What is Northbridge?
The Northbridge and Southbridge chips comprise what is known as a chipset on modern computers. The chipset is responsible for facilitating communication between the computer processing unit (CPU) and the various components on the motherboard, acting as traffic cops and controllers. Since the Northbridge is working constantly, it can become very hot and in many cases it has its own heatsink. Other names for the Northbridge include the Memory Controller Hub (MCH) and the Integrated Memory Controller (IMC). The Northbridge is located closest to the CPU and controls the fastest components on the motherboard: the CPU, video card slot and random access memory (RAM). If CPU cache is located on the motherboard, it also falls under the control of the Northbridge, as does the Southbridge chip. These components are all connected to the Northbridge via pathways known as buses, making the bus speed of the computer an important specification in overall performance. The Southbridge handles the slower
The Northbridge and Southbridge chips comprise what is known as a chipset on modern computers. The chipset is responsible for facilitating communication between the computer processing unit (CPU) and the various components on the motherboard, acting as traffic cops and controllers. Since the Northbridge is working constantly, it can become very hot and in many cases it has its own heatsink. Other names for the Northbridge include the Memory Controller Hub (MCH) and the Integrated Memory Controller (IMC). The Northbridge is located closest to the CPU and controls the fastest components on the motherboard: the CPU, video card slot and random access memory (RAM). If CPU cache is located on the motherboard, it also falls under the control of the Northbridge, as does the Southbridge chip. These components are all connected to the Northbridge via pathways known as buses, making the bus speed of the computer an important specification in overall performance.
