I/O Controller Hub (ICH) is a family of
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
southbridge microchips used to manage
data communications
Data transmission and data reception or, more broadly, data communication or digital communications is the transfer and reception of data in the form of a digital bitstream or a digitized analog signal transmitted over a point-to-point or ...
between a
CPU and a
motherboard
A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...
, specifically Intel
chipset
In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components
An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are ...
s based on the
Intel Hub Architecture
Intel Hub Architecture (IHA), also known as Accelerated Hub Architecture (AHA) was Intel's architecture for the 8xx family of chipsets, starting in 1999 with the Intel 810. It uses a memory controller hub (MCH) that is connected to an I/O controll ...
. It is designed to be paired with a second support chip known as a
northbridge. As with any other southbridge, the ICH is used to connect and control peripheral devices.
As CPU speeds increased data transmission between the CPU and support chipset, the support chipset eventually emerged as a
bottleneck
Bottleneck literally refers to the narrowed portion (neck) of a bottle near its opening, which limit the rate of outflow, and may describe any object of a similar shape. The literal neck of a bottle was originally used to play what is now known as ...
between the processor and the
motherboard
A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...
. Accordingly, starting with the
Intel 5 Series
Intel 5 Series is a computing architecture introduced in 2008 that improves the efficiency and balances the use of communication channels in the motherboard. The architecture consists primarily of a central processing unit (CPU) (connected to the ...
, a new architecture was used that incorporated some functions of the traditional north and south bridge chips onto the CPU itself, with the remaining functions being consolidated into a single
Platform Controller Hub
The Platform Controller Hub (PCH) is a family of Intel's single-chip chipsets, first introduced in 2009. It is the successor to the Intel Hub Architecture, which used two chips - a Northbridge (computing), northbridge and Southbridge (computing), ...
(PCH). This replaces the traditional two chip setup.
ICH
![Asus P3C2000 - Intel FW82801AA-8642](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Asus_P3C2000_-_Intel_FW82801AA-8642.jpg)
The first version of the ICH was released in June 1999 along with the
Intel 810
The Intel 810 chipset was released by Intel in early 1999 with the code-name "Whitney" as a platform for the P6-based Socket 370 CPU series, including the Pentium III and Celeron processors. Some motherboard designs include Slot 1 for older Int ...
northbridge. While its predecessor, the
PIIX PCI IDE ISA Xcelerator (PIIX), also known as Intel 82371, is a family of Intel southbridge microchips employed in some Intel chipsets. x86 virtualization implementations often support emulations of various PIIX-based chipsets.
Versions PIIX
The ...
, was connected to the northbridge through an internal
PCI
PCI may refer to:
Business and economics
* Payment card industry, businesses associated with debit, credit, and other payment cards
** Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, a set of security requirements for credit card processors
* Pro ...
bus with a bandwidth of 133
MB/s, the ICH used a proprietary interface (called by Intel ''Hub Interface'') that linked it to the northbridge through an 8-
bit
The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represente ...
wide, 266 MB/s bus.
The Hub Interface was a point-to-point connection between different components on the motherboard. Another design decision was to substitute the rigid North-South axis on the motherboard with a star structure.
Note that, along with the ICH, Intel evolved other uses of the "Hub" terminology. Thus, the northbridge became the
Memory Controller Hub
In computing, a northbridge (also host bridge, or memory controller hub) is one of two chips comprising the core logic chipset architecture on a PC motherboard. A northbridge is connected directly to a CPU via the front-side bus (FSB) to han ...
(MCH) or if it had integrated graphics (e.g.,
Intel 810
The Intel 810 chipset was released by Intel in early 1999 with the code-name "Whitney" as a platform for the P6-based Socket 370 CPU series, including the Pentium III and Celeron processors. Some motherboard designs include Slot 1 for older Int ...
), the Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH).
Other ICH features include:
* PCI Rev 2.2 compliant with support for 33 MHz PCI operations.
*
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components, to perform power management (e.g. putting unused hardware components to sleep), auto c ...
(ACPI) Support
* Integrated
IDE controller for
Ultra ATA
Parallel ATA (PATA), originally , also known as IDE, is a standard interface designed for IBM PC-compatible computers. It was first developed by Western Digital and Compaq in 1986 for compatible hard drives and CD or DVD drives. The connectio ...
support
* Integrated
I/O APIC supporting 24 interrupt sources
*
System Management Bus The System Management Bus (abbreviated to SMBus or SMB) is a single-ended simple two-wire bus for the purpose of lightweight communication. Most commonly it is found in computer motherboards for communication with the power source for ON/OFF instru ...
