The figures below are grouped by network or bus type, then sorted within each group from lowest to highest bandwidth; gray shading indicates a lack of known implementations. As stated above, all quoted bandwidths are for each direction. Therefore, for
duplex interfaces (capable of simultaneous transmission both ways), the stated values are
simplex (one way) speeds, rather than total upstream+downstream.
Historical Radio clock Time signal station to
radio clock ===
Teletypewriter (TTY) or
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD)===
Modems (narrowband and broadband) ====
Narrowband (
POTS: 4 kHz channel)==== ====
Broadband (hundreds of kHz to GHz wide)====
Mobile telephone interfaces ===
Wide area networks=== ===
Local area networks=== ===
Wireless networks===
802.11 networks in infrastructure mode are half-duplex; all stations share the medium. In infrastructure or access point mode, all traffic has to pass through an
access point (AP). Thus, two stations on the same access point that are communicating with each other must have each and every frame transmitted twice: from the sender to the access point, then from the access point to the receiver. This approximately halves the effective bandwidth. 802.11 networks in ad hoc mode are still half-duplex, but devices communicate directly rather than through an access point. In this mode all devices must be able to
see each other, instead of only having to be able to
see the access point. ===
Wireless personal area networks===
Computer buses Main buses LPC protocol includes high overhead. While the gross data rate equals 33.3 million 4-bit-transfers per second (or ), the fastest transfer, firmware read, results in . The next fastest bus cycle, 32-bit ISA-style DMA write, yields only . Other transfers may be as low as . Uses
128b/130b encoding, meaning that about 1.54% of each transfer is used for error detection instead of carrying data between the hardware components at each end of the interface. For example, a single link PCIe 3.0 interface has an transfer rate, yet its usable bandwidth is only about . Uses
8b/10b encoding, meaning that 20% of each transfer is used by the interface instead of carrying data from between the hardware components at each end of the interface. For example, a single link PCIe 1.0 has a transfer rate, yet its usable bandwidth is only (250 ). Uses
PAM-4 encoding and a 256 bytes
FLIT block, of which 14 bytes are
FEC and
CRC, meaning that 5.47% of total data rate is used for error detection and correction instead of carrying data. For example, a single link PCIe 6.0 interface has a total transfer rate, yet its usable bandwidth is only .
Portable Storage Uses
8b/10b encoding Uses
64b/66b encoding Uses 128b/150b encoding
Peripheral ====
MAC to
PHY==== ====
PHY to
XPDR==== ===
Dynamic random-access memory=== The table below shows values for
PC memory module types. These modules usually combine multiple chips on one
circuit board. SIMM modules connect to the computer via an 8-bit- or 32-bit-wide interface. RIMM modules used by
RDRAM are 16-bit- or 32-bit-wide. DIMM modules connect to the computer via a 64-bit-wide interface. Some other computer architectures use different modules with a different bus width. In a single-channel configuration, only one module at a time can transfer information to the CPU. In multi-channel configurations, multiple modules can transfer information to the CPU at the same time, in parallel.
FPM,
EDO,
SDR, and
RDRAM memory was not commonly installed in a dual-channel configuration.
DDR and
DDR2 memory is usually installed in single- or dual-channel configuration.
DDR3 memory is installed in single-, dual-, tri-, and quad-channel configurations. Bit rates of multi-channel configurations are the product of the module bit-rate (given below) and the number of channels. The clock rate at which
DRAM memory cells operate. The
memory latency is largely determined by this rate. Note that until the introduction of
DDR4 the internal clock rate saw relatively slow progress.
DDR/
DDR2/
DDR3 memory uses 2n/4n/8n (respectively)
prefetch buffer to provide higher throughput, while the internal memory speed remains similar to that of the previous generation. The memory speed or clock rate advertised by manufactures and suppliers usually refers to this rate (with 1 GT/s = 1 GHz). Note that modern types of memory use
DDR bus with two transfers per clock.
Graphics processing units' RAM RAM memory modules are also utilised by
graphics processing units; however, memory modules for those differ somewhat from standard computer memory, particularly with lower power requirements, and are specialised to serve GPUs: for example,
GDDR3 was fundamentally based on
DDR2. Every graphics memory chip is directly connected to the GPU (point-to-point). The total GPU memory bus width varies with the number of memory chips and the number of lanes per chip. For example, GDDR5 specifies either 16 or 32 lanes per
device (chip), while GDDR5X specifies 64 lanes per chip. Over the years, bus widths rose from 64-bit to 512-bit and beyond: e.g.
HBM is 1024 bits wide. Because of this variability, graphics memory speeds are sometimes compared per pin. For direct comparison to the values for 64-bit modules shown above, video RAM is compared here in 64-lane lots, corresponding to two chips for those devices with 32-bit widths. In 2012, high-end GPUs used 8 or even 12 chips with 32 lanes each, for a total memory bus width of 256 or 384 bits. Combined with a transfer rate per pin of 5 GT/s or more, such cards could reach 240 GB/s or more. RAM frequencies used for a given chip technology vary greatly. Where single values are given below, they are examples from high-end cards. Since many cards have more than one pair of chips, the total bandwidth is correspondingly higher. For example, high-end cards often have eight chips, each 32 bits wide, so the total bandwidth for such cards is four times the value given below.
Digital audio Digital video interconnects Data rates given are from the video source (e.g., video card) to receiving device (e.g., monitor) only. Out of band and reverse signaling channels are not included. Uses
8b/10b encoding (20% coding overhead) Uses 16b/18b encoding (11% overhead) Uses 128b/132b encoding (3% overhead) ==See also==