Computer Repair Training Plus hardware 1-2 discusses the motherboard, chipset and other I/O devices connected to the motherboard. The motherboard or sometimes called system board is the largest circuit board in the computer. The CPU,
RAM and video are directly connected through the North Bridge (NB) and directly determine the performance of the computer. You need fast RAM memory and a good video card to prevent data bottlenecks. Intel has recently moved the memory controller off the north bridge and onto the CPU. This move allows the CPU direct access to the RAM and has greatly improved performance. The south bridge controls all the other I/O connections and can run considerably slower. Most computers today have dual channel memory which has helped feed the faster CPUs. However, take advantage of the two channels you should be splitting your memory so if you want 4GB of RAM you will put 2GB in each channel. The memory should also be rated and matched for dual channel. The Newer Core i7 CPU uses DDR3 triple channel and again to get the benefit you would split the memory over all three channels. The only area left to catch up is the hard drive. New faster solid state drives will eventually help bridge this gap.
I also have a YouTube video related to this topic.
The Computer Repair Training website has some additional information you might find helpful.