Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch (original, Core 2 Duo, 2.4GHz, Late 2007 CTO, Early 2008, and Late 2008) - Manual (Page 195)

MacBook Pro 17-inch (original, Core 2 Duo, 2.4/2.6GHz, 2008) Troubleshooting — Architecture 195
Architecture
The architecture of the 17-inch MacBook Pro is based on the Intel Core 2 Duo microprocessor and
two ICs, the North Bridge memory controller and the South Bridge I/O controller, connected to
each other by a Direct Media Interface (DMI) bus.
The North Bridge provides the bridging functionality among the processor, the memory system,
the DMI bus, and the 16-lane PCI Express bus to the graphics controller.
The South Bridge supports these components:
Ultra ATA/100 bus for the optical drive (running at UATA/66) •
A 1.5 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA) bus for the hard disk drive •
1-lane PCI Express link for the AirPort Extreme module •
SPI bus, direct memory access bus to the boot ROM •
USB 2.0 controller, which in turn supports the Bluetooth module, IR receiver, built-in iSight •
camera, built-in trackpad and keyboard, ExpressCard/34 slot, and 3 external USB 2.0 ports
Channel to the audio subsystem •
1-lane PCI Express link for the Ethernet PHY •
33 MHz, 32-bit internal PCI bus to the FireWire 400 (1394a) and FireWire 800 (1394b) OHCI •
and PHY
1-lane PCI Express link and one USB 2.0 interface for the ExpressCard 34 mm slot •
Direct Media Interface (DMI) bus •
A DMA controller internal to the South Bridge supports LPC DMA (low pin count direct memory
access). The DMA controller has registers that are fixed in the lower 64 KB of I/O space. The DMA
controller is configured using registers in the PCI configuration space.
Figure 1 (see following page) provides a simplified block diagram of the North Bridge and South
Bridge ICs and the buses that connect them together.