North and South brigde...

[jesperth]

Can anyone tell me what the "north brigde" and the "south brigde" is on a motherboard.
I'm also confused about how the BIOS communicates with the hardware in the computer.

Jesper - Denmark

 

[AndyHui]

The North Bridge typically controls communication between the processor, chipset logic, RAM and AGP.

The South Bridge is connected to the North Bridge (these days by a dedicated high-speed interconnect), and controls IDE, PCI (and ISA slots if any), USB, and other legacy items such as serial, parallel, PS/2. The latest South Bridges also contain onboard LAN and various other bits and pieces.

 

[jesperth]

Thanks !

 

[jesperth]

Thanks !

 

[Peter]

Need to say that in a chipset that connects North and South through a PCI bus, it's the North who controls the PCI bus. Only on the more modern chipsets that have a proprietary north-south interconnect does the South bridge do that. Most frequently made mistake in any mainboard review ...

BIOS btw is a piece of software, like any other driver or such.

regards, Peter

 

[AndyHui]

Yes, I agree the fact that the old North Bridges and South Bridges being connected by the PCI bus is an often overlooked fact.