Introduction

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1.4.5Hub Interface

The 8-bit hub interface connects the MCH to the ICH2. All communication between the MCH and the ICH2 occurs over the hub interface. The hub interface runs at 66 MHz / 266 MB/s. In addition to the normal traffic types, the following communication also occurs over the hub interface:

Interrupt related messages

Power management events as messages

SMI, SCI, and SERR error indication messages

It is assumed that the hub interface is always connected to an ICH2.

1.4.6Intel® MCH Clocking

The MCH has the following clock input pins:

Differential BCLK for the host interface

66 MHz clock input for the AGP and hub interface

Clock synthesizer chip(s) generate the system host clocks, AGP and hub interface clocks, and PCI clocks. The system bus target speed is 400 MHz. The MCH does not require any relationship between the HCLKIN host clock and the 66 MHz clock generated for AGP and the hub interface; they are asynchronous to each other. The AGP and hub interface runs at a constant 66 MHz base frequency. The hub interface runs at 4x. AGP transfers can be 1x, 2x, or 4x. Table 5 indicates the supported frequency ratios between the various interfaces.

Table 5. Intel® MCH Clock Ratio Table

Interface

Speed

Processor BCLK

 

 

(100 MHz)

 

 

 

Memory

SDR 133 MHz

3:4 synchronous

 

 

 

AGP

66 MHz

Asynchronous

 

 

 

Hub interface

66 MHz

Asynchronous

 

 

 

Intel® 82845 MCH for SDR Datasheet

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Intel 845 manual Hub Interface, Intel MCH Clocking, Intel MCH Clock Ratio Table, Interface Speed Processor Bclk