Chipset

In computer terms, the word Chipset is used to refer to sets of specialized chips on the motherboard. These chips control communications between the components of the motherboard and the CPU. The main ones are the Northbridge and Southbridge.

Northbridge

 

The northbridge links the CPU to the high speed devices on the motherboard...

• Memory (RAM)
• PCI-E Graphics Card or Onboard Graphics Chip
• AGP Graphics Card

The northbridge will help determine the Front Side Bus (FSB) speed of the motherboard. This is the speed of the link between the CPU and the memory. The trick here is to match up your memory with your Front Side Bus speed. If your memory speed is slower, than you will create a bottleneck at that point. Keeping your memory speed equal to or higher than your front side bus speed will ensure that no bottleneck exists between the CPU and memory.

In the below image, the you can see the northbridge on the right, and the southbridge on the left. Both have cooling heat sinks over them.

 

Southbridge

 

The southbridge links to the CPU through the northbridge and controls...

• PCI Slots
• USB Slots
• BIOS
• Onboard Audio

You will normally find that the manufacturer is separate from the motherboard maker. Some of the main manufacturers include...

• Nvidia - nForce
• AMD
• Via Technologies
• Intel

If you are interested in more information, visit this in depth article. It's an older article, but still applies to current motherboards.

Personally I have always liked the Nvidia chipsets. They package their setups with 7 channel audio and Gigabit ethernet connections. They support their chipsets continuously and are always improving on them. Their support website is excellent and easy to use, with the latest drivers always available. I have always found Nvidia to be just a bit higher quality.

When looking to purchase a motherboard, there are a couple things to keep in mind.

• A higher Front Side Bus will speed up the internal workings of your motherboard.
• The North and Southbrige are not upgradable. What is on the motherboard is there for life.

 

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