Trying to learn the purpose of Fast I/O

[Alpha17x]

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to learn the reasoning behind why Fast I/O boards are even used in the first place. I understand that they're required in most, If not all cases by design, but not why. Every Type X system is essentially a Windows PC running an embedded, essentials only, OS. USB connections are sufficient for the PC ports of these games so what special purpose does a board dedicated to I/O serve that is assumedly superior to using what's typically built into the motherboard itself.

I'd also like to say that I have googled this. many times. I kept getting referred to people selling boards here, other sites, and eBay.

Understanding the purpose/function behind components is just as enjoyable to me as using them in a completed build, which is why I'm asking.
Thanks for your time.

 

[ekorz]

Arcade cabinets use analog buttons and joysticks. You have to convert those analog arcade controls to a signal that the pc can use. That’s all the various I/Os do, fast io just being an iteratively faster version than a jvs io. ‘faster’ in that context means it checks for inputs more times per second, and sends them along to the pc, which is also set up to receive and process inputs more times per second (than jvs io protocol). The newest io is actually just called “usb io”

The various ios also made it easy to connect all the buttons, which terminate their wiring harnesses in large but standardized connectors. You try wiring up 60 wires to a pc!

If you’re not using analog arcade buttons/sticks in an arcade cab, just use steam versions of games and usb controllers, no problem.

 

[Heinz]

What's strange is they went from a direct memory access controller with fast IO utilizing a cat5e cable and then on the X4 went with USB.