Alienware MJ-12 X2 User manual

Alienware X2
motherboard
User’s Manual

Chapter 1: General specifications.................................................................................... 4
1.1 Specifications summary........................................................................................... 5
1.2 Motherboard features .............................................................................................. 7
Chapter 2: Hardware information ..................................................................................... 9
2.1 Board overview...................................................................................................... 10
2.1.1 The board........................................................................................................ 10
2.1.2 MB diagram..................................................................................................... 11
2.1.3 Ports and connectors...................................................................................... 12
2.1.4 Onboard LED .................................................................................................. 12
2.1.5 Jumper/Header configurations........................................................................ 12
2.2 Hardware information ............................................................................................ 16
2.2.1 Supported processors.....................................................................................16
2.2.2 System memory .............................................................................................. 16
Chapter 3: BIOS setup ................................................................................................... 17
3.1 Main....................................................................................................................... 18
3.2 Advanced............................................................................................................... 18
3.2.1 CPU Configuration .......................................................................................... 19
3.2.2 IDE Configuration............................................................................................ 20
3.2.3 Floppy Configuration....................................................................................... 21
3.2.4 SuperI/O Configuration ................................................................................... 22
3.2.5 Hardware Health Configuration....................................................................... 24
3.2.6 ACPI Configuration ......................................................................................... 24
3.2.7 MPS Configuration.......................................................................................... 26
3.2.8 PCI Express Configuration.............................................................................. 27
3.2.9 Remote Access Configuration ........................................................................ 28
3.2.10 USB Configuration ........................................................................................ 29
3.2.11 Onboard Device Configuration...................................................................... 30
3.2.12 Performance Setting ..................................................................................... 31
3.3 PCIPnP.................................................................................................................. 32
3.4 Boot ....................................................................................................................... 33
3.4.1 Boot Settings Configuration ............................................................................ 34
3.4.2 Boot Device Priority ........................................................................................ 35
3.4.3 Hard Disk Drives ............................................................................................. 36
3.4.4 Removable Drives........................................................................................... 36
3.4.5 CD/DVD Drives ............................................................................................... 37
3.5 Security.................................................................................................................. 37
3.6 Chipset .................................................................................................................. 38
3.6.1 NorthBridge Configuration .............................................................................. 39
3.6.2 SouthBridge Configuration.............................................................................. 39
3.7 Power .................................................................................................................... 40
3.8 Exit......................................................................................................................... 42
Chapter 4: Silicon Image RAID Utility ............................................................................ 44
4.1 Introduction............................................................................................................ 45
4.2 Main Menu............................................................................................................. 45
4.3 Create RAID 0 ....................................................................................................... 46
4.4 Create RAID 1 ....................................................................................................... 49
4.5 Delete RAID........................................................................................................... 51
4.6 Low Level Format .................................................................................................. 52
Chapter 5: Adaptec RAID Utility..................................................................................... 53
5.1 Introduction............................................................................................................ 54
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5.2 Create RAID .......................................................................................................... 55
5.3 Delete RAID........................................................................................................... 59
5.4 Format a disk......................................................................................................... 61
5.5 Verify Disk integrity................................................................................................ 63
Chapter 6: SoundMAX Control Panel ............................................................................. 65
6.1 Starting up ............................................................................................................. 66
6.2 Sound configuration............................................................................................... 67
6.2.1 Speaker Setup ................................................................................................ 67
6.2.2 Virtual Theater Surround................................................................................. 68
