I) WHAT IS THE MOTHERBOARD "CHIPSET"?:
Every PC motherboard has a set of circuits that allows the Intel Pentium (or
compatible) central processor unit ("CPU") to communicate with the various
other subsystems of the PC. In other words, this set of circuits controls how
the CPU "talks" to all the other hardware in the system, such as the hard
drive controllers, PCI bus, memory bus, video subsystem, USB controller, etc.
These vitally important control circuits are collectively referred to as the
"core logic chipset" or simply the "chipset."
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II) WHY YOU SHOULD CARE:
We've found that as new processors and their supporting chipsets are brought
to market, new compatibility issues are inevitably introduced along with them.
We recommend that you know what chipset you have, and that you install the
most up to date drivers for your motherboard's chipset and related controllers
(such as the IDE and USB controllers, PCI Bridge, PCI Bus, graphics bus and
CPU to PCI Bridge).
If you have a brand new system and one of your peripherals doesn't seem to
work right, you can often get it working again by downloading and installing
the latest drivers for that peripheral. You may also need to download and
install the latest drivers for your motherboard's chipset, especially if the
chipset is a very recent type, or one not made by Intel.
To maintain compatibility of our products with the latest processors, chipsets
and operating systems, our engineers are constantly testing and writing new
drivers for our products. We make these updated drivers available for download
from the Knowledge Base/Downloads section of this website
(http://support.turtlebeach.com).
For the latest drivers for your motherboard's chipset, please contact the
manufacturer of your motherboard or PC system. The latest drivers are usually
available for download from the manufacturer's website.
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III) HOW TO TELL WHAT CHIPSET YOU HAVE
The easiest way to identify the chipset on your motherboard is to look in the
Windows Device Manager:
1. Open the Device Manager
2. Double-click the System devices icon.
3. The processor to PCI Bridge will be identified with the name of the name
of the chipset (e.g. Intel(R) 82443BX Pentium II Processor to PCI Bridge =
Intel 440BX chipset, while sometimes you'll see a very clear
identification, such as Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family).
4. The IDE Controller's name will also give you a good clue as to the identity
of the chipset on the motherboard. Double-click on the Hard disk
controllers icon.
- Intel 82371xx PCI Busmaster IDE Controller = Intel chipset
- VIA Busmaster IDE Controller = VIA chipset
- SiS 7001 IDE Controller = SiS chipset
and so on...
If you see names like "Standard PCI Bridge" or "Standard PCI IDE
Controller" then you probably have a chipset that needs to have its
drivers updated.
If you have entries in the Unknown Devices category in Device Manager,
these are devices that are not properly installed.
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IV)
CHIPSETS FOR INTEL PENTIUM SERIES
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Intel, as you probably know, is the original maker of the "x86" family of
central processing units ("CPU"), which includes the familiar Pentium and
Celeron processors.
Here is a short list of Pentium class CPUs and their corresponding Intel
chipsets:
CPU type Supporting Chipset(s)
-------- --------------------
Pentium 4, Pentium D, Intel i915, i925, i945, i965,
Celeron, Celeron D, etc. etc., NVIDIA nForce4 for Intel
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V)
AMD ATHLON
----------
American Micro Devices makes a Windows-compatible processor that works well
and has become very popular. Intel chipsets do not support the AMD "Athlon"
processors, but there are plenty of chipset manufacturers who do.
Here is a list of AMD Athlon class CPUs and some of their corresponding
chipsets:
CPU type Supporting Chipset(s)
-------- --------------------
Athlon, Athlon 64, Sempron nForce3, nForce4, etc.
VIA K8T800, etc.
SiS 7001
(there are others...)
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There are more, but this should give you an idea of the diversity of core
logic chipsets in existence, and why you should make sure to install all
pertinent updates for the one in your system.
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