Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
AMD Athlon 64 Chipsets
The Athlon 64 processor required a new generation of chipsets, both to support its 64-bit
processor architecture and to allow for integration of the memory controller into the pro-
cessor. (The memory controller has traditionally been located in the North Bridge chip or
equivalent.) As a consequence, some vendors do not use the term
North Bridge
to refer to
the chipset component that connects the processor to AGP video.
AMD 8000 (8151) Chipset
The AMD 8000 is AMD's first chipset designed for the Athlon 64 and Opteron families.
ItsarchitectureissubstantiallydifferentfromtheNorthBridge/SouthBridgeorhub-based
architectures we are familiar with from the chipsets designed to support Pentium II/III/4/
Celeron and AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron processors.
