Editing Chipset (section)

==Computers==
In [[computing]], the term ''chipset'' commonly refers to a set of specialized [[integrated circuit|chip]]s on a [[computer]]'s [[motherboard]] or an [[expansion card]]. In [[personal computer]]s, the first chipset for the [[IBM Personal Computer/AT|IBM PC AT]] of 1984 was the [[New Enhanced AT|NEAT chipset]] developed by [[Chips and Technologies]] for the [[Intel 80286]] CPU.

[[File:Amiga Original Chipset diagram.svg|thumb|left|Diagram of the original Amiga chipset]]
[[File:IBM ThinkPad T42 Motherboard.jpg|thumb|Part of an IBM [[ThinkPad T42]] laptop motherboard showing the CPU, GPU, Northbridge (NB), and Southbridge (SB)]]

In [[home computer]]s, game consoles, and arcade hardware of the 1980s and 1990s, the term ''chipset'' was used for the custom [[Sound recording and reproduction|audio]] and [[graphics]] chips. Examples include the [[Original Amiga chipset]] and [[Sega]]'s [[System 16]] chipset.

In [[x86]]-based personal computers, the term ''chipset'' often refers to a specific pair of chips on the motherboard: the ''[[northbridge (computing)|northbridge]]'' and the ''[[southbridge (computing)|southbridge]]''. The northbridge links the CPU to very high-speed devices, especially [[main memory|RAM]] and [[graphics controller]]s, and the southbridge connects to lower-speed peripheral [[bus (computing)|buses]] (such as [[PCI Local Bus|PCI]] or [[Industry Standard Architecture|ISA]]). In many modern chipsets, the southbridge contains some on-chip [[motherboard#Integrated peripherals|integrated peripherals]], such as [[Ethernet]], [[USB]], and [[Sound card|audio]] devices.

Motherboards and their chipsets often come from different manufacturers. {{As of | 2021}}, manufacturers of chipsets for [[x86]] motherboards include [[AMD]], [[Intel]], [[VIA Technologies]] and [[Zhaoxin]].

In the 1990s, a major designer and manufacturer of chipsets was [[VLSI Technology]] in Tempe, Arizona. Some of their innovations included the integration of PCI bridge logic, the GraphiCore 2D graphics accelerator and direct support for synchronous DRAM, the forerunner of [[DDR SDRAM]] memory.

The Apple [[Macintosh SE]], [[Macintosh II]] and later the [[Macintosh Quadra|Quadras]] series used chipsets from [[VLSI Technology]], even though they were [[application-specific integrated circuit|ASIC]]s designed by Apple. After the switch to [[PowerPC]], Apple used various ASIC suppliers for their chipsets such as VLSI technology, [[Texas Instruments]], [[LSI Logic]] or [[Lucent Technologies]] (later known as [[Agere Systems]]). When Apple switched to Intel they used traditional PC chipsets.

In the 1980s, [[Chips and Technologies]] pioneered the manufacturing of chipsets for PC-compatible computers. Computer systems produced since then often share commonly used chipsets, even across widely disparate computing specialties. For example, the [[NCR 53C9x]], a low-cost chipset implementing a [[SCSI]] interface to storage devices, could be found in [[Unix]] machines such as the [[MIPS Magnum]], embedded devices, and personal computers.