Chapter 3. Server Chipsets

The story of modern servers is as much the story of specialized chipsets as it is the story of specialized processors and motherboards. The chipset is the motherboard; therefore, any two server boards with the same chipsets are functionally identical unless the vendor has added features to those provided by the chipset or removed support for certain chipset features.

Note

You will sometimes find server motherboards that use the same chipset but differ in their integrated features. Vendors might add additional chips to support additional features, such as a second 10Mbps Ethernet, 100Mbps Fast Ethernet, or 1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet port. A vendor might also choose not to support some optional features in a given chipset.