POWERCOLOR AX480A7 User manual

AX480A7-F
Motherboard Manual
AX480A7-GF
Revision A1
AX480A7

1
Introduction
FCC Guidelines
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a
Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits
are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful
interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses
and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in
accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to
radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference
will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause
harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be
determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged
to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following
measures:
• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
• Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver.
• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that
to which the receiver is connected.
• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help.
• Use only shielded cables to connect I/O devices to this equipment.
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject
to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful
interference. (2) This device must accept any interference received,
including interference that may cause undesired operation.
Information to User:
Any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party
responsible for compliance could void the user’s authority to operate this
equipment. Shielded interference cable, if any, must be used in order to
comply with emission limits.
Disclaimer of Warranties
The information in this document is subject to change without notice. The
manufacturer makes no representatives or warranties with respect to
the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Furthermore, the
manufacturer reserves the right to revise this publication and to make
changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation of the
manufacturer to notify any person of such revision or changes.
Copyright
This publication, including all photographs, illustrations and software, is
protected under international copyright laws, with all rights reserved.
Neither this manual, nor any of the material contained herein, may be
reproduced without the express written consent of the copyright
holders.
© 2004. All rights reserved.

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Motherboard Manual
Trademark Recognition
Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
Other product names mentioned in this manual are the properties of their
respective owners and are acknowledged.

3
Introduction
Contents
Static Electricity Precautions...............................................................
Chapter 1 - Introduction......................................................................
Package Contents..........................................................................
Optional Items.................................................................................
Before Using the Motherboard....................................................
About this Manual...........................................................................
The Motherboard.............................................................................
Specifications...................................................................................
Product Features Explained.........................................................
Chapter 2 - Installation........................................................................
The Components of the Motherboard........................................
Quick Installation Guide................................................................
CPU...................................................................................................
System Memory...............................................................................
Expansion Slots..............................................................................
Jumper..............................................................................................
Rear Panel I/O.................................................................................
Internal I/O........................................................................................
Chapter 3 - BIOS Setup......................................................................
Overview............................................................................................
BIOS Setup.......................................................................................
ULI RAID BIOS................................................................................
Chapter 4 - Drivers and Utilities.......................................................
Chipset Drivers...............................................................................
Software Utilities.............................................................................
Hardware Information....................................................................
Contact Us.......................................................................................
RAID...................................................................................................
Chapter 5 - Troubleshooting..............................................................
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Motherboard Manual
Static Electricity Precautions
It is quite easy to inadvertently damage your PC, motherboard,
components or devices even before installing them in your
system unit. Static electrical discharge can damage computer
components without causing any signs of physical damage. You
must take extra care in handling them to ensure against
electrostatic build-up.
1. To prevent electrostatic build-up, leave the motherboard in its
anti-static bag until you are ready to install it.
2. Wear an antistatic wrist strap.
3. Do all preparation work on a static-free surface.
4. Hold the device only by its edges. Be careful not to touch any
of the components, contacts or connections.
5. Avoid touching the pins or contacts on all modules and
connectors. Hold modules or connectors by their ends.
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage your
processor, disk drive and other components. Perform the
upgrade instruction procedures described at an ESD
workstation only. If such a station is not available, you can
provide some ESD protection by wearing an antistatic
wrist strap and attaching it to a metal part of the system
chassis. If a wrist strap is unavailable, establish and
maintain contact with the system chassis throughout any
procedures requiring ESD protection.
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5
Introduction
Introduction
Chapter 1

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Motherboard Manual
Package Contents
• 1 motherboard
• 1 manual
• 1 pack of floppy and IDE disk drive cables
• 1 pack of 2 Serial ATA data cables
• 1 Serial ATA power cable
• 1 I/O shield
• 1 SATA RAID driver diskette
• 1 CD (contains drivers and utilities)
• 1 CD (Cyberlink DVD solution)
Optional Items
• 1 1394 port bracket with cable
If you need any of the optional items listed above, please contact
your dealer for assistance.
))
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)The motherboard and accessories may not come similar
to the information stated in this manual. This may differ
in accordance to the sales region or models in which it
was sold. For more information about the standard
package in your region, please contact your dealer or
sales representative.
Before Using the Motherboard...
Before you install and use the motherboard, please check the
following:
•Package contents
Make sure the package contains all items listed in the
Package Contents section. If any of the items are missing,
please contact your dealer or sales representative for
assistance.
•Motherboard damage
If the motherboard has been visibly damaged, return the
complete package to your dealer with the proof of purchase.

7
Introduction
About this Manual
This user’s manual is for the standard model motherboard and
for the model that supports Gigabit LAN. The differences
between these boards are shown below.
LAN
Standard
100Mbps
Model With
Gigabit LAN
1Gbps Gigabit LAN
•Damaged accessories
If any of the accessories are damaged, please contact your
dealer or sales representative for assistance.
•Prepare basic system components
If you are installing the motherboard in a new system, you
will need at least the following internal components.
- A CPU
- DDR SDRAM memory module
- Storage devices such as hard disk