Yav dhau los, chipsets tau tsim los ntawm ntau lub chips, maj mam txo qis rau tsuas yog ob. Hauv kev suav, lo lus" chipset" feem ntau yog hais txog cov nti ntawm lub computer' s motherboard lossis expansion card. Thaum tham txog cov khoos phis tawj ntawm tus kheej raws li Intel's Pentium class processors, lo lus chipset feem ntau yog hais txog ob lub ntsiab chips ntawm lub motherboard: Northbridge thiab Southbridge.
Chipset manufacturers tau thiab feem ntau yog ywj siab ntawm motherboard manufacturers. Piv txwv li, PC motherboard chipsets suav nrog NVIDIA' s nForce chipset thiab Via Electronics' KT880, ob qho tib si tsim rau AMD processors, lossis ntau chipsets los ntawm Intel. MCU chipsets tau qhia ntau xyoo, xws li SiS 730. Tab sis nws' s tsuas yog tsis ntev los no uas nForce 4 tau nrov. Niaj hnub no' ib leeg-chip chipsets tsis yog nyuaj li ua ntej, vim hais tias Athlon 64 muaj lub cim xeeb built-in, hloov Northbridge' s muaj nuj nqi.
Txawm tias thaum chipsets dhau los ua microcontrollers, lub npe qub yog siv raws li kev cai. Nws tuaj yeem raug cais raws li kev siv, tus naj npawb ntawm cov chips thiab qib ntawm kev sib xyaw ua ke. Raws li tus naj npawb ntawm cov chips, nws tuaj yeem muab faib ua tus qauv South thiab North Choj chipsets (tus choj sab qaum teb chips ua lub luag haujlwm tseem ceeb, tseem hu ua Tus Tswv Choj). Thiab ntau-chip chipset (tsuas yog siv rau qib high-qib neeg rau zaub mov / chaw ua haujlwm), raws li qib kev sib koom ua ke hauv kev sib xyaw chipset thiab cov chipset tsis sib xyaw thiab lwm yam. Motherboard chipset yuav luag txiav txim siab tag nrho cov haujlwm ntawm lub motherboard. Northbridge nti muab kev txhawb nqa rau CPU hom thiab qhov tseem ceeb, qhov system cache, mainboard system tsheb npav zaus, tswj kev nco (nco hom, muaj peev xwm thiab kev ua haujlwm), daim npav daim npav qhov tshwj xeeb, ISA / PCI / AGP qhov, ECC kev kho yuam kev thiab lwm yam kev txhawb nqa; Lub Southbridge nti muab kev txhawb nqa I / O, KBC (keyboard maub los), RTC (Real-time Clock Controller), USB (Universal Serial Bus), Ultra DMA / 33 (66) EIDE cov ntaub ntawv hloov pauv hom, thiab ACPI (Advanced Energy Management) kev txhawb nqa. Thiab txiav txim seb hom thiab tus naj npawb ntawm expansion slots thiab hom thiab tus naj npawb ntawm expansion interfaces; Cov chipset sib xyaw ua ke zoo heev txhim kho kev ntseeg tau ntawm cov chips system, txo qhov ua tsis tiav thiab txo cov nqi tsim khoom. Piv txwv li, qee cov chipsets suav nrog 3D nrawm cov zaub (kev sib xyaw ua ke nti), AC' 97 lub suab txiav suab thiab lwm yam haujlwm kuj txiav txim siab qhov kev ua tau zoo thiab lub suab ua haujlwm ntawm lub khoos phis tawj.
Chipset txheeb xyuas qhov no kuj yog ib qho yooj yim heev, coj Intel440BX chipset ua piv txwv, nws cov Northbridge nti yog Intel 82443BX nti, feem ntau yog nyob rau hauv lub motherboard ze ntawm lub CPU qhov, vim lub siab kub ntawm lub nti, nyob rau hauv no nti yog nruab nrog kub dab dej. Lub Southbridge nti nyob ze ntawm ISA thiab PCI qhov thiab muaj npe hu ua Intel 82371EB. Lwm cov chipsets tau teeb tsa hauv qhov pib tib txoj haujlwm.