCIe) was built that could accommodate not only high-performance sports cars but also other types of vehicles, making the dedicated express lane (AGP) obsolete. While AGP played a crucial role in advancing graphics performance in its time, it has since been replaced by the more versatile and efficient PCIe interface.

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