Chipset

• It's a silicone backbone single integrated circuit soldered into the motherboard
• Also referred to as the Platform Controller Hub (PCH)
• It relays communications between the CPU and the other components
• The name of the chipset is included in the motherboard name (E.g., B450M GAMING)

North and South bridges

• On older motherboards, the chipset was split into two circuits

• Northbridge (Memory Controller Hub)

• Handles high speed communication with the CPU

• CPU <-> RAM
• CPU <-> Display

• CPU <-> PCIe slots

• Southbridge (I/O Hub)

• Handles slow speed communication with the northbridge

• Ethernet
• Audio
• PCI slots
• Sata ports
• USB ports

Direct Media Interface (DMI)

• Direct Media Interface (DMI) is the communication lane between the CPU and the Chipset
• Today the high speed communication is built-in in the processor (formerly done via northbridge)
• Therefore the CPU communicates directly with RAM, display and PCIe slots
• For communication with slow speed I/O, DMI is used in order to talk to the chipset