Search 120,491 Tips
Motherboards & CPUs
Motherboard Bridges
Read this tip to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Motherboards & CPUs and other PC topics.
What are motherboard bridges?
Motherboard Bridges
When shopping for a new motherboard, you might hear the phrase, “motherboard bridges”. A motherboard bridge is just an arbitrary way of dividing the motherboard into two components. The North Bridge of the motherboard is more concerned with speed such as the CPU, and are all the motherboard components attached north of the PCI bus. The South Bridge, or anything south of the PCI bus of the motherboard deals mostly with slower connects such as the IDE (hard drive) and USB.
