Chapter 6. Chipsets
Buy a microprocessor, and it's just an inert lump that sits in its static-free box, super-powered silicon with extreme potential but no motivation. It's sort of like a Hollywood hunk proto-star before he takes acting classes. Even out of the box, the most powerful microprocessor is hardly impressive—or effective. It can't do anything on its own. Although it serves as the centerpiece of a computer, it is not the computer itself. It needs help.
The electronics inside a personal computer that flesh out its circuitry and make it work are called support circuits. At one time, support circuits made up everything in a computer except for the microprocessor. Today, most of the support functions needed to make a computer work take ...
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