Commonly chipset used for Pentium.
The Intel EZ205
Saying Intel is conservative is not saying that their chipsets produce motherboards that are performance slouches. In fact, if you research which Pentium 4 motherboards are best for over clocking, you will usually find a 3rd-party manufacturer, such as Abit and Asus, using an Intel chipset.
The Function of a Chipset?
number of integrated circuits designed to perform one or more related functions. For example, one chipset may provide the basic functions of a modem while another provides the CPU functions for a computer. Newer chipsets generally include functions provided by two or more older chipsets. In some cases, older chipsets that required two or more physical chips can be replaced with a chipset on one chip.
The term is often used to refer to the core functionality of a motherboard.
Different kinds of chipset
The South Bridge
The south bridge is often referred to as the I/O controller. The features of the south bridge change less often than the those of the north bridge. From chipset to chipset, nearly all south bridges have support for integrated sound, LAN and modem, ATA and USB. However, just because a chipset can support these features does not mean that the motherboard manufacturer will make that particular feature available. There are also some I/O components that are not controlled by current south bridges, such as RAID and Serial ATA. These have their own chips, separate from current north and south bridges. This will change in the future, as Intel is incorporating Serial ATA into their upcoming Springdale chipset.
When a chipset manufacturer releases a new chipset, it is common for the north bridge to change, while the south bridge may remain the same as the one used previously. There are two notable south-bridge controlled items that have changed over the last few generations of chipsets: USB 2.0 and ATA 133.
The North Bridge
Front-Side Bus Speed
The north bridge controls the communication and throughput speed between AGP video, the RAM and the CPU. The speed at which the memory can communicate with the CPU is referred to as the front-side bus speed or system bus speed. For those who are looking for ultimate speed, the north bridge's front-side bus speed is a key item to study. If you want a fast CPU and fast RAM, you need a fast front-side bus. Modern CPUs and RAM come in a variety of ratings for front-side bus speeds and must be matched with an appropriate chipset (which determines the motherboard's front-side bus speed). A speed mismatch will create a performance bottleneck.
For example, RAM can be purchased in a variety of speeds such as DDR200, DDR266, DDR333, or DDR400. Each number next to "DDR" represents a frequency speed rating. DDR266 should only be used with a front-side bus of at least 266MHz, and DDR400 requires at least a front-side bus speed of 400MHz. When the front-side bus speed is the same as the speed of the DDR RAM, this combination is described as being "synchronous." It is the motherboard chipset (within the north bridge) that specifies the front-side bus speed. See the glossary section for additional information on DDR speeds
The Latest Video Card
Sparkle Calibre P850+8500GT 512MB
Included in the box is software, manual, VGA-to-DVI adapter and also a video-out cable.
· Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3.0GHz
· Motherboard: ASUS Blitz Formula
· Memory: OCZ 2GB NVIDIA PC2-7200
· Video: Sparkle 8500GT 512MB (NVIDIA 162.18)
· Sound: Onboard HD Audio
· Storage: Seagate 7200.10 320GB
· Power Supply: Corsair HX620W
· Etcetera: Windows XP Professional SP2, Antec P182
· Cooling: Corsair Nautilus 500
