Chipsets

[garfield]

There're many motherboard manufacturers on the market. Do they ALWAYS use Intel's chipset (e.g. 845, 850)? If not, could somebody elaborate a little on the chipset market?

Thanks,

[saphalline]

Sweet bejeezes! That's quite a question!

In short, no, there are a great many motherboards that do NOT use Intel chipsets. They are, obviously, too numerous to name, however.

In slightly less short, a chipset is a 'set of chips' (bet you couldn't figure that one out http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif ) that controls the 'flow' of data between the parts in your computer: processor, RAM, AGP/PCI slots, keyboard, mouse, etc. Each chipset is designed for a specific processor interface - such as Socket 370, Slot1, Socket A, etc - and RAM type - such as SDRAM, RDRAM, DDR SDRAM. This is what really defines any chipset, the processor interface and RAM type. If you want to build a computer, you must at the very least know what processor and RAM type you want to use. Otherwise you'll be in the planning stage forever!!

Different chipsets are

Socket 478 (Pentium4):
Intel - i850 (dual RDRAM), i845 (SDRAM), i845D (DDR SDRAM)
VIA - P4X266 (DDR SDRAM, also under legal attack by Intel)
SiS - S645 (DDR or regular SDRAM? someone help me out here)

Socket A (Duron, Athlon, AthlonXP)
VIA - KT133A (Duron and Athlon only, SDRAM and DDR SDRAM), KT266A (up to AthlonXP, DDR SDRAM)
SiS - S745 (up to AthlonXP, again I don't know the RAM types)

This is just a really, really basic rundown of what's available, and about chipsets. If you want more in-depth info on specific motherboards available for Intel or AMD procs, head to sites such as www.tomshardware.com/ (http://www.tomshardware.com/) and www.sharkyextreme.com/ (http://www.sharkyextreme.com/) and check out their motherboard reviews and info. Their "motherboard round-ups" are particularly helpful if you want to know the best motherboard for a certain processor. As long as you know what you want in a motherboard, the reviews should be fine and you won't have to waste your time researching every chipset under the sun.

[garfield]

I just find your reply - sometimes PC Guide does not send email notification.

I know what chipset is, but I don't know what different chipsets are available on the market. Thank you, I'll do more research on this subject.

[YODA74]

http://hardwarehell.com/cpu.htm

------------------


YODA74@windows-sucks.com

[kayofcircles]

This brings back memories! A year ago this month I spent an hour on hold listening to opera music, then a few minutes assuring the tech that I had indeed tried everything they recommended on their website and that the CD writer was still freezing my puter every time I tried to use it. Then tech said, "Well, you will NEVER be able to get your new CD writer to work unless you update your bus masters." Pause...."What's a bus master?" "Drivers for your chipset." Another pause.."What's a chipset?" Will spare you the rest of the conversation, but will say that at one point, I just decided I had displayed enough ignorance for one day and meekly said, "Okay..thanks." Spent two more days discovering that my mobo manufacturer was out of business, the shop that built my puter also out of business, and Via said not to install 4 in 1 drivers unless files matched..which they didn't. I was getting pretty DESPERATE by the time I found my way here. And by the way, the tech was wrong..I got my CD writer to work without updating my bus masters...thanks to wonderful people here at this forum.