What are North and South Bridges?

[Guest]

I'm new to PC building and I don't want to get anything wrong.

I'm looking into motherboards, and I recently noticed a section called North Bridge.
I looked it up, and found out there was also a south bridge.

So, I am wondering what are north and south bridges, and why are they important in motherboards?

 

[Novuake]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southbridge_(computing)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northbridge_(computing)

Boils down to, North Bridge is a chipset that controls IMPORTANT low latency stuff, like the CPU/PCI-e.
South Bridge controls lower priority stuff like storage (IDE/USB).

Recently the North bridge has moved on to the CPU itself. Sine all boards and CPU have this built in, you do not need to worry about them when building a PC.

 

[Guest]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southbridge_(computing)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northbridge_(computing)

Boils down to, North Bridge is a chipset that controls IMPORTANT low latency stuff, like the CPU/PCI-e.
South Bridge controls lower priority stuff like storage (IDE/USB).

Recently the North bridge has moved on to the CPU itself. Sine all boards and CPU have this built in, you do not need to worry about them when building a PC.

Now I understand North Bridge and South Bridge, but now, looking in the motherboards, there is a "narrowing section" listing different types of north bridges; do i have to choose one or do i not have to worry, like you said?

 

[Novuake]

Well you need to be worrying about chipsets, like Z87 or 990FX.
Really depends on what your budget is and what you plan on doing with the build, like overclocking or multiple graphics card compatibility is determined by the CHIPSET.

 

[Guest]

Well you need to be worrying about chipsets, like Z87 or 990FX.
Really depends on what your budget is and what you plan on doing with the build, like overclocking or multiple graphics card compatibility is determined by the CHIPSET.

I am a complete noob at PCs.
What are chipsets?

 

[Novuake]

Chipsets(in this context) are effectively North Bridge controllers. Different chipsets enable different functions on a motherboard and CPU combination.

 

[Guest]

Chipsets(in this context) are effectively North Bridge controllers. Different chipsets enable different functions on a motherboard and CPU combination.

To make it simple, can you see if these components are compatible? Can you also give me recommendations if they are not compatible?

Here it is:
1. AMD FX-4350 Vishera 4.2GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
2. ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
3. Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (Yellow Heat Spreader) Model TLYD38G1600HC9DC01
4. Seagate ST310005N1A1AS-RK 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
5. CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
6. SilverStone Redline Series RL04B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
7. Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (OEM) System Builder DVD 1 Pack
8. EVGA 01G-P3-1561-RX GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
9. ASUS Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E818AAT
10. Rosewill RDCR-11004 5.25" Internal Card Reader w/ USB3.0
11. Edimax EW-7822UAC Wireless AC1200 Dual-band USB 3.0 Adapter,
12. (2) COOLER MASTER R4-L2R-20AC-GP 120mm Blue LED Case cooler

 

[Novuake]

Simply put, they are compatible, where are you purchasing? Site?
What is your budget?

 

[Guest]

Simply put, they are compatible, where are you purchasing? Site?
What is your budget?

Newegg.com,
$800 s my budget

 

[Novuake]

This is what you should be getting with a 800$ budget.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1eJaM
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1eJaM/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1eJaM/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($117.98 @ Outlet PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.39 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN751ND 802.11b/g/n PCI Wi-Fi Adapter ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone Redline Series RL04B ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $804.25
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-09 01:35 EDT-0400)

 

[Guest]

This is what you should be getting with a 800$ budget.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1eJaM
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1eJaM/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1eJaM/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($117.98 @ Outlet PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.39 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN751ND 802.11b/g/n PCI Wi-Fi Adapter ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone Redline Series RL04B ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $804.25
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-09 01:35 EDT-0400)

I don't think I'll be getting EVERYTHING on that list, but I will definitely change the processor, motherboard, optical drive, and RAM

 

[Novuake]

I don't think I'll be getting EVERYTHING on that list, but I will definitely change the processor, motherboard, optical drive, and RAM

Well the GTX560ti you have chosen is old an slow. So definitely change that too on a 800$ build.

 

[Guest]

I don't think I'll be getting EVERYTHING on that list, but I will definitely change the processor, motherboard, optical drive, and RAM

Well the GTX560ti you have chosen is old an slow. So definitely change that too on a 800$ build.

Dang. Every time I find a seemingly good EVGA graphics card it turns out to be old.

 

[Guest]

I don't think I'll be getting EVERYTHING on that list, but I will definitely change the processor, motherboard, optical drive, and RAM

Well the GTX560ti you have chosen is old an slow. So definitely change that too on a 800$ build.

definitely changing the graphics card

 

[Novuake]

I don't think I'll be getting EVERYTHING on that list, but I will definitely change the processor, motherboard, optical drive, and RAM

Well the GTX560ti you have chosen is old an slow. So definitely change that too on a 800$ build.

definitely changing the graphics card

LOL good. If you are gaming at 1080p, minimum suggested is GTX650ti BOOST 2GB. But the GTX760 is worth every penny of its low 250$ cost.

 

[Guest]

I don't think I'll be getting EVERYTHING on that list, but I will definitely change the processor, motherboard, optical drive, and RAM

Well the GTX560ti you have chosen is old an slow. So definitely change that too on a 800$ build.

definitely changing the graphics card

LOL good. If you are gaming at 1080p, minimum suggested is GTX650ti BOOST 2GB. But the GTX760 is worth every penny of its low 250$ cost.

I honestly don't plan on investing $200 on a graphics card, but here is a graphics card i found for $160, would this be good too? ->NVIDIA® Quadro® K600 VCQK600-PB 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Low Profile Workstation Video Card

 

[Novuake]

No, that is NOT a gaming card. Its meant for workstations.
As a rule of thumb you should be spending twice or more of the price of your CPU on a graphics card.

If you want a decent card for that little, get this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127730
Or if you like EVGA , this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130909