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AGP

Accelerated Graphics Port File:AGPLogo.svg
An AGP slot (Purple color) and two 5v PCI slots (PC bracket to left)
Year created	1996
Created by	Intel
Superseded by	PCI Express (2004)
Width in bits	32
Number of devices	1 device/slot
Capacity	up to 2133 MB/s
Style	Parallel

The Accelerated Graphics Port (often shortened to AGP) is a high-speed point-to-point channel for attaching a video card to a computer's motherboard, primarily to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. Since 2004 AGP has been progressively phased out in favor of PCI Express (PCIe). By mid-2009 PCIe cards dominated the market; AGP cards and motherboards were still produced, but OEM driver support was minimal.^[1]

Advantages over PCI[link]

As computers became increasingly graphically-oriented, successive generations of graphics adapters began to push the limits of PCI, a bus with shared bandwidth. This led to the development of AGP, a "bus" dedicated to graphics adapters.

The primary advantage of AGP over PCI is that it provides a dedicated pathway between the slot and the processor rather than sharing the PCI bus. In addition to a lack of contention for the bus, the direct connection allows for higher clock speeds. AGP also uses sideband addressing, meaning that the address and data buses are separated so the entire packet does not need to be read to get addressing information. This is done by adding eight extra 8-bit buses which allow the graphics controller to issue new AGP requests and commands at the same time with other AGP data flowing via the main 32 address/data (AD) lines. This results in improved overall AGP data throughput.

In addition, to load a texture, a PCI graphics card must copy it from the system's RAM into the card's framebuffer, whereas an AGP card is capable of reading textures directly from system RAM using the graphics address remapping table, which reapportions main memory as needed for texture storage, allowing the graphics card to access them directly.^[2] The maximum amount of system memory available to AGP is defined as the AGP aperture.

History[link]

An AGP card

The AGP slot first appeared on x86 compatible system boards based on Socket 7 Intel P5 Pentium and Slot 1 P6 Pentium II processors. Intel introduced AGP support with the i440LX Slot 1 chipset on August 26, 1997, and a flood of products followed from all the major system board vendors.^[3]

The first Socket 7 chipsets to support AGP were the VIA Apollo VP3, SiS 5591/5592, and the ALI Aladdin V. Intel never released an AGP-equipped Socket 7 chipset. FIC demonstrated the first Socket 7 AGP system board in November 1997 as the FIC PA-2012 based on the VIA Apollo VP3 chipset, followed very quickly by the EPoX P55-VP3 also based on the VIA VP3 chipset which was first to market.^[4]

Early video chipsets featuring AGP support included the Rendition Vérité V2200, 3dfx Voodoo Banshee, Nvidia RIVA 128, 3Dlabs PERMEDIA 2, Intel i740, ATI Rage series, Matrox Millennium II, and S3 ViRGE GX/2. Some early AGP boards used graphics processors built around PCI and were simply bridged to AGP. This resulted in the cards benefiting little from the new bus, with the only improvement used being the 66 MHz bus clock, with its resulting doubled bandwidth over PCI, and bus exclusivity. Examples of such cards were the Voodoo Banshee, Vérité V2200, Millennium II, and S3 ViRGE GX/2. Intel's i740 was explicitly designed to exploit the new AGP feature set. In fact it was designed to texture only from AGP memory, making PCI versions of the board difficult to implement (local board RAM had to emulate AGP memory.)

Microsoft first introduced AGP support into Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2 version 1111 or 950B) via the USB SUPPLEMENT to OSR2 patch.^[5] After applying the patch the Windows 95 system became Windows 95 version 4.00.950 B. The first Windows NT-based operating system to receive AGP support was Windows NT 4.0 with service pack 3, introduced in 1997. Linux support for AGP enhanced fast data transfers was first added in 1999 with the implementation of the AGPgart kernel module.

