Northbridge (computing)

The northbridge is traditionally one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a PC motherboard, the other being the Southbridge. Rarely, these two chips have been combined onto one die when design complexity and fabrication processes permit it. In general, however, core logic chipsets are divided into these two main parts.

Related Topics:
Chipset - PC motherboard - Southbridge

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The northbridge typically handles communications between the CPU, RAM, AGP port or PCI Express, and the southbridge. Some northbridges also contain integrated video controllers. Because different processors and RAM require different signalling, a northbridge will typically work with only one or two classes of CPUs and generally only one type of RAM. There are a few chipsets that support two types of RAM (Generally these are available when there is a shift to a new standard). For example, the northbridge from the nVidia nForce2 chipset will only work with Duron, Athlon, and Athlon XP processors combined with DDR SDRAM, the Intel i875 chipset will only work with systems using Pentium 4 processors or Celeron processors that have a clock speed greater than 1.3 GHz and utilize DDR SDRAM, and the Intel i915g chipset only works with the Intel Pentium 4 and the Intel Celeron, but it can use DDR or DDR2 memory.

Related Topics:
CPU - RAM - AGP port - PCI Express - Southbridge - NVidia - NForce2 - Duron - Athlon - Athlon XP - DDR SDRAM - Intel - Pentium 4 - Celeron - DDR2

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The name is derived from drawing the architecture in the fashion of a map. The CPU would be at the top of the map at due north. The CPU would be connected to the chipset via a fast bridge (the northbridge) located north of other system devices as drawn. The northbridge would then be connected to the rest of the chipset via a slow bridge (the southbridge) located south of other system devices as drawn.

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