I'm a bit confused about what a single-chip microcomputer is. Specifically, what is the difference between a single-chip microcomputer and a multi-chip microcomputer? (Since chip is so informal, what exactly does it refer to?)
A single-chip microcomputer
chipset
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A motherboard is the complete printed circuit board (PCB) that holds all the other components. The CPU and any expansion cards plug into it, and it has the connections for ports such as USB and PS/2. If you look inside a desktop computer, it's about one square foot in size and should be the largest PCB in there.
All components of the computer are connected to the motherboard, either by
- being directly integrated into the PCB assembly,
- plugging physically into a slot or socket mounted on the PCB, or
- plugging into a cable connector or header pins mounted on the PCB.
The chipset usually refers to a particular set of components which are directly integrated to the motherboard. For specific details you should briefly read the Wikipedia article on chipsets, but usually the chipset consists of two chips, known as the northbridge and the southbridge. The northbridge is generally responsible for core system interconnects (memory, CPU) while the southbridge manages connections between other components such as PCI cards and USB devices.
In a more generic sense, chipset can also refer to a specific device controller chip that is (normally) connected to the PCI bus (ie the southbridge), depending on the context. For example, the SATA controller chip is sometimes referred to as the SATA chipset, whether it's integrated into the motherboard or on an add-on PCI(e) card. In the same way, one can talk about a RAID chipset or USB chipset or network chipset.
- Open the properties for your unknown device in Device Manager.
- Go to tab Details.
- Open Property:
Hardware Ids
- In Value, you'll see something like
USB\VID_8087&PID_0A2A&REV_0001
.
That's all the information needed to identify the device. In this example my HP EliteBook 820 has:
- Vendor Id:
VID_8087
= Intel PID_0A2A
= Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R)- Revision
REV_0001
Usually you can simply Google for the VID
+ PID
and get link to the driver download page. For the latest driver downloads always prefer the site from the chipset manufacturer.
Best Answer
Here are the main differences:
Single Chip
Single-chip computers are mainly of the form known as Microcontroller chips (the most commonly known are the PIC range by Microchip inc) and used in embedded devices. They provide much more basic functionality but are far simpler to work with as they don't require any external chips in order to function. Some attempts have been made to create single-chip computers of the style of Intel or AMD PC architectures, but due to the complexity of the components involved this has not been a very easy task. Again, these are generally used in low-end embedded systems, such as touch-pad devices and industrial control systems.
Multi-chip
Traditional computers are Multi-Chip. Some of the most recent processors (some of the i series from Intel) include the video GPU in the processor IC, but they still require external chips in order to interface with the rest of the computer (PCI bridge, etc)