Recommended chipsets for motherboardsSafeBytes Software

If you’re reading this, you’re using a computer. And you probably use that computer daily, or at least several times per week. And yes, this includes both desktop and laptop machines, smartphones and tablets and even video game consoles. All of them are, technically speaking, computers.

If we take that as a fact, we can see that computers have become quite a presence in our lives, allowing us to:

·         Use productivity suites to increase our workflow·         Monitor and manage our finances·         Create art and designs with ease·         Coordinate businesses in several ways, from logistics to break time monitoring.·         Entertain ourselves with audio and video on demand, as well as video games.·         Communicate with each other across the globe·         Socialize with our peers via social media

And the list could go on, with some well-known applications and some more obscure ones. The point being that no matter what walk of life we might come from, or what our jobs or interests might be, in 2016 and beyond we all have one thing in common: computers making our lives easier.

There is a catch to all this, however. We use computers of all kinds more and more each day, but few of us actually has taken or will take the time to actually learn how these machines work and what they are made of. Sure, some people might pick up things here and there by mere virtue of proximity, learning about what RAM means and what a CPU does in the grand scheme of things.

But how many of those people might realize that there are different RAM speeds to take into account? Or that a CPU is actually a collection of several separate parts that work in unison?

In the interest of furthering computer literacy, for the rest of this article we will be going over chipsets for motherboards. What they do, what they are and which ones are recommended.First, let’s define what a chipset is:

·         a chipset is a set of electronic components in an integrated circuit that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals.Simple and easy. But here comes the complicated part: the chipset defines the types and limits of most connections between the CPU and the machine’s peripherals, which makes the chipset one of the most important considerations when thinking about buying a Motherboard.

A chipset is basically composed of two “sides”:·         The northbridge. Connected directly to the CPU via the FSB (Front Side Bus). This makes the northbridge directly responsible for the more resource heavy and demanding tasks that require the highest performance.·         The southbridge. Not directly connected to the CPU, the southbridge handles some of the less demanding tasks of the chipset, such as Input/output or USB related tasks.

As you can see, the chipsets are incredibly important, since they truly do pretty much all of the “thinking” of the machine, from reading our inputs and outputting results of the tasks assigned to it, to the actual heavy lifting of performing the tasks themselves via the CPU.

There’s also something incredibly important that you need to know about chipsets and motherboards: chipsets are usually designed to work with a very specific family of microprocessors. This means that you need to buy your motherboard and processor to be 100% compatible with one another, otherwise you will end up with useless parts.

Seeing as there are two main manufacturers of processors, it stands to reason that most motherboards have chipsets that align with either of these manufacturers:

·         Intel. The leading brand when it comes to processors, Intel has several incredibly high end chipsets on the market at the moment, but be aware that some of these will see your wallet take one on the chin. The absolute highest of high end are the X series chipsets, which are for their “Extreme” series processors such as the 5960X; both of those work exclusively with one another, so keep that in mind.After this, the Z series are the absolute top of the line consumer options, being feature rich and compatible with all of the high-end Intel processors. These still cost a pretty penny.·         AMD. AMD’s line of chipsets has long been known as reliable and fast, but not quite as good as Intel’s. They are also known for being more affordable than their direct competitor’s offerings. The latest and greatest set of chipsets to come from them is the 9-series chipsets. Starting from the 970 up to the 990 FX, these chipsets support a great many features: from support for premium graphics cards to multiple RAID configuration support.

Of course, these are just the highest end offerings from both manufacturers, and there are many less expensive (but also less feature rich) alternatives from both of them. As always, a little bit of google searching yields a lot of results and a wealth of knowledge.

On a final note, why not give SafeBytes DriverAssist a try? With this handy lightweight program, you get all the benefits of always having your drivers completely up to date, without the hassle of actually having to do it yourself!

Here are some of DriverAssists features:

·         Automatic Driver Installation. You have no need to do anything else with DriverAssist other than install it onto your PC; the sophisticated software does all the work for you.·         Massive driver database always ensures you can identify hardware, even when Windows can’t!·         Smart Driver ID. The DriverAssist software is based on sophisticated technology that automatically detects all of the appropriate PC drivers in a matter of seconds. It will then match them with the latest available version, and update every driver required by your system with a compatible version on a regular basis.·         Full driver back-up and restore. DriverAssist helps you backup all of your data and restore your machine to the time when it was previously working if you encounter any problems.

·         Enhanced USB management. DriverAssist also helps you manage USB devices. There is no need to worry about safely removing hardware with DriverAssist, as it makes the ejecting process and safely removing hardware from your PC extremely straightforward.·         24/7 customer support. SafeBytes is on call 24/7 to assist you with any problems that you might encounter.