Versions[link]

Intel released "AGP specification 1.0" in 1997.^[6] It included both the 1× and 2× speeds.^[3] Specification 2.0 documented AGP 4×^[7] and 3.0 documented 8×.^[8] Available versions include:

* AGP version 3.5 is only publicly mentioned by Microsoft under Universal Accelerated Graphics Port (UAGP), which specifies mandatory supports of extra registers once marked optional under AGP 3.0. Upgraded registers include PCISTS, CAPPTR, NCAPID, AGPSTAT, AGPCMD, NISTAT, NICMD. New required registers include APBASELO, APBASEHI, AGPCTRL, APSIZE, NEPG, GARTLO, GARTHI.

There are various physical interfaces (connectors); see Compatibility section.

Official extensions[link]

AGP graphics card (Apple Macintosh)

AGP Pro graphics card

AGP Pro[link]

It is an official extension for cards that required more electrical power. It is a longer slot with additional pins for that purpose. AGP Pro cards were usually workstation-class cards used to accelerate professional computer-aided design applications employed in the fields of architecture, machining, engineering, simulations, and similar fields.

64-bit AGP[link]

A 64-bit channel was once proposed as an optional standard for AGP 3.0 in draft documents,^[9] but it was dropped in the final version of the standard.

The standard allows 64-bit transfer for AGP8× reads, writes, and fast writes; 32-bit transfer for PCI operations.

Unofficial variations[link]

A number of non-standard variations of the AGP interface have been produced by manufacturers.

Internal AGP interface[link]

Ultra-AGP, Ultra-AGPII

It is an internal AGP interface standard used by SiS for the north bridge controllers with integrated graphics. The original version supports same bandwidth as AGP 8×, while Ultra-AGPII has maximum 3.2GB/s bandwidth.

PCI-based AGP ports[link]

AGP Express

Not a true AGP interface, but allows an AGP card to be connected over the legacy PCI bus on a PCI Express motherboard. It is a technology used on motherboards made by ECS, intended to allow an existing AGP card to be used in a new motherboard instead of requiring a PCIe card to be obtained (since the introduction of PCIe graphics cards few motherboards provide AGP slots). An "AGP Express" slot is basically a PCI slot (with twice the electrical power) with an AGP connector. It offers backward compatibility with AGP cards, but provides incomplete support^[10] (some AGP cards do not work with AGP Express) and reduced performance—the card is forced to use the shared PCI bus at its lower bandwidth, rather than having exclusive use of the faster AGP.

AGI

The ASRock Graphics Interface (AGI) is a proprietary variant of the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) standard. Its purpose is to provide AGP-support for ASRock motherboards that use chipsets lacking native AGP support. However, it is not fully compatible with AGP, and several video card chipsets are known not to be supported.

AGX

The EpoX Advanced Graphics eXtended (AGX) is another proprietary AGP variant with the same advantages and disadvantages as AGI. User manuals recommend not using AGP 8× ATI cards with AGX slots.

XGP

The Biostar Xtreme Graphics Port is another AGP variant, also with the same advantages and disadvantages as AGI and AGX.

PCIe based AGP ports[link]

AGR

The Advanced Graphics Riser is a variation of the AGP port used in some PCIe motherboards made by MSI to offer limited backwards compatibility with AGP. It is, effectively, a modified PCIe slot allowing for performance comparable to an AGP 4×/8× slot,^[11] but does not support all AGP cards; the manufacturer published a list of some cards and chipsets that work with the modified slot.^[12]

Compatibility[link]

Compatibility, AGP Keys on card (top), on slot (bottom)

AGP cards are backward and forward compatible within limits. 1.5 V-only keyed cards will not go into 3.3 V slots and vice versa, though "Universal" cards exist which will fit into either type of slot. There are also unkeyed "Universal" slots that will accept either type of card. When an AGP Universal card is plugged-into an AGP Universal slot, only the 1.5 V portion of the card is used. Some cards, like Nvidia's GeForce 6 series (except the 6200) or ATI's Radeon X800 series, only have keys for 1.5 V to prevent them from being installed in older mainboards without 1.5 V support. Some of the last modern cards with 3.3 V support were the Nvidia GeForce FX series (FX 5200, FX 5500, FX 5700, some FX 5800, FX 5900 and some FX 5950), Geforce 6 Series (6200, 6600/6600 LE/6600 GT only) and the ATI Radeon 9500/9700/9800(R350) (but not 9600/9800(R360)). Some Geforce 6200 and Geforce 6600 cards will function with AGP 1.0 (3.3v) slots.

