What is the differences between the southbridge and the northbridge?
The north and south bridge refer to the data channels to the
CPU. The memory goes to CPU using the north bridge. And the mouse,
keyboard, CD ROM, HDD, ext data flows to the CPU using the
southbridge.
The northbridge is the portion of the chipset HUB that connects
faster I/O buses (for example, an AGP bus) to the system bus.
Northbridge chip tends to be larger than the southbridge chip. The
southbridge is the HUB that connects to slower I/O buses (for
example, an ISA bus) to the system bus.
The Northbridge and the Southbridge are known as the chipset on
the motherboard. These set of chips collectively control the memory
cache, external bus, and some peripherals. There is a fast end of
the hub, and there is a slow end of the hub. The fast end of the
hub is the Northbridge, containing the graphics and memory
controller connecting to the system bus. The slower end of the hub
is the Southbridge, containing the I/O controller hub.