Isn Accelerated Graphics Port a new name for Unified Memory Architecture (UMA)?
A.8. No. The goals of UMA are very different from the Accelerated Graphics Port. UMA was an attempt to move the entire frame buffer from a graphics subsystem card to main PC memory to reduce cost. The goal of the Accelerated Graphics Port interface specification is to make it possible for PCs to support high performance 3D graphics capabilities. The Accelerated Graphics Port architecture assumes that there is still dedicated graphics frame buffer memory. In the Accelerated Graphics Port interface specification, main memory is specifically used for advanced three-dimensional features, such as textures, alpha buffers, and z-buffers. This memory can be “reclaimed” by the OS and applications after being used. This eliminates the performance loss inherent in UMA which requires allocation of main memory at boot-up time, leaving less memory for the operating system. The Accelerated Graphics Port interface specification allows for dynamic allocation (and reallocation) of main memory, making it
