How Do Platform Chipsets Affect the Capabilities of a Laptop or Desktop System?

Most consumers looking to pick out a computer have very little idea how to choose between similar systems. So long as the processor, graphics, and RAM are comparable to or surpass the computer you currently use, most shoppers consider themselves to be making an informed decision. However, as is the case with the latest Mac Pro announcement, consumers have to understand that there is more to computing performance than the processor. In this case, the processor may tell you how well a computer will be able to compute, but the chipset can reveal far more about real-world performance.

Your motherboard serves as the core of your build, the nervous system that determines which motherboard features will be utilised, the performance trade offs between different components and indeed which hardware upgrades will still be valid in 2 years time. Yet rarely is the motherboard discussed in advertisements and buyer’s guides.

Traffic Control for Your Entire System

The Chipset is part of the Motherboard and it allows the CPU to interact with other components. The CPU deals with calculations, the Chipset deals with everything else.

PC building can come down to a few simple decisions, like choosing a few gadgets to hook up, deciding how to allocate bandwidth between them, and figuring out if certain combinations are possible. At its core, it really just comes down to whether the motherboard can support your processor, regardless of how fast that processor is.

In reality modern chipsets are not the simple monolithic blocks of silicon they used to be. Inside the supposedly single silicon die you will find dozens of dedicated specialised controllers which directly affect the build of the system such as how many ports can be used at the same time. Further still you have controllers such as SATA which can limit the configuration of storage devices within a system. With the increasing prevalence of machines that have multiple PCIe slots, the PCIe controller plays a large role in determining how the available bandwidth is distributed between devices such as the graphics adapter, network cards and other expansion cards. In some cases this distribution can be altered by changing set priorities and hard limits.

When we previously tested two matched processors, one with a Z87 chipset and the other with a B85 chipset, the results showed significant divergence between the two platforms. While many may treat the differences between the two chipsets as relatively minor, the real world implications on the functioning of a PC as well as available features are substantial. In terms of power saving, security capabilities, and support for memory intensive applications, both processors behave differently.

Where Connectivity Hits Its Limits

But even before you start cable-tying your power supply and worry about cooling down your GPU, a budget build will expose you to the chipset’s limitations. An entry-level chipset won’t offer more than a handful of USB ports, will run out of PCIe slots before you’ve had a chance to add a second graphics card, or fail to support the high-speed video connections like DisplayPort or DVI-D that you’re used to. Step up to a higher-end chipset, on the other hand, and you can generally expect both an increase in bandwidth as well as support for a few more features.

One of the biggest design conundrums for a motherboard is the allocation of PCIe lanes. With most mainstream boards containing twenty eight PCIe lanes in total, there are often only enough room for a single wide graphics card, leaving those who use their machines to their fullest extent with limited space for storage, network cards, sound cards and more.

The math gets ugly fast.

Different Chipset Generations and market segments have their USB Solutions. Legacy designs share one bandwidth over several ports leading to bottlenecks as soon as several devices are in use. Recent designs assign one or multiple controllers to several port groups which significantly reduces bottlenecks but at the same time strongly increases costs.

The networking potential of your machine will depend on its chipset. Some chipsets incorporate a gigabit Ethernet controller on the motherboard itself, while others may need a separate network card (NIC) that robs you of some of your PCI Express slots. Wireless-ac and Bluetooth 4.0 may also be integrated to cut power draw, but this can limit your upgrade options down the line.

Storage Architecture Determines Performance

Another factor is the number of storage interfaces supported by the motherboard. Most people think about the number of SATA interfaces which is indicative of how many classic hard disk drives you can hook up. For those thinking about high-end storage servers filled with SSDs, however, this is often less important than support for PCI-Slot based storage solutions such as PCI-E SAS cards. In this article we will take a look at how well the Storm TST-EX-ATX motherboard can handle high-end storage servers.

Looking at the specs of a chipset is all well and good, but in the end what matters most is how a given chipset handles storage traffic. Some chipsets go the extra mile and incorporate features such as caching algorithms and storage support for the latest technologies. Other chipsets merely suffice to be considered as storage chips.

The Intel HM470 chipset is designed for business use and therefore supports hard RAID on chip, as opposed to regular consumer chips which support basic software RAID or no RAID at all. These server chops thus offer more reliability and performance than what you’d find in a normal desktop chipset.

Overclocking: Artificial Limitations by Design

Intel tries to keep selling you more hardware than you need by dividing the chipset market into separate segments. But in reality, the company only enables CPU overclocking on its more expensive chipsets — even though a lower-priced contender probably has enough excess silicon to grant you an oc kick.

AMD’s support for overclocking is geared more towards the mass market, with most chipsets supporting some degree of overclocking. In contrast, the platforms’ support for memory overclocking differs greatly. While some chipsets can easily support high speeds and complex timing figures that most users are unlikely to understand, other solutions are more rigidly limited and cannot be overclocked to their full potential.

Long-term Consequences of Poor Choices

Selecting a suitable chipset is important. There is no point selecting a poor chipset with the intention of upgrading in the future as it will only cause problems.

The first impressions are good, but once you need to upgrade things they break. No possibility to install a second graphics card, multiple fast drives can’t be attached and the main unit don’t support additional USB ports under heavy load. Also, the network connection can’t handle an excessive amount of connected devices and it becomes sluggish.

These limitations are permanent, and future updates to the BIOS or improved drivers will not change them. Before you buy a motherboard, it is recommended to learn about the chipset first. Although the processor gets more press, the real limitations or capabilities of your build revolve around the chipset of the motherboard.