Chipsets
The chipset is the " glue"that connects the microprocessor to the residue of the motherboard and therefore to the rest of the computer . On older PC , it consists of two basic parting — thenorthbridgeand thesouthbridge . All of the various constituent of the computer communicate with the processor through the chipset .
The northbridge connects directly to the processor via the front side jalopy ( FSB ) . A memory comptroller settle on the northbridge give the central processing unit fast accession to the memory . The northbridge also connect to the AGP or PCI Express bus topology and to the memory itself .
The southbridge is slower than the northbridge , and information from the central processing unit must go through the northbridge before reaching the southbridge . Other buses connect the southbridge to the PCI bus , theUSBports and theIDEor SATA strong disc connections .
In the early 2000s , Intel processors began using theIntel Hub Architecture , or IHA . It may also be denote to as the Accelerated Hub Architecture ( AHA ) . The newer architecture uses its own passenger vehicle , in the mental process dropping PCI exclusively . IHA chips do not have a northbridge or southbridge . rather , they have a Graphics and AGP Memory Controller Hub , or GMCH , and an I / O ( input / output ) Controller Hub , or ICH .
The GMCH performs a alike part to the northbridge , working with storage and graphics . The ICH fill over the jobs of the southbridge .
Chipset selection and C.P.U. selection go hand in paw because producer optimize chipsets to work with specific CPUs . The chipset is an integrated part of the motherboard , so it can not be removed or kick upstairs . This means that not only must the motherboard ’s socket fit the CPU , the motherboard ’s chipset must solve optimally with the CPU .
Next , we ’ll look at buses , which , like the chipset , bear information from position to place .