6.2.3 Acoustic Environments ................................................................................... 68
6.2.4 Virtual Ear ....................................................................................................... 69
6.2.5 Testing speaker setup..................................................................................... 69
6.2.6 SPDIF ............................................................................................................. 71
6.3 MIDI Music Synthesizer......................................................................................... 71
6.4 DLS loader............................................................................................................. 72
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Chapter 1: General specifications
4

1.1 Specifications summary
CPU
Support for Dual Intel ® Xeon processor on 604 Socket
800 MHz System Bus
Supports Intel ® EMT64 Technology
Supports Enhanced Intel ® SpeedStep Technology
Supports Intel ® Hyper-Threading Technology
Supports SIMD Extensions 3 (SSE3)
CPU power
Complies with VRM 10.1 voltage requirements
Dual EVRD
Support FMB 1.5
Chipset
Intel ® E7525 Northbridge
Intel ® 6300ESB Southbridge
Silicon Image 3114 SATA Controller
Super IO: 83627THF
Memory
Support for dual channel DDR2 400 MHz registered DIMM ECC
or non-ECC
Expansion
slots
One x16 PCI Express slot
One x8 PCI Express slot
Three PCI slots
SATA
Two SATA ports that support RAID 0, 1 through Adaptec Host
Raid controller
Four SATA ports that support RAID 0, 1, 0+1 through Silicon
Image Sil3114 controller
LAN
Intel ® Pro 1000 onboard controller
USB
NEC UPD720101 USB 2.0 controller
Four USB 2.0 external ports
Two USB 2.0 internal headers for four front panel ports
Audio
5.1 channel AC’97 onboard sound
Support for S/PDIF out at the rear panel
Support for CD-ROM audio in through internal 4-pin header
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IEEE-1394
TI TSB43AB23 IEEE-1394 controller
Two internal pin headers for front panel IEEE-1394 ports
One external IEEE-1394 port at the back panel
Internal I/O
Two IDE connectors with support for UltraDMA
33/ATA66/ATA100 IDE drives and ATAPI compliant devices
One Floppy connector for up to two drives
One UART 16550 9-pin header
One Smbus connector
One WOL connector
One pin header for IR
External I/O
One PS/2 keyboard connector
One PS/2 mouse connector
One 25 pin parallel port with ECP/EPP support
One UART 16550 serial port (COM1)
Four USB 2.0 ports
One LAN RJ-45 port
One 1394 port
One SPDIF port
Rear out and center out audio outputs
Line in, line out, and mic in audio jacks
System
management
Hardware monitor control by Winbond W83627THF
Two 3/4-pin CPU fan connectors with fan speed monitor, control
Two 3-pin system fan connectors with fan speed monitor, control
CPU Voltage monitor
CPU Temperature monitor
BIOS
AMI BIOS
Flash write protection by BIOS and jumper settings
ACPI 1.1
APM 1.2
Support ASF 2.0
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1.2 Motherboard features
Intel ® Xeon Dual processor platform
The Intel ® Xeon processors are built on 90 nm manufacturing process. These
processors support new technological advances such as EMT64, Enhanced Intel ®
SpeedStep Technology and Hyper-Threading technology. The Alienware X2
motherboard is designed to house one or two of these processors.
The Intel ® SpeedStep technology along with the DMS (Demand Base Switching) will
allow the processor to dynamically adjust the processor’s power demand according to
how much work it has to do.
The Hyper-Threading improves the performance of multithreaded applications providing
a higher processing throughput.
The Intel ® EMT 64 instruction enables the usage of 64-bit operating systems, allowing
the system to detect larger amounts of memory.
PCI Express graphics
This motherboard features the next generation graphics interface which supports the
latest PCI Express video cards with a 4.0 GB bandwidth. The Alienware X2 motherboard
offers two SLI-capable PCI Express slots.
Dual DDR2 400 memory channels
DDR2 memory provides a fast data transfer rate, acquiring a maximum memory
bandwidth of 3.2 GB per second. The power consumption on DDR2 technology
decreases significantly since it uses a 1.8V core voltage (versus the 2.5V on DDR).
Serial ATA
Support for SATA hard disk drives permits using advances such as hot swappable
drives and native command queueing technology, plus easier to handle cabling and
connectors to facilitate removal and installation of more drives.
Intel ® audio
Integrated Audio Controller supports 5.1 channel configuration to provide excellent
sound quality output either through the built in jacks or the SPDIF output.
USB 2.0
High speed data transfer is enabled through the USB 2.0 ports on this motherboard,
which provide a faster 480 Mbps transfer rate than the previous USB 1.1 (12 Mbps).
USB 2.0 ports are backward compatible with USB 1.1.
IEEE 1394a
This motherboard enables a connection to high speed data transfer devices through the
1394a connection. Even though data range goes up to 400 Mbps, 1394a provides a
faster connection than USB due to the peer to peer architecture which guarantees more
reliable and sustained throughput rate.
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S/PDIF
This motherboard facilitates connectivity to the most advanced stereo components
through the S/PDIF port, giving high quality audio.
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Chapter 2: Hardware information
9

2.1 Board overview
2.1.1 The board
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2.1.2 MB diagram
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2.1.3 Ports and connectors
2.1.4 Onboard LED
The onboard LED’s are located on the area
highlighted in the image shown. The RED light
indicates the motherboard is receiving power
from the power supply, the YELLOW light
indicates when the computer is turned on.
2.1.5 Jumper/Header configurations
CMOS jumper [JP1]
This jumper allows the clearing of information stored on the system CMOS RAM
memory. This memory contains information about the system’s setup configuration and
time settings configured through the BIOS setup utility. Once the information is cleared,
the default configuration can be loaded. To clear the information on the system CMOS
RAM do the following:
1. Turn off the computer.
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2. Unplug the power cable on the back of the computer
3. Remove the CMOS battery
4. Move CMOS jumper so that it covers pins 2 and 3 (see image below) and
leave it there for 5 seconds
5. Move the CMOS jumper back to pins 1 and 2 (see image below)
6. Put the CMOS battery back in its socket
7. Plug power cable to the computer
8. Boot up and press DEL to enter setup
BIOS protection jumper [JP16]
This jumper protects the BIOS memory from being overwritten. It is a safety mechanism
to avoid accidental or malicious BIOS flashing. If the jumper is positioned so that it
covers pins 2 and 3, the BIOS will not allow any flash utilities to overwrite it. If the BIOS
needs flashing, the pins must be covering pins 1 and 2 (see image below).
