Around the time that the Pentium III processor was introduced, Intel's Xeon line diverged from its line of desktop processors, which at the time was using the Pentium branding. The divergence was implemented by using different sockets; since then, the sockets for Xeon chips have tended to remain constant across several generations of implementation. The chipsets contain a 'memory controller hub' and an 'I/O controller hub', which tend to be called 'north bridge' and 'south bridge' respectively. The memory controller hub connects to the processors, memory, high-speed I/O such as PCI Express, and to the I/O controller hub by a proprietary link. The I/O controller hub, on the other hand, connects to lower-speed I/O, such as SATA, PCI, USB, and Ethernet. (en)
Around the time that the Pentium III processor was introduced, Intel's Xeon line diverged from its line of desktop processors, which at the time was using the Pentium branding. The divergence was implemented by using different sockets; since then, the sockets for Xeon chips have tended to remain constant across several generations of implementation. (en)