Ultimate Noob Question
 

Hey, I'm a little embarassed by how stupid this question is but here goes. I'm building a computer and found this mother board, "Biostar M7NCG 400 nForce2 Socket A Motherboard" that I'll be using. According to this site, http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...sp?EdpNo=21952 this has an NVIDIA nForce2 chipset. Now I'm pretty sure almost positive that the chipset is simply an onboard video card, but I'd like to be sure (my thinking is that it is under the orange thing with pins [heatsink] in the middle of the board). THanks for the help.

The nForce2 chipset is more than video, but yes, that motherboard has built-in video. Don't expect stellar performance but it's fine for general work.

I have one of those boards running with an Athlon XP. It overclocked fairly well as I recall though I haven't messed with it for over a year.

The chipset is basically what lets everything talk to each other, the processer, the memory, the bus and so on. This motherboard also has an onboard video card - a GeForce 4 MX according to this page: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...Tab=2&NoMapp=0 the video card chip should be what's beneath the orange heat sink.

holy melarchy you guys are fast. thanks for confirming my suspicions in such a speedy manner.

They didn't confirm all your suspicions :thumbsup:

The onboard chipset isn't the same as onboard video.

GeForce = video
nForce = chipset

The chipset handles onboard sound and other areas of the motherboard. Like the post above said, it "lets everything talk to each other." There are other types of chipsets also (such as VIA).

Also, I wouldn't bet on the orange heatsink being for the onboard video. That's probably on the Northbridge section of the chipset. The other section of the chipset, the Southbridge, is the chip below it on the right (without a heatsink). I could be wrong.

so does this mean I also don't neeed a sound card? that would be sweet, or is the chipset only built to handle 'beeps' and 'bops'

Only if you want good sound.

As you can see, there's an audio jack on the rear. You've got sound, but I bet it isn't too good.

The sound isn't bad. Just stereo, but if you'll be gaming much video would still be my first pick for an upgrade.

I remember now the northbridge ran hot. It's much happier with a small fan. You can easily attach one to the heatsink by driving screws down between the fins.

Very cool, I just crossed one more thing off the list of components. About the chipset running hot, I think I will put everything together and check the temp in the BIOS and go from there, but thanks for the headsup.

Got
Case
Mobo
Audio/Video
Power Supply
+3000 AMD CPU [forgot actual name, sempron?]
All the above for $90
1 gig ram ($36)
250 PATA HD ($30)
SD to USB holder ($5)

Need
Cabling
DVD/CD Combo Drive
3.5 floppy
Monitor
Mouse/Keyboard

After I get those parts its time to do the actual work and build the mofo.