CS2100 Computer Organization

Buses

Introduction

Shared physical wires that act to communicate signals

between several devices (often peripherals)

Buses let computers be expandable: add more memory,

a better graphics card, webcam, etc.

Buses are an abstraction for communication: helps

designers compose large, complex systems

Components of a bus

Layers of a bus

Lower layer of DRAM bus

Upper layers of DRAM bus

Memory bus on the motherboard

Pros and cons of buses

Buses turn CPU into a complete system

Size is the constraint

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Serial buses

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Many buses

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Many standard buses

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The mainboard

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Other chips

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Putting it together

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