Help this dumbie - Explain Northbridge and Southbridge to me
lo...@haired.blonde
Northbridge VIA KT266A
Southbridge VIA KTVT8233
Whereas under Mboard Gigabyte GA-7VRXP it shows just:
Southbridge VIA KTVT8233
I have found the following description of the 'bridges':
Northbridge - an Intel chipset that commun-
icates with the computer processor and
controls interaction with memory, the
Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
bus, Level 2 cache, and all Accelerated
Graphics Port (AGP) activities. Northbridge
communicates with the processor using the
frontside bus (FSB). Northbridge is one part
of a two-part chipset called
Northbridge/Southbridge.
Southbridge - handles the input/output
I/O) functions of the chipset.
So I concluded (incorrectly?) that the boards had both. Now I think
not. Which is it?
Also if the chipset is 'INTEL' then how is it on an AMD board?
Thanks
long)
Edward Crismond
You are almost right. But the northbridge and southbridge are not just
part of a Pentium board, but all boards designed for Pentiums and
AMDs. Here is something from
http://www.geek.com/glossary/glossary_search.cgi?northbridge
Northbridge - This is part of a chipset in a PC that controls communications
between system memory, the processor, external cache, and the AGP bus.
See also southbridge. You must pair a northbridge chip with a southbridge
chip to make a usable chipset.
Southbridge - This is part of a chipset in a PC that controls communications
between the ISA bus, IDE controller, BIOS, USB, power control, and PS/2
ports.
See also northbridge. You must pair a northbridge and southbridge chip to
create a full chipset.
Your Gigabyte GA-7VRXP has the Via KT333 chipset, which consist of the
Via KT333 Northbridge and the Via VT8233a Southbridge. A KT333 can
ofcourse run on DDR333 and a KT266a is limited to DDR266.
They compare the KT333 to the KT266a at:
http://www17.tomshardware.com/mainboard/02q1/020220/kt333-01.html
<lo...@haired.blonde> wrote in message
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rickman
As far as I am aware, all mobos have both north and south bridges.
Think of them as interfaces. The north bridge interfaces the CPU to 1)
memory, 2) graphics and 3) the southbridge. In essence, to all the high
speed stuff. The southbridge interfaces the north bridge to all the
slower speed stuff like the PCI bus, USB ports, various IO like serial,
parallel, ATA, etc.
In theory they could put both in one chip, but that would be a woppin'
big package with about 500 pins!
--
Rick "rickman" Collins
rick.c...@XYarius.com
Ignore the reply address. To email me use the above address with the XY
removed.
Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company
Specializing in DSP and FPGA design URL http://www.arius.com
4 King Ave 301-682-7772 Voice
Frederick, MD 21701-3110 301-682-7666 FAX
Loknar
finally someone that asks a question, but actually tryed to find the
answer himself before asking... Great, now;
Forget that Northbridge explanation that was pulled from Intel's
website or something. theres no relation with Intel, exept on Pentium 4
boards, since they own Rambus blablablablah... The rest of the
explanation is even more fascinating (from its wrongness). But there is
truth behind it, and it is:
The North bridge's function is to connect to the CPU, manage and
direct data exchanges between it and the Memory (RAM), AGP bus and South
Bridge
The south bridge explanation is more accurate.. But the PCI is
connected in there, Along with IDE devices, Floppy, USB, input, name it.
Well your board has a north bridge, don't worry. Maybe you don't see
it because it is under a heatsink. It should be right above your AGP
port, or at least in between the AGP and CPU.
Lok
lo...@haired.blonde
kony
wrote:
>As far as I am aware, all mobos have both north and south bridges.
>Think of them as interfaces. The north bridge interfaces the CPU to 1)
>memory, 2) graphics and 3) the southbridge. In essence, to all the high
>speed stuff. The southbridge interfaces the north bridge to all the
>slower speed stuff like the PCI bus, USB ports, various IO like serial,
>parallel, ATA, etc.
>
>In theory they could put both in one chip, but that would be a woppin'
>big package with about 500 pins!
