From the memory architecture to the I/O pathways, to the overall ability of the system to share its main memory with an AGP 4X video accelerator, the Camino platform was optimized to reduce the limitations that are encountered when transferring large amounts of data between the CPU, main memory, hard drive and video card.
Intel outlines it this way when describing the needs of desktop PCs in the year 2000:
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To accomplish these goals, the i820 infrastructure is vastly different from the 440BX chipset, primarily in how it deals with each component in the food chain.
First, thanks to an increased amount of maximum bandwidth potential via a jump for CPUs to a 133MHz front side bus speed along with the inclusion of 300 to 400MHz RDRAM, the i820 devotes dedicated bandwidth to certain peripherals.
By doing this, the i820 provides superior bandwidth throughout the system while minimizing the potential for conflicts for resources. It also provides a much more capable multitasking environment for operating simultaneous transactions from different system devices than the previous 440BX platform is capable of.
From this chart, which details the architecture of the i820 versus the 440BX, we can see where Intel concentrated their efforts towards eliminating bottlenecks and limiting factors to speedy performance.
Through the i820's new MCH, or Memory Controller Hub, we see a coordinated improvement in each area that the system uses to communicate with itself, along with providing a smoother pathway for information to travel.