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FSB jumper [JP3, JP3A]
These jumpers define the type of memory that the system will be using. In order to
support 800MHz DDR2, the jumpers JP3 and JP3A (shown on the image below) need to
be covering pins 2 and 3.
Case open pin header [J42]
This jumper when enabled will detect when the system’s case (chassis) has been
opened. A message will show up on the screen after the intrusion until the message is
deleted. This feature is available only when using a chassis that supports intrusion
detection. The sensor cable from the case needs to be plugged into this header. If there
is no cable plugged into the case open pin header, the feature is disabled (see image
below).
Front audio jumper [J57B]
This jumper allows the usage of front panel audio connectors. If the jumpers are located
covering pins 5 and 6, and 9 and 10, the front audio feature is completely disabled (see
image below).
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To enable to front panel audio, these connectors need to be plugged into the pin
headers as follows:
Front panel connector
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2.2 Hardware information
2.2.1 Supported processors
The X2 motherboard has two Intel ® 604 sockets. Each of these sockets can support an
Intel ® Xeon CPU that runs on an 800 MHz Front Side Bus.
The following list shows the supported processors both on dual and single CPU
configurations:
Single CPU
Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.6GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache
Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.4GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache
Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.2GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache
Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.0GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache
Intel® Xeon™ Processor 2.8GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache
Dual CPU
Dual Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.6GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache
Dual Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.4GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache
Dual Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.2GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache
Dual Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.0GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache
Dual Intel® Xeon™ Processor 2.8GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache
2.2.2 System memory
The X2 motherboard supports up to four Dual Channel 400MHz DDR2 Registered
SDRAM. Each slot will support 256, 512 MB or 1GB memory DIMMS. For optimum
performance, memory must be installed in pairs.
Slots DIMM_3 and DIMM_2 should be populated first, followed by DIMM_1 and
DIMM_0. When using two pairs of different sizes, the larger memory modules must be
installed in slots DIMM_3 and DIMM_2. See table below for more details.
Memory configurations
DIMM0 DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 TOTAL
256MB 256MB 512MB
512MB 512MB 1 GB
1GB 1GB 2 GB
512MB 512 MB 1 GB 1 GB 3 GB
1 GB 1 GB 1 GB 1 GB 4 GB
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Chapter 3: BIOS setup
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This motherboard comes installed with an American Megatrends Inc. BIOS. This utility
will allow modification and monitoring of hardware settings on the motherboard. In order
to enter the BIOS, press DEL during the POST screen.
3.1 Main
In the Main screen the system time and date can be set. This screen will also show the
information recollected form the CPU and the amount of recognized system memory.
3.2 Advanced
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3.2.1 CPU Configuration
Max CPUID Value Limit
Legacy operating systems do not support CPUs with extended CPUID functions. In
order for these operating systems to boot up, this setting needs to be enabled.
[Options are: ‘Enabled’ and ‘Disabled’]
Hardware Prefetcher
Enables or disables the hardware prefecther feature.
[Options are: ‘Enabled’ and ‘Disabled’]
Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch
Enables or disables the Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch Feature.
[Options are: ‘Enabled’ and ‘Disabled’]
Hyper-Threading Function
In order to use the Hyper-Threading with supported processors, this feature needs to be
enabled.
[Options are: ‘Enabled’ and ‘Disabled’]
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3.2.2 IDE Configuration
IDE Configuration
This setting allows the configuration of ATA devices and the two SATA ports controlled
by the 6300 ESB Southbridge (SATA1 and SATA2). Configurations are explained as
follows:
Disabled: No ATA or SATA devices are recognized by the system
P-ATA Only: 2 SATA ports are enabled and up to 4 PATA devices
S-ATA Only: Only 2 SATA ports are enabled, PATA devices disabled
P-ATA & S-ATA: 2 SATA ports are enabled and up to 2 PATA devices
Combined Mode Option
This option will only appear when using P-ATA & S-ATA configuration.
Permitted configurations:
Primary Channel Secondary Channel
1. SATA PATA
2. PATA SATA
When PATA is set to 1st channel, only the devices connected to IDE1 will be detected;
when PATA is set to 2nd channel, only devices connected to IDE2 will be detected.
[Options are: ‘S-ATA 1st Channel’ and ‘P-ATA 1st Channel’]
S-ATA Running Enhanced Mode
This setting allows enhanced functions on SATA1 and SATA2, such as port definition
and enabling/disabling RAID.
[Options are: ‘Enabled’ and ‘Disabled’]
P-ATA Channel Selection
This setting will enable either one or both of the IDE ports. All devices connected to each
port will be enabled only if the channel is enabled. Primary IDE channel refers to IDE_1,
and Secondary IDE channel refers to IDE_2.
[Options are: ‘Primary’, ‘Secondary’ and ‘Both’]
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