AGP Pro cards will not fit into standard slots, but standard AGP cards will work in a Pro slot. Motherboards equipped with a Universal AGP Pro slot will accept a 1.5 V or 3.3 V card in either the AGP Pro or standard AGP configuration, a Universal AGP card, or a Universal AGP Pro card.

Some cards incorrectly have dual notches, and some motherboards incorrectly have fully open slots, allowing a card to be plugged into a slot that does not support the correct signaling voltage, which may damage card or motherboard. Some incorrectly-designed older 3.3 V cards have the 1.5 V key.

There are some proprietary systems incompatible with standard AGP; for example, Apple Power Macintosh computers with the Apple Display Connector (ADC) have an extra connector which delivers power to the attached display. Some cards designed to work with a specific CPU architecture (e.g., PC, Apple) may not work with others due to firmware issues.

Power consumption[link]

This section requires expansion.

Actual power supplied by an AGP slot depends upon the card used. The maximum current drawn from the various rails is given in the specifications for the various versions. For example, if maximum current is drawn from all supplies and all voltages are at their specified upper limits,^[8] an AGP 3.0 slot can supply up to 48.25 watts;^[13] this figure can be used to specify a power supply conservatively, but in practice a card is unlikely ever to draw more than 40 W from the slot, with many using less. AGP Pro provides additional power up to 110 W.^[14] Many AGP cards had additional power connectors to supply them with more power than the slot could provide.

Legacy use[link]

By 2010 few new motherboards had AGP slots. No new motherboard chipsets were equipped with AGP support, but motherboards continued to be produced with older chipsets with support for AGP.

Graphics processors of this period use PCI-Express, a general-purpose (not restricted to graphics) standard that supports higher data transfer rates and full-duplex. To create AGP-compatible graphics cards, those chips require an additional PCIe-to-AGP bridge-chip to convert PCIe signals to and from AGP signals. This incurs additional board costs due to the need for the additional bridge chip and for a separate AGP-designed circuit board.

Various manufacturers of graphics cards continued to produce AGP cards for the shrinking AGP user-base. The first bridged cards were the GeForce 6600 and ATI Radeon X800 XL boards, released during 2004-5.^[15][16] In 2009 AGP cards from Nvidia had a ceiling of the GeForce 7 Series. In 2011 DirectX 10-capable AGP cards from AMD vendors (Club 3D, HIS, Sapphire, Jaton, Visiontek, Diamond, etc.) included the Radeon HD 2400, 3450, 3650, 4350, 4650, and 4670. The HD 5000 AGP series mentioned in the catalyst software was never available. There were many problems with the AMD Catalyst 11.2 - 11.6 AGP hotfix drivers under Windows 7 with the HD 4000 series AGP video cards;^[17] use of 10.12 or 11.1 AGP hotfix drivers is the recommended^{[by whom?]} workaround. Several of the vendors listed above make available past versions of the AGP drivers.

See also[link]

• List of device bandwidths
• Serial Digital Video Out for ADD DVI adapter cards

References[link]

This article is based on material taken from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing prior to 1 November 2008 and incorporated under the "relicensing" terms of the GFDL, version 1.3 or later.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: AGP

• Archived AGP Implementors Forum
• AGP specifications: 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, Pro 1.0, Pro 1.1a
• AGP Compatibility For Sticklers
• AGP pinout
• AGP expansion slots
• AGP compatibility (with pictures)
• Ultra-AGPII Technology
• PCI Specifications Documents contains AGP specs.
• Universal Accelerated Graphics Port (UAGP)
• How Stuff Works - AGP
• A discussion from 2003 of what AGP aperture is, how it works, and how much memory should be allocated to it.

