As with life, not all computer transactions are created equal. SiS is a bit vague describing Specific Stream with Prioritized Channel, but it seems with the HyperStreaming, the data that is most critical to the system will be computed first while less essential data will have to wait. For instance SiS claims that HyperStreaming will give access higher access to high bandwidth, low latency programs such as video/audio (which can suffer sync problems) and internet accesses.

All priority transactions are tagged with an isochronous bit and then get to pass through the isochronous channel while the rest of the non essential transactions like keyboard strokes, printer commands and mouse movements run through the non isochronous channel.

Think of it as an express highway with its own exit points. The express data doesn't run any faster than the collectors (non iso), but as it's less congested, the pieces of data end up getting to their final destination faster.

When HyperStreaming begins to work with another architecture based on different protocols, efficiency and transition between the two becomes very important in order to avoid redundancy. The first part of Smart Stream is Intelligent Arbitration. This feature prioritizes streams according to their data types and readies the data to be sent.

Non-post and response request are higher up on the food chain than Post requests because non-post and response requests use more aggressive insurances and directly reduce the wait state of the processor and other devices.

Smart Stream allows for a higher cache hit rate and if that fails system memory hit rate is also much higher. HyperStreaming allows for two levels of intelligent arbitration to schedule commands and data, and improves bus utilization and efficiency.

Smart Flow Control is used to improve transfer rates between the processor and chipsets/devices. With HyperStreaming, no matter how complex the commands are they only use one cache line. There is more to HyperStreaming than the basics we've touched upon, but that is beyond the scope of this article. Up next, we take a look at the GA-8S655FX Ultra's BIOS and overclocking features.