Burst mode (computing)

Burst mode (also called burst mode or burst mode English ) is a term used in computer technology. It is a transfer mode to speed of read or write operations in storage units.

In contrast to the so-called word - mode (german word- at- a-time mode) larger data blocks are transmitted as continuous bundle of smaller data units in the burst mode without some initializations for each of these units would be made new. For example, a cache line of 16 bytes are transmitted to a bundle of four data units of 4 bytes.

An important example is the DRAM. Here you have to access a particular memory location, first the " line" Address half ( by RAS cycle ) and then the "column" Address half are transmitted (by CAS cycle ) to the memory block, before the supply the requested data ( or accept write) can. In the burst mode, only a single RAS cycle is performed in advance when the address portion remains the same for the following byte. CAS cycles are then exclusively used to transfer the data. The access speed can be increased by up to a factor of four.

Burst accesses, there is, for example, in the cache, or the PCI bus.

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