Difference between FSB and DMI

Intel Processor Comparison – Part 13 of 16

Front Side Bus

FSB is a BUS technology that is used in Core 2 Quad/Duo processor technologies and earlier. FSB allows the processor to communicate with other components of the computer including Memory, PCIe, Video as well as IO devices like USB, Hard disk, Network etc. Everything that goes in and out of the processor goes through FSB. See the diagram below to see a typical Core 2 Duo processor and FSB communication channels.

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DMI – Direct Media Inteface

DMI bus technology is used in Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. The basic difference in architecture is, that the processor communicates over a different channel with RAM, a different channel with PCIe and a third channel DMI to communicate with all other components of the computer. This increases the performance significantly. See diagram below for a typical Core i7 architecture.

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This article is part of a series of articles listed below

1. Intel Processor Comparison – Introduction
2. Want a faster PC, get more RAM first
3. Processor Flashback
4. Hyper Threading Technology
5. Difference between Thread and Process
6. Difference between Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad
7. Difference Between Core 2 Duo and Core i3
8. Difference Between Core 2 Quad and Core i5
9. Intel Turbo Boost Technology
10. Difference Between Core i3 and Core i5
11. Difference Between Core i5 and Core i7
12. Differences Between Core 2 and Core i Technologies
13. Difference Between FSB and DMI
14. Difference Between Smart Cache and L2 Cache
15. Processor Comparison Bottom Line
16. Processor Comparison Table