v t e Computer bus official and de facto standards (wired) General System bus Front-side bus Back-side bus Daisy chain Control bus Address bus Bus contention Plug and play List of bus bandwidths Standards S-100 bus Unibus VAXBI MBus STD Bus SMBus Q-Bus ISA Zorro II Zorro III CAMAC FASTBUS LPC HP Precision Bus EISA VME VXI VXS NuBus TURBOchannel MCA SBus VLB PCI PXI HP GSC bus CoreConnect InfiniBand UPA PCI-X AGP PCI Express Intel QuickPath Interconnect HyperTransport Portable PC Card ExpressCard Embedded Multidrop bus AMBA Wishbone Storage ST-506 ESDI SMD Parallel ATA (PATA) DMA SSA HIPPI USB MSC FireWire (1394) Serial ATA (SATA) eSATA eSATAp SCSI Parallel SCSI Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Fibre Channel (FC) iSCSI ATAoE Peripheral Apple Desktop Bus HIL MIDI Multibus RS-232 (serial port) DMX512-A IEEE-488 (GPIB) EIA/RS-422 IEEE-1284 (parallel port) UNI/O ACCESS.bus 1-Wire I²C SPI EIA/RS-485 Parallel SCSI Profibus USB FireWire (1394) Fibre Channel Camera Link External PCI Express x16 Thunderbolt Note: interfaces are listed in speed ascending order (roughly), the interface at the end of each section should be the fastest Category

Medal record
Men's athletics
Competitor for  Kenya
Olympic Games
Silver	2004 Athens	1500 m
Bronze	2000 Sydney	1500 m
World Championships
Silver	2001 Edmonton	1500 m
World Cup
Gold	2002 Madrid	1500 m
World Indoor Championships
Gold	2004 Budapest	3000 m
Silver	2003 Birmingham	1500 m
Competitor for  United States
World Championships
Gold	2007 Osaka	1500 m
Gold	2007 Osaka	5000 m
Silver	2009 Berlin	5000 m
Silver	2011 Daegu	5000 m
Bronze	2009 Berlin	1500 m
World Indoor Championships
Gold	2010 Doha	3000 m
Gold	2012 Istanbul	3000 m
Competitor for Americas
Continental Cup
Gold	2010 Split	3000 m
Gold	2010 Split	5000 m

Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat (born December 12, 1974) is an American middle and long distance champion athlete.

Lagat was born in Kapsabet, Kenya. Prior to his change of domicile to the USA, Lagat had an extensive competitive career representing his native country.

He is the American record holder in the 1500m, mile, 3000m, and 5000m indoors, as well as the 1500m, 3000m, and 5000m outdoors, and is the Kenyan record holder at 1500m outdoors.

Lagat is a twelve time medalist in World Championships and Olympics including five gold medals.

Early life[link]

Lagat, now a Kenyan American, was born in Kaptel village, near Kapsabet town in Nandi District. He is a Nandi, sub-tribe of the Kalenjin people.

He graduated from the Kaptel High School in 1994, where he had started his athletics career. He joined Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Nairobi 1996. Later in the same year he moved to Washington State University where other Kenyan athletic greats such as Henry Rono and Michael Kosgei prospered.

In 1998, while at WSU, Lagat won three NCAA individual championships; indoor mile and 3000m, as well as the 5000m outdoors.

In 2000, Lagat graduated from Washington State University with a degree in management information systems.

A large number of Lagat's siblings have also competed in athletics; his older sister Mary Chepkemboi won the 3000 m at the 1984 African Championships in Athletics.^[1] Lagat's younger brother, Robert Cheseret, is a multi-time PAC-10 champion runner for the University of Arizona.

Representing Kenya (2000–2004)[link]

Lagat first represented his native Kenya at 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.^[2] Using team tactics, Lagat and Kenyan team mate Noah Ngeny kept heavy favorite Hicham El Guerrouj from winning gold. In a very close finish, Ngeny took gold, Guerrouj won Silver, and Lagat captured bronze. Lagat finished the year being ranked #3 in the world at 1500m.