(SMBus) with support for
I²C
I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit, ), alternatively known as I2C or IIC, is a synchronous, multi-controller/multi-target (master/slave), packet switched, single-ended, serial communication bus invented in 1982 by Philips Semiconductors. It is wide ...
devices
*
AC'97
AC'97 (''Audio Codec '97;'' also MC'97 for ''Modem Codec '97'') is an Sound reproduction, audio codec standard developed by Intel Architecture Labs in 1997. The standard was used in motherboards, modems, and sound cards.
The specification covers ...
2.1 Compliant Link
*
Low Pin Count
The Low Pin Count (LPC) bus is a computer bus used on IBM-compatible personal computers to connect low-bandwidth devices to the CPU, such as the BIOS ROM (BIOS ROM was moved to the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus in 2006), "legacy" I/O ...
(LPC) interface
The ICH came in two flavors:
*82801AA (ICH) - Ultra ATA/66 support, 6 PCI slots,
Alert on LAN Alert on LAN (AOL, sometimes AoL) is a 1998, IBM- and Intel-developed technology that allows for remote management and control of networked PCs. AOL requires a Wake on LAN adapter.
Technical details
The main idea of AOL is to send warnings to ...
support
*82801AB (ICH0) - Ultra ATA/33 support, 4 PCI slots, no Alert on LAN
ICH2
![Intel ICH2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Intel_ICH2.jpg)
In early 2000 Intel had suffered a significant setback with the i820 northbridge. Customers were not willing to pay the high prices for
RDRAM
Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), and its successors Concurrent Rambus DRAM (CRDRAM) and Direct Rambus DRAM (DRDRAM), are types of synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) developed by Rambus from the 1990s through to the early 2000s. The third-generati ...
and either bought i810 or i440BX motherboards or changed to the competition. The hastily developed 82815 northbridge, which supported PC-133 SDRAM, became Intel's method to recover in the middle range segment.
The ICH1 or the new ICH2 (360 pins) could be placed to the side of the 82815. An ICH2 could also be used with Intel's 82850 chipset, which, like the 82820 before it, required the use of RDRAM and supported the Pentium 4 CPU. For the first time a
Fast Ethernet
In computer networking, Fast Ethernet physical layers carry traffic at the nominal rate of 100 Mbit/s. The prior Ethernet speed was 10 Mbit/s. Of the Fast Ethernet physical layers, 100BASE-TX is by far the most common.
Fast Ethern ...
chip (82559) was integrated into the southbridge, depending upon an external PHY chip.
The
PATA
Pata or PATA may refer to:
Places
* Pata, Sulu, a Philippine municipality
* Pata, Galanta District, a village in Slovakia
* Pata, Central African Republic, a village
* Pata village (Samoa), a village in Samoa
* Pontrilas Army Training Area, a ...
interface was accelerated to ATA/100 and the number of
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...
connections was doubled to four. The integrated AC'97 sound controller gained support for up to six channel sound.
There was also a mobile variant called the ICH2-M.
The following variants existed:
*82801BA (ICH2)
*82801BAM (ICH2-M) Mobile
ICH3
![Intel ICH3M](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Intel_ICH3M.jpg)
In 2001, Intel delivered ICH3, which was available in two versions: the server version, ICH3-S, running with the E7501 Northbridge, and the mobile version, ICH3-M, which worked with the i830 and i845 northbridges. There is no version for desktop motherboards.
In comparison with the ICH2, the changes were limited: "Native Mode" support in the PATA Controller; up to six USB-1.1 devices;
SMBus The System Management Bus (abbreviated to SMBus or SMB) is a single-ended simple two-wire bus for the purpose of lightweight communication. Most commonly it is found in computer motherboards for communication with the power source for ON/OFF instru ...
2.0; and the newest SpeedStep version, which allowed power-saving devices to be switched off during operation. The chip had 421 pins.
This has the following variants:
82801CA(ICH3-S) Server
*82801CAM (ICH3-M) Mobile
ICH4
![Intel FW82801DB](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Intel_FW82801DB.JPG)
The ICH4 was Intel's southbridge for the year 2002. The most important innovation was the support of USB 2.0 on all six ports. Sound support was improved and corresponded the newest AC'97 specification, version 2.3. Like the preceding generation, the ICH4 had 421 pins.
This has the following variants:
82801DB(ICH4) Base
82801DBM(ICH4-M) Base Mobile
ICH5
![Intel-82801EB](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Intel-82801EB.jpg)
In 2003, and in conjunction with the i865 and i875 northbridges, the ICH5 was created. A
SATA
SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier Parallel ATA (PATA) standard to ...
host controller was integrated. The ICH5R variant additionally supported
RAID
Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to:
Attack
* Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground
* Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business
* Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...
