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Intel Hub Architecture (IHA), also known asAccelerated Hub Architecture (AHA), wasIntel's architecture for the 8xx family ofchipsets,[1][2] starting in 1999 with theIntel 810. It uses amemory controller hub (MCH) that is connected to anI/O controller hub (ICH) via a 266 MB/s bus. The MCH chip supports memory andAGP (replaced byPCI Express in 9xx series chipsets), while the ICH chip provides connectivity forPCI (revision 2.2 before ICH5 series and revision 2.3 since ICH5 series),USB (version 1.1 before ICH4 series and version 2.0 since ICH4 series), sound (originallyAC'97,Azalia added in ICH6 series),IDE hard disks (supplemented bySerial ATA since ICH5 series, fully replaced IDE since ICH8 series for desktops and ICH9 series for notebooks) andLAN (uncommonly activated on desktop motherboards and notebooks, usually independent LAN controller were placed instead ofPHY chip).[citation needed]
Intel claimed that, because of the high-speed channel between the sections, the IHA was faster than the earliernorthbridge/southbridge design,[3] which hooked all low-speed ports to the PCI bus. The IHA also optimized data transfer based on data type.[citation needed]
Intel Hub Interface 2.0 was employed in Intel's line of E7xxx server chipsets. This new revision allowed for dedicated data paths for transferring greater than 1.0 GB/s of data to and from the MCH, which support I/O segments with greater reliability and faster access to high-speed networks.
IHA is now considered obsolete and no longer used, being superseded by theDirect Media Interface architecture. ThePlatform Controller Hub (PCH) providing most of the features previously seen in ICH chips while moving memory, graphics and PCI Express controllers to the CPU, introduced with theIntel 5 Series chipsets in 2009. This chipset architecture is still used in desktops, in some notebooks it is going to be replaced bySoC processor designs.