Motherboard Chipsets – What do they do? Chipsets explained!

I had intended to do a movie detailing all of the features that motherboards have. I know they might be confusing, however I realized that some of those features require their own film before I can make that one. So here we are, discussing motherboard chipsets. What does it have to do with anything? Is a superior one capable of making your PC run faster? Let’s have a look at what we’ve got.

You may not give the motherboard chipset much thought, but it is the heart of your system.

So, what exactly is it?. The name “chip set” comes from the fact that it used to made up of two different chips. But in recent years, most chipsets have migrated to a single chip. However, this is a minor point. What you want to know is how the chipset you buy will affect your PC’s performance.

The truth is that the chipset is merely an information hub, like the motherboard as a whole. The chipset is primarily concerned with features rather than performance. So, here’s a rundown of what it determines: The USB generation that has supported. The number of USB ports available. The number of SATA ports available. PCI Express is the PCI version.

The amount of PCI configurations and the different types of PCI configurations. Configuration of RAM Various technologies, such as Intel Optane Memory, are supported. Support for overclocking is arguably the one thing that everyone who is somewhat tech savvy is aware of and cares about. So, if the chipset is so vital for your system, why does it get so little attention? After all, it is essentially the brain of your motherboard. All of the information in your system has to flow through it. And the answer is that it does not require any care.

The only thing you need to know is whether it enables overclocking, which is very straightforward. Intel chipsets Z and X do, while H and B chipsets do not.

The X and B chipsets for AMD Ryzen support overclocking, but the A chipset does not. For all other functions, you should check the motherboard rather than the chipset for one simple reason. The motherboard maker chooses which and how much of the chipset’s functionality to include on their board. The X299 chipset, for example, allows up to 10 USB 3.0 ports. But your motherboard may only have 6 or 8 of them. So, what’s the big deal about the chipset?

Does it have an impact on performance? At the very least, not directly! Can you continue to ignore everything but the overclocking support? Yes, but at the very least you now understand why.