Burst mode (computing)

Burst mode (alternatively burst-mode) is a generic computing term referring to any situation in which a device is transmitting data repeatedly without waiting for input from another device or waiting for an internal process to terminate before continuing the transfer of data.

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 which have some sort of standard burst mode include:

• 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) processors (debatable, write-combining is similar in purpose and meaning)

See also

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