The Computer Dictionary

Chipset

The chipset is the intelligence regulator of the computer, the architecture of its integrated circuits.

Chipset often refers to the motherboard's chipset, such as those made by AMD and Intel, which determine which components the motherboard uses. Most of these chipsets are divided into two units:

1. The Northbridge - for the memory and cache, the host bus, and the PCI bus,

2. The Southbridge - for the ISA bus, various ports, IDE interface, and I/O functions.

Intel no longer uses this terminology, although their chipsets remain divided in a similar manner. Other chipsets are now available as one unit, rather than as the two described.

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