0 on SATA ports. Eight USB-2.0 ports were available. The chip had full support for
ACPI
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components, to perform power management (e.g. putting unused hardware components to sleep), auto c ...
2.0. It had 460 pins.
Since 1999 the 266 MB/s hub interface was assumed to be a bottleneck. In the new chip generation, Intel therefore offered an optional port for a Gigabit Ethernet Controller directly attached to the MCH.
The goal of this
CSA
CSA may refer to:
Arts and media
* Canadian Screen Awards, annual awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television
* Commission on Superhuman Activities, a fictional American government agency in Marvel Comics
* Crime Syndicate of Amer ...
technology was to reduce the latencies for Gigabit LAN by direct memory access and to free up bandwidth on the Hub interface between ICH and MCH for non removable disk and PCI data traffic.
Since mid-2004, the large motherboard manufacturers noticed an increased complaint ratio with motherboards equipped with ICH5. A cause was the insufficient
ESD tolerance of certain ICH5 steppings.
In particular, when connecting USB devices via front panels, the chips died by discharges of static electricity. Intel reacted to the problem by shipping ICH5 with increased ESD tolerance. Effective ESD preventive measures on USB ports are difficult and costly, since they can impair the quality of the USB-2.0 high-speed signals. Many motherboard manufacturers had omitted the necessary high-quality safety devices for front panel connectors for cost reasons.
This has the following variants:
*82801E (C-ICH) Communications
82801EB(ICH5) Base
82801ER(ICH5R) RAID
*82801EBM (ICH5-M) Base Mobile
6300ESB(ESB) Enterprise Southbridge
ICH6
![KL Intel FW82801FBM Southbridge ES](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/KL_Intel_FW82801FBM_Southbridge_ES.jpg)
ICH6 was Intel's first
PCI Express
PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common ...
southbridge. It made four PCI Express ×1 ports available. Faster ×16-Ports were accommodated in the MCH. The bottleneck Hub interface was replaced by a new
Direct Media Interface
In computing, Direct Media Interface (DMI) is Intel's proprietary link between the northbridge and southbridge on a computer motherboard. It was first used between the 9xx chipsets and the ICH6, released in 2004. Previous Intel chipsets had us ...
(in reality a PCI Express ×4 link) with 1
GB/s of bandwidth per direction. Support for
Intel High Definition Audio
Intel High Definition Audio (IHDA) (also called HD Audio or development codename Azalia) is a specification for the audio sub-system of personal computers. It was released by Intel in 2004 as the successor to their AC'97 PC audio standard.
Featur ...
was included. In addition,
AC'97
AC'97 (''Audio Codec '97;'' also MC'97 for ''Modem Codec '97'') is an Sound reproduction, audio codec standard developed by Intel Architecture Labs in 1997. The standard was used in motherboards, modems, and sound cards.
The specification covers ...
and the classical PCI 2.3 were still supported.
Two additional SATA ports were added, and one PATA channel was removed. The ICH6R variant supported RAID modes 0, 1, 0+1 and the Intel specific "Matrix RAID".
ICH6R and ICH6-M implemented
AHCI
The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the register-level interface of Serial ATA (SATA) host controllers in a non-implementation-specific manner in its motherboard chipsets.
The ...
SATA controllers for the first time. The chips had 652 pins. Originally Intel had planned to bring two further variants under the names ICH6W and ICH6RW to the market, which should contain a software Access Point for a
Wireless LAN
A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network
A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes.
Wireless networking is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and bus ...
. These chips are published.
This has the following variants:
82801FB(ICH6) Base
82801FR(ICH6R) RAID
82801FBM(ICH6M) Base Mobile
6311ESB(ESB2) Enterprise Southbridge
6321ESB(ESB2) Enterprise Southbridge with integrated LAN for embedded
ICH7
![Asus P5PL2 - Intel NH82801GB - SL8FX-93719](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Asus_P5PL2_-_Intel_NH82801GB_-_SL8FX-93719.jpg)
The ICH7 started to ship in mid-2005 together with Intel's new high-end MCH, the i955X. Two additional PCI express ×1-Ports, a SATA 2.0 Controller for up to 300 MB/s data transmission rate (the mobile version has this capability disabled), as well as support for Intel's "Active Management Technology" were added. Only the ICH7DH, ICH7R, ICH7-M, ICH7-M DH chip have AHCI support. The ICH7 (Base) and ICH7-U (Ultra-mobile) chip do not support AHCI.
The ICH7R additionally supports RAID 5.