>
SIS 735, 745 chipsets are "North/South" combined, helps make for
dirt-cheap boards like ECS K7S5A:
http://www.pcwave.com/mbm-k7s5a.jpg
Dave
__________________________
Please Reply to Newsgroup,
rickman
What kind of site is this? I tried going to the home page and it wern't
there!!! http://www.pcwave.com/
kony
wrote:
>> SIS 735, 745 chipsets are "North/South" combined, helps make for
>> dirt-cheap boards like ECS K7S5A:
>> http://www.pcwave.com/mbm-k7s5a.jpg
>
>What kind of site is this? I tried going to the home page and it wern't
>there!!! http://www.pcwave.com/
>
It's there, just saw it... Try this:
http://207.126.101.146
rickman
>
> On Thu, 29 Aug 2002 19:54:50 -0400, rickman <spamgo...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> >> SIS 735, 745 chipsets are "North/South" combined, helps make for
> >> dirt-cheap boards like ECS K7S5A:
> >> http://www.pcwave.com/mbm-k7s5a.jpg
> >
> >What kind of site is this? I tried going to the home page and it wern't
> >there!!! http://www.pcwave.com/
> >
>
> It's there, just saw it... Try this:
> http://207.126.101.146
You must have x-ray vision, because this is what I get...
The page cannot be found
The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name
changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
Please try the following:
If you typed the page address in the Address bar, make sure
that it is spelled correctly.
Open the 207.126.101.146 home page, and then look for links
to the information you want.
Click the Back button to try another link.
HTTP 404 - File not found
Internet Information Services
Technical Information (for support personnel)
More information:
Microsoft Support
This is not generated at my end. It is generated by the server software
when there is no page to view. I get the same thing from both the URL
and the numeric address.
kony
wrote:
I just tried again, and it still shows up. I"m quite sure it's there,
not a cached page. Did your browser find the image I linked? Try
pinging 207.126.101.146
kony
>I just tried again, and it still shows up. I"m quite sure it's there,
>not a cached page. Did your browser find the image I linked? Try
>pinging 207.126.101.146
Or try this one:
http://www.pcwavedirect.com/
rickman
>
> On Fri, 30 Aug 2002 01:49:59 GMT, ko...@insightbb.com (kony) wrote:
>
> >I just tried again, and it still shows up. I"m quite sure it's there,
> >not a cached page. Did your browser find the image I linked? Try
> >pinging 207.126.101.146
>
> Or try this one:
> http://www.pcwavedirect.com/
When I use this URL, the first thing it does is to change the URL to
http://www.pcwavedirect.com/ehome.asp
Then it changes the URL to
http://www.pcwavedirect.com/javascript/left-bar.js
and gives me the same HTTP 404 error.
Yes, I was able to view the image you gave a link to. But I tried to
backtrack to the main page and found the error.
kony
wrote:
>kony wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, 30 Aug 2002 01:49:59 GMT, ko...@insightbb.com (kony) wrote:
>>
>> >I just tried again, and it still shows up. I"m quite sure it's there,
>> >not a cached page. Did your browser find the image I linked? Try
>> >pinging 207.126.101.146
>>
>> Or try this one:
>> http://www.pcwavedirect.com/
>
>When I use this URL, the first thing it does is to change the URL to
>
>http://www.pcwavedirect.com/ehome.asp
>
>Then it changes the URL to
>
>http://www.pcwavedirect.com/javascript/left-bar.js
>
>and gives me the same HTTP 404 error.
>
>
>Yes, I was able to view the image you gave a link to. But I tried to
>backtrack to the main page and found the error.
>
>--
>
>Rick "rickman" Collins
>
Has to be a configuration problem on your end, you did hit the server
for that image, so you have a clear path to it. The whole site comes
up fine for me, except for all those !@##$ Flash animations, which I
"don't do".
rickman
Yes, I am sure it is my problem. I bet I set the "generate extra 404
errors" button in the setup.
Last Boy Scout
the north and south bridge control. You might try looking at
www.tomshardware.com
They often have diagrams of the chipset when a new chipset is introduced.
Also try looking at a design of the Nforce2 Chipset by Nvida.
Not all motherboards work the same. Some manufacturers implement extras or
choose not to implement certain hardware the chipset is cabable of
controlling.
<lo...@haired.blonde> wrote in message
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