What Does the Chipset Do?

[OIDanTheManIO]

I think that the chipset is the small heatsink on the mobo, if not, please tell me. Anyway, lately, that heatsink has been quite hott to the touch, so I got a fan for it. BUT I need to know if I should have the fan where air is being blowed onto the heatsink or if the hot air should be sucked out of the heatsink.

Also, what is the purpose of the chipset. Thanks.

-Dan The Man

 

[ag3]

The fan should be blowing air towards the heatsink. The airflow goes through the fins to help dissipate heat.

The chipset is two chips. One is the North Bridge, the other is the South Bridge.

The CPU communicates with the North Bridge. The speed in which the data travels between these two, depends on the frequency of the Front Side Bus.

The Northbridge then communicates with the memory and AGP. The speed at which these two communicate (NB to RAM) also depends on the frequency of the Front Side Bus.

The CPU must go through the North Bridge in order to access the South Bridge. The South Bridge is the chipset that manages other devices, such as HDDs (PATA/SATA), PCI slots, Ethernet, Keyboard/Mouse, etc.

This way it is more efficient for the CPU to communicate with the components that have the most priority (RAM/AGP).

 

[OIDanTheManIO]

Oh, OK, I learned something new today, thanks.

-Dan The Man

 

[ag3]

No problem!

 

[DaShizNit609]

heatsinks normally are hot to the touch...

 

[OIDanTheManIO]

Yes, I realize this, but I wanted my computer to be as cool as possible and I figured that if there was a heatsink on the chipset, than it must be vital. Now that I have a fan on it, it is running very cool. Thanks for all your help guys.

-Dan The Man

 

[waynejkruse10]

what chipset is it?, if you worried, get water cooling and it cools your cpu, chipset and agp card

 

[OIDanTheManIO]

I'm not sure what the chipset is, but with my Cooler Master fan pushing cool air onto it, it is very cool. So I am no longer worried about it.