This has the following variants:
82801GB(ICH7) Base
82801GR(ICH7R) RAID
82801GDH(ICH7DH) Digital Home
82801GBM(ICH7M) Mobile
82801GHM(ICH7M DH) Mobile Digital Home
*PC82801GU (ICH7-U) Ultra-mobile
ICH8
![Intel NH82801HBM SLB9A Southbridge-2408](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Intel_NH82801HBM_SLB9A_Southbridge-2408.jpg)
ICH8 is offered in several different versions and is the complement to the 965 class MCH chips. The non-mobile ICH8 does not have a traditional PATA interface, and just one AC'97. In practice, most baseboard manufacturers still offered PATA appropriate connection types using additional chips from manufacturers such as
JMicron
JMicron Technology Corporation () is a Taiwanese fabless technology design house based in Hsinchu, Taiwan. As a manufacturer of integrated circuits, they produce controller chips for bridge devices.
History
2001-2007
The company was founded in S ...
or
Marvell.
The ICH8 was the first ICH model to control
eSATA
SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier Parallel ATA (PATA) standard t ...
and Gigabit Ethernet, which were previously accommodated in the MCH. The base version only includes four SATA 2.0 ports.
The ICH8R (RAID) and above chips support six SATA devices. Additionally the ICH8DH (Digital Home) has Quick Resume and can be used together with the P965 and/or G965 in
Intel Viiv
Viiv (stylized as V//V) was a platform initiative from Intel similar to Intel's Centrino and vPro. Initially (through release 1.7), it was a collection of computer technologies with a particular combination of Intel ingredients to support a "med ...
-certified systems.
The counterpart to the ICH8DO (Digital Office) is the Q965 MCH, which together provide
Intel vPro
Intel vPro technology is an umbrella marketing term used by Intel for a large collection of computer hardware technologies, including VT-x, VT-d, Trusted Execution Technology (TXT), and Intel Active Management Technology (AMT). When the vPro ...
compatibility.
This has the following variants:
82801HB(ICH8) Base
82801HR(ICH8R) RAID
82801HH(ICH8DH) Digital Home
82801HO(ICH8DO) Digital Office
82801HM(ICH8M) Mobile
82801HBM(ICH8BM) Base Mobile
82801HEM(ICH8EM) Enhanced Mobile
ICH9
![Intel AF82801IBM SLB8Q Southbridge-3593](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Intel_AF82801IBM_SLB8Q_Southbridge-3593.jpg)
The ICH9 came out in May 2007 in the
P35 (Bearlake) chipset. It removes all PATA support. In practice, many motherboard manufacturers continue providing PATA support using third-party chips. Officially only the ICH9R, ICH9DH, ICH9DO chip have AHCI support.
This part has the following variants:
82801IB(ICH9) Base officially has neither
AHCI
The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the register-level interface of Serial ATA (SATA) host controllers in a non-implementation-specific manner in its motherboard chipsets.
The ...
or
RAID
Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to:
Attack
* Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground
* Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business
* Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...
support, but with a simple BIOS mod can add support for AHCI.
82801IR(ICH9R) RAID with
AHCI
The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the register-level interface of Serial ATA (SATA) host controllers in a non-implementation-specific manner in its motherboard chipsets.
The ...
and
RAID
Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to:
Attack
* Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground
* Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business
* Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...
Support
82801IH(ICH9DH) Digital Home with
AHCI
The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the register-level interface of Serial ATA (SATA) host controllers in a non-implementation-specific manner in its motherboard chipsets.
The ...
and no
RAID
Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to:
Attack
* Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground
* Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business
* Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...
Support
82801IO(ICH9DO) Digital Office with
AHCI
The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the register-level interface of Serial ATA (SATA) host controllers in a non-implementation-specific manner in its motherboard chipsets.
The ...
and
RAID
Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to:
Attack
* Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground
* Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business
* Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...
Support
82801IBM(ICH9M) Base Mobile
82801IEM(ICH9EM) Enhanced Mobile
82801IUX(ICH9M-SFF) Ultra Mobile
ICH10
Intel launched the ICH10 southbridge in June 2008 with the
P45 (Eaglelake) chipset.
ICH10 implements the 1GB/s bidirectional
DMI interface to the "northbridge" device. It supports various interfaces to "low-speed" peripherals, and it supports a suite of housekeeping functions.
ICH10 also offers reduced load on CPU and decreased power consumption.
ICH10 does not offer direct PATA or LPT support. Notably there is support of 'hot-swap' functionality.
The RAID variant also supports a new technology called “
Turbo Memory”. This allows the use of flash memory on a motherboard for fast caching.
