Burst mode (computing)

Burst mode (alternatively burst-mode) is a generic electronics term referring to any situation in which a device is transmitting data repeatedly without going through all the steps required to transmit each piece of data in a separate transaction. The usual reason for having a burst mode capability, or using burst mode, is to increase data throughput. The steps left out while performing a burst mode transaction may include A: waiting for input from another device; B: waiting for an internal process to terminate before continuing the transfer of data; or C: transmitting information which would be required for a complete transaction, but which is inherent in the use of burst mode.

In the case of DMA, the DMA controller and the device are given exclusive access to the bus without interruption; the CPU is also freed from handling device interrupts.

The actual manner in which burst modes work varies from one type of device to another; however, devices that have some sort of a standard burst mode include the following:

• Random access memory (RAM), including EDO, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, and RDRAM; only the last three are required to send data in burst mode, according to industry standards
• Hard disk drive (HDD) interfaces such as SCSI and IDE
• Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) devices; partially, as the write-combining is similar in purpose and meaning

See also

• Asynchronous I/O
• Command queue
• Direct memory access (DMA)
• SDRAM burst ordering