AMD makes four chipsets for Athlon and Duron processors: the AMD-750 and AMD-760/MP/MPX.

AMD-750

AMD's first chipset for its own Slot A and Socket A processors, called the AMD-750, is a traditional North/South Bridge design specifically for the Athlon and Duron processors. The AMD-750 chipset consists of the AMD-751 North Bridge and the AMD-756 South Bridge.

The AMD-751 system controller connects between the AMD Athlon processor bus to the processor and features the memory controller, AGP 2x controller, and PCI bus controller. The AMD-756 South Bridge includes a PCI-to-ISA bridge, USB controller interface, and ATA 33/66 controller.

The AMD-750 chipset includes the following features:

• AMD Athlon 200MHz processor bus

• PCI 2.2 bus with up to six masters

• AGP 2x

• PC-100 SDRAM with ECC

• Up to 768MB of memory

• ACPI power management

• ATA-33/66 support

• USB controller

• ISA bus support

• Integrated 256-byte CMOS RAM with clock

• Integrated keyboard/mouse controller

AMD-760 Family

The AMD-760 chipset was introduced in October 2000 and is notable as the first chipset supporting DDR SDRAM memory. The AMD-760 chipset consists of the AMD-761 system controller (North Bridge) in a 569-pin plastic ball-grid array (PBGA) package and the AMD-766 peripheral bus controller (South Bridge) in a 272-pin PBGA package.

The AMD-761 North Bridge features the AMD Athlon system bus, DDR-SDRAM system memory controller with support for either PC1600 or PC2100 memory, AGP 4x controller, and PCI bus controller. The 761 allows for 200MHz or 266MHz processor bus operation and supports the newer Athlon chips that use the 266MHz processor (also called front-side) bus.

The AMD-766 South Bridge includes a USB controller, dual UDMA/100 ATA/IDE interfaces, and the LPC bus for interfacing newer Super I/O and ROM BIOS components.

The AMD-760 chipset includes the following features:

• AMD Athlon 200/266MHz processor bus

• Dual processor support

• PCI 2.2 bus with up to six masters

• AGP 2.0 interface that supports 4x mode

• PC1600 or PC2100 DDR SDRAM with ECC

• Support for a maximum of 2GB buffered or 4GB registered DDR SDRAM

• ACPI power management

• ATA-100 support

• USB controller

• LPC bus for Super I/O support

The AMD-760MP chipset, which uses the AMD-762 North Bridge chip, is a development of the basic AMD-760 design that supports dual-processor Athlon MP systems. It differs from the standard 760 chipset in the following ways:

• Supports dual AMD Athlon MP processors with 200/266MHz processor bus speeds

• Up to 4GB PC2100 DDR (registered modules)

• Supports 33MHz PCI slots in 32-bit and 64-bit widths

The AMD-760MPX chipset uses the same AMD-762 North Bridge chip as the AMD-760MP to support multiple Athlon MP processors, but it uses the AMD-768 peripheral bus controller (South Bridge) chip. It differs from the 760MP chipset in the following ways:

• The AMD-762 North Bridge chip is used to support two 66MHz 32/64-bit PCI slots.

• The AMD-768 South Bridge chip is used to support 33MHz/32-bit PCI slots.

The 760MPX chipset is a better choice for a server because of its support for 66MHz and 64-bit PCI slots, whereas the 760MP is a suitable choice for a workstation.

None of these chipsets support USB 2.0, ATA-133, or DDR333 or faster memory. If you buy an Athlon, a Duron, or an Athlon XP desktop system, it's far more likely that your system will contain a third-party chipset than an AMD chipset; however, the 760MP and 760MPX chipsets are popular choices for AMD-based workstations and servers. The following sections cover the third-party chipsets made for the Athlon, Duron, and Athlon XP processors.