Peripheral support includes:
*Six PCIe version 1.1 ports, which can be configured as either 2 + (4 ×1) or 2 + (1 ×4).
*PCI bus
*Six SATA 3 Gbit/s ports in either legacy IDE or AHCI mode. Can support external eSATA
*
Intel High Definition Audio
Intel High Definition Audio (IHDA) (also called HD Audio or development codename Azalia) is a specification for the audio sub-system of personal computers. It was released by Intel in 2004 as the successor to their AC'97 PC audio standard.
Featur ...
*Integrated gigabit LAN.
*Two
EHCI host controllers (which support up to twelve USB 2.0 connections) with companion
UHCI controllers to handle low-speed and full-speed USB devices
This part has the following variants:
82801JB(ICH10) Base
82801JR(ICH10R) RAID
82801JH(ICH10D) Digital Home
82801JO(ICH10DO) Digital Office
PCH architecture
As CPU speeds increased, a
bottleneck
Bottleneck literally refers to the narrowed portion (neck) of a bottle near its opening, which limit the rate of outflow, and may describe any object of a similar shape. The literal neck of a bottle was originally used to play what is now known as ...
eventually emerged between the processor and the
motherboard
A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...
, due to limitations caused by data transmission between the CPU and southbridge. Accordingly, starting with the
Intel 5 Series
Intel 5 Series is a computing architecture introduced in 2008 that improves the efficiency and balances the use of communication channels in the motherboard. The architecture consists primarily of a central processing unit (CPU) (connected to the ...
, a new architecture was used where some functions of the north and south bridge chips were moved to the CPU, and others were consolidated into a
Platform Controller Hub
The Platform Controller Hub (PCH) is a family of Intel's single-chip chipsets, first introduced in 2009. It is the successor to the Intel Hub Architecture, which used two chips - a Northbridge (computing), northbridge and Southbridge (computing), ...
(PCH).
* Some northbridge functions, including the memory controller, the integrated GPU (
Intel HD Graphics
Intel Graphics Technology (GT) is the collective name for a series of integrated graphics processors (IGPs) produced by Intel that are manufactured on the same package or die as the central processing unit (CPU). It was first introduced in 2010 ...
), the graphics card interface (
PCIe
PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common mo ...
x16), were integrated into the CPU, while the PCH took over the remaining functions in addition to the traditional roles of the
southbridge. The northbridge was therefore eliminated.
* Other northbridge functions and all southbridge functions were migrated to a new
Platform Controller Hub
The Platform Controller Hub (PCH) is a family of Intel's single-chip chipsets, first introduced in 2009. It is the successor to the Intel Hub Architecture, which used two chips - a Northbridge (computing), northbridge and Southbridge (computing), ...
. These included clocking (the
system clock),
Flexible Display Interface (FDI) and
Direct Media Interface
In computing, Direct Media Interface (DMI) is Intel's proprietary link between the northbridge and southbridge on a computer motherboard. It was first used between the 9xx chipsets and the ICH6, released in 2004. Previous Intel chipsets had us ...
(DMI). The FDI is only used when the chipset requires supporting a CPU with integrated graphics.
See also
*
List of Intel chipsets
This article provides a list of motherboard chipsets made by Intel, divided into three main categories: those that use the PCI bus for interconnection (the 4xx series), those that connect using specialized "hub links" (the 8xx series), and those ...
*
Platform Controller Hub
The Platform Controller Hub (PCH) is a family of Intel's single-chip chipsets, first introduced in 2009. It is the successor to the Intel Hub Architecture, which used two chips - a Northbridge (computing), northbridge and Southbridge (computing), ...
(PCH)
*
System Controller Hub
System Controller Hub (SCH) is a family of Intel microchips employed in chipsets for low-power Atom-based platforms. Its architecture is consistent with the Intel Hub Architecture but combines the traditional northbridge and southbridge function ...
(SCH)
*
PCI IDE ISA Xcelerator PCI IDE ISA Xcelerator (PIIX), also known as Intel 82371, is a family of Intel southbridge microchips employed in some Intel chipsets. x86 virtualization implementations often support emulations of various PIIX-based chipsets.
Versions PIIX
The ...
(PIIX)
*
Northbridge (computing)
In computing, a northbridge (also host bridge, or memory controller hub) is one of two chips comprising the core logic chipset architecture on a PC motherboard. A northbridge is connected directly to a CPU via the front-side bus (FSB) to hand ...
*
Southbridge (computing)
The southbridge is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a personal computer (PC) motherboard, the other being the northbridge. The southbridge typically implements the slower capabilities of the motherboard in a northbridge/southbr ...
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:I O Controller Hub
Intel products
Intel chipsets