The next summer, Lagat won the silver medal, behind Guerrouj, at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics, and later that summer, at a meeting in Brussels Lagat set the Kenyan National Record and became the second fastest individual ever at 1500m when he ran 3:26.34, finishing second in this race behind Hicham el Guerrouj (3:26.13), in what was a failed attempt to break Guerrouj's own world record of 3:26.00. Lagat finished the year being ranked #2 in the world at 1500m.

Lagat spent most of 2002 and 2003 chasing Guerrouj. At the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships he earned the silver medal at 1500m, this time behind Driss Maazouzi of France. Lagat withdrew from the 2003 world outdoor championships after a false positive blood test showed traces of EPO in his system. His B sample test came back negative, clearing him of any charges. He was ranked 2nd and 4th in the world at 1500m in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

In the 3000m at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships Lagat won his first international gold medal. Lagat was clearly overjoyed at his comeback since 2003. Throughout the spring he competed fiercely and beat his rival Guerrouj in Zurich with a world leading time at 1500m of 3:27.40. At the 2004 Summer Olympics Lagat seemed poised to once again defeat Guerrouj. The final was a very dramatic race, with Lagat and Guerrouj battling down the final 100m, swapping the lead multiple times. It was Guerrouj that prevailed, with Lagat close behind, earning the silver medal, running the final lap in under 52 seconds. He was however ranked #1 in the world at 1500m for the year.

Representing United States[link]

Beginning of American career[link]

In March 2005, Lagat announced that he had become a naturalized citizen of the United States since May 7, 2004, despite competing for Kenya in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Since Kenya does not allow dual citizenship his silver medal in the 1500 m was at stake, but in the end he was allowed to retain it. Because of this switch of nationality, Lagat served a ban from international championship events. For this reason he missed the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki. A similar switch of nationality, in this case Kenyan to Danish, caused Wilson Kipketer to miss the 1996 Olympic Games. Today, Lagat lives in Tucson AZ and Tübingen (Germany) with his wife Gladys Tom (a Canadian of Chinese descent),^[3] whom he met while they both attended Washington State University,^[4][5] and their son Miika Kimutai (born in 2006) and daughter Gianna (born 2008).^[6]

The U.S. does allow dual citizenship and consequently races run by Lagat after May 7, 2004 could have been ratified as American records, since USATF rules only state that an athlete has to be a U.S. citizen competing in a sanctioned competition to be eligible to set a national record. However, at the 2005 USATF annual meeting, his 3:27.40 win in the 1500 meters, on August 6, 2004, in Zurich, was not ratified as an American record.

Nevertheless, Lagat owns three American records from races he had run in 2005 that were ratified by USATF. His first American records came indoors, with a 3:49.89 mile at Fayetteville, Arkansas, on February 11, 2005, during which his 1500 meters split time of 3:33.34 also established another new U.S. record, en route to a win in the event. The performance replaced records by Steve Scott, who set the previous American indoor mile record of 3:51.8 in 1981, and the previous American 1500 meter indoor record held by Jeff Atkinson, who ran 3:38.12 in 1989. Lagat's winning time of 3:29.40 at Rieti, Italy, on August 28, 2005, in the outdoor 1500 meters was ratified as his third new American record, improving upon the old record of 3:29.77, set by Sydney Maree in 1985.

Double world champion[link]

At the 2007 World Championships in Osaka Lagat surpassed all his previous achievements by becoming the first athlete to become world champion in both the 1,500 m and 5,000 m at the same IAAF World Outdoor Championships. Similar feats were accomplished by Hicham El Guerrouj at the 2004 Olympics and Paavo Nurmi at the 1924 Olympics.^[7][8]

2008 Olympics and 2009 Worlds[link]

Bernard Lagat at the 2009 World Championships

In 2008, Lagat won both 1500 m^[9][10] and 5000 m^[11] runs at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, qualifying himself to compete with Team USA at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.^[12] Hopes were high that his success in both these events would continue at the Olympics.^[13][14] However, Lagat failed to advance beyond the semi-finals in the 1500m run.^[15][16][17] He was more successful in the 5000 m run, winning his semi-final heat to advance,^[18][19] but ultimately did not medal, running to ninth place finish in the finals.^[20]

Lagat had concealed the fact that he was running with an injured Achilles tendon, a problem which hampered his training and contributed to his poor showing at the Olympics. He stated that his placings at the 2008 Beijing Games were "the biggest disappointment in my athletics career". The following season, he began with high altitude training in Flagstaff, Arizona.^[21] After tying Eamonn Coghlan's record of seven wins in the Wanamaker Mile at the 2009 Millrose Games in New York, Lagat broke Coghlan's record with an 8th win at Millrose in 2010.^[22] As the reigning world champion in the 1500 and 5000 meters, he automatically received qualification in the events at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and set his sights on retaining his titles. Despite being much older than some of his competitors, Lagat's desire to win had not faded and he said "I am more motivated than ever to go to the podium in Berlin".^[21] Lagat ultimately won the bronze medal in the 1500m and the silver medal in the 5000 m.

2010 to present[link]

On February 6, 2010, Lagat set a new American record in his debut of the indoor 5000 meters at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games with a time of 13:11.50, beating previous record holder Galen Rupp who had set the record at 13:18.12 in 2009.^[23] On June 4, 2010, Lagat broke the American Record for 5000m with 12:54.12 at the Bislett Games in Oslo.^[24] Yet another area record came at the Rieti IAAF Grand Prix in August: chasing down Tariku Bekele in the 3000 m, he took second place with an American record of 7:29.00 – his first sub-7:30 minute time.

In July he broke his own 5000 m American record at the Monaco Diamond League meet by running 12:53.60 to finish a close second behind Mo Farah who set the British 5000m record in this race in a time of 12:53.11.^[25][26][27] At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, the 5000 m final came down to a sprint finish and Lagat was beaten in the last straight by Mo Farah, leaving Lagat with his second consecutive silver medal at the world event.

At the 2012 Millrose Games, held for the first time at the Armory Track & Field Center, Lagat ran an American indoor record over 5000 m with a time of 13:07.15 minutes.^[28]

Achievements[link]

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Kenya
1999	Universiade	Palma de Mallorca, Spain	1st	1500 m	3:40.99
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	3rd	1500 m	3:32.44
2001	World Indoor Championships	Lisboa, Portugal	6th	3000 m	7:45.52
	World Championships	Edmonton, Canada	2nd	1500 m	3:31.10
2002	World Cup	Madrid, Spain	1st	1500 m	3:31.20
	African Championships	Radès, Tunisia	1st	1500 m	3:38.11
2003	World Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	2nd	1500 m	3:42.62
2004	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	1st	3000 m	7:56.34
	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	2nd	1500 m	3:34.30
Representing  United States
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	1st	1500 m	3:34.77
			1st	5000 m	13:45.87
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	9th	5000 m	13:26.89
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	3rd	1500 m	3:36.20
			2nd	5000 m	13:17.33
2010	World Indoor Championships	Doha, Qatar	1st	3000 m	7:37.97
	Continental Cup	Split, Croatia	1st	3000 m	7:54.75
			1st	5000 m	13:58.23
2011	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	2nd	5000 m	13:23.64
2012	World Indoor Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	1st	3000 m	7:41.44

Statistics[link]

Personal bests[link]

• Lagat's 1500m PB is the Kenyan National Record. After becoming an American citizen, Lagat set an American record in the 1500m of 3:29.30.

Records[link]

• All of Lagat's American records are also North American Area Records.
• His time of 3:26.34 minutes for the 1500 metres, set in 2001, remains the Kenyan and Commonwealth record for the event.
• The 3000 and 5000 marks, set since Lagat turned 35 years of age are also Masters World records and American Masters records. Lagat also holds the currently recognized Masters World record in the 1500 at 3:32.51 set at Herculis in 2010.

References[link]

External links[link]

• IAAF profile for Bernard Lagat
• IAAF Focus on Athletes
• USATF Profile
• NBC Olympics Profile
• ESPN Profile
• Kenyan-Born Runner Boosts U.S. Olympic Hopes (NPR)
• Bernard Lagat on Twitter

Video links[link]

• Flotrack Video Interview of Bernard Lagat