[Video] Explaining Motherboard Chipsets


Motherboard chipsets explained, including why chipsets are needed and what they do, legacy Northbridge / Southbridge chipsets, and modern platform controller hubs. Plus information on current and recent Intel and AMD chipsets and their processor compatibilities.

My previous video “Explaining PCIe cards” is here:

And the web page where Intel describes a chipset is here:

If you enjoy this video you may also be interested in these earlier ExplainingComputers episodes:

“Explaining Intel & AMD CPUs”:

“How do CPUs Work?”:
and

“The big.LITTLE CPU Revolution”:

More videos on computing and related topics can be found at

You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at:

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:42 Motherboard interfaces
03:12 Chipset Evolution
06:18 Intel Chipsets
09:52 AMD Chipsets
11:46 The Silicon Backbone

#Chipset #Intel #AMD #ExplainingComputers

45 Comments on “[Video] Explaining Motherboard Chipsets”

  1. As some of you have noticed, in the Intel diagram from about 06:25 to 07:32, the two labels connected to the processor at the top left should be labelled "x16 PCIe 5.0" and "x4 PCIe 4.0", (not PCI as they appear). My apologies. Somehow, regardless of how many times I check things, an error insists on creeping through! 🙁 The audio correctly describes them as PCIe, as would also be inferred from the previous generic Intel schematic.

  2. Thank you for the the clear explanation 👍 I ve build since the 200 MHz Intel Celeron Generation one or another PC from scratch. I assume it's rather a question of believe than advantages whether to use AMD or Intel. As a Linux user since 2000 I always tended to AMD based systems.

  3. Great video! But why do chipsets still exist? It should be easy for Intel and AMD to move them to the CPU now. And it wouldn't it make motherboards simpler and cheaper to design and build?

  4. As a typical consumer, Its got to the point where I have no need for more power in my pc. The last slow thing was internet access now that's largely gone. It took while to get to this point but I'm glad we're here. And yes I am aware greater speeds and more storage space in industry or out there in the cloud will always be needed.

  5. EC: lists modern chipsets

    Me with a 13-yr. old Intel X58 system: "ooohhh!" 👀

    I'll be doing upgrades on it's drive and CPU cooler soon and your older videos are helping there so yeah, subbed. 👆👍

  6. Thanks Chris, very important and critical part of understanding CPUs especially those who want to upgrade or build their own. It all starts with the motherboard and chipset that has to work with the CPU.

    Moonpie aka Rich

  7. how can i make sure that i connect my devices directly to cpu? i cant find a utility that will show me this in a digestable form. all the hardware utilities group things in various ways, except a way that will let me see which devices hang off cpu or chipset. x570-a pro + 3700X.

  8. Excellent video. Out of 'morbid' curiosity, I wonder if the 2nd gen. H67(0) would work with a 12th gen. CPU (I phrase it that way since I've moved on from Intel – their ME backdoor had me disgusted – and who knows maybe AMD has been so stupid, but as news of an ME equivalent from AMD hasn't come out yet, I reluctantly give them the benefit of the doubt)

  9. This is extremely helpful, I've never given much thought to these chipsets I've literally just searched for a motherboard with the right socket and the right connections I need

  10. can you please make a video about 'Graphics cards' they really confuse me and i would really appreciate it.
    Because i cant find any on your channel. so plzplzplzplzplzplzplz.

  11. Such lucidity and simplicity in the explanation is a mark of your erudition Christopher. I express my gratitude to you as appreciation for your work. Bravo!!!

  12. It seems like chipsets have gotten far more complicated from the old days. All you had to check was which socket there was and either your Intel, AMD, or Cyrix would pop right in there. There was, of course, a stead march of new chipsets, but it seemed a bit slower and you had a fair chance at upgrading your cpu once or more. Now it's all very specific to CPU and manufacturer and good luck if you want to upgrade.

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