From LQWiki

Chipset refers to the set of chips on a certain board. Usually chipset means the chips tha perform the core functionality of the motherboard, but the term may be used in association with video cards. The chipsets are soldered on the board and thus are not upgradeable.

All the system components transfer data through the chipset. The chipset uses controllers to ensure steady flow of data.

The command lspci gives you basic info on the current chipset and what functions it supports.

See also

• CPU
• Memory