Chipset and controllers

A controller is simply a circuit that controls a process. The chipset is a combination of controllers placed on the same piece of silicon.

The chipset manages the data flow between the different components that comprise the motherboard: processor, Memory, harddisk and peripherals.

Buses run in and out of the chipset into these key motherboard components. The main chipset is a kind of junction that sits between the memory and CPU through which the system bus passes.

The chipset is sometimes called the “glue” or “traffic controller” of the motherboard or an intelligent intersection of buses.