External Data Bus

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I was wondering whether someone could clarify something for me.

I'm currently reading Mike Meyers All-in-One 6th edition which I believe to be one of the best A+ study books you can read but am getting a bit confused over the external data bus.

Meyers describes the external data bus as the way of connecting the RAM to the CPU via the Memory Contoller Chip (not an actual quote), but on other sites and references this process is described as the Internal Data Bus and the External Data Bus is used for various devices added to the computer.

Could someone please clear this up for me as it is causing me some confusion!!!

I also wanted to know whether the Meyers book is going to be enough reference to be able to pass the A+ or whether it would be best to invest in a secondary reference book to help???

 

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I would agree with you, external is something like USB etc.

As for the book question, it wouldnt harm to use another one, but most stuff should be covered in the MM book, i never used that personally and i done fine. Other publishers would be Sybex and Syngress, they both do decent books IMO.

 

I don't think this is a typo, as the chapter on Microprocessors seems to be referring to it as the external data bus, and again in the opening paragraph of Chapter 5 on BIOS & CMOS, MM talks about how the address bus and ext data bus connect RAM to the processor via the memory controller chip.

Maybe it will clarify it a bit more when he talks about the Northbridge & Southbridge, but I find this a concern that vital information does not seem to be properly layed out from the beginning of the book!!!

 

I do agree that this is a bit confusing with the MM book. I think he uses the external data bus as a bit of a collective term, sometimes he refers to it as the frontside or backside bus, then he stresses that the address bus is what connects the RAM and CPU, then he seems to bundle it all together under the EDB banner!!!

The important thing to remember is basically what a bus is, which is basically a data transfer system in a computer.

So far as I can gather, the External Data Bus connects peripherals (USB and that) to the computer, the Internal Data Bus operates within the circuitry of the CPU, the Address Bus connects the CPU with the memory addresses, the System Bus connects the CPU to main memory and peripherals like AGP and PCI slots, (also known as Frontside Bus), the Backside Bus connects the CPU to off-chip cache memory

Because of cross-over, a lot of buses tend to share names or have multiple names. I believe the EDB is an overview of these buses rather than a separate entity.

If I am wrong, please someone tell me!!!!!!

 

Thankyou for the replies guys.

The actual concept of what the bus is isn't too difficult to grasp, I think its the various types of buses and their differing names for the same process that causes the confusion.

I've already copied & pasted Cockles explanation into my notes as it seems his description of the various buses has kinda answered the queries I had. Cheers mate!

Hopefully when I'm ready to sit the exams there won't be too many questions that come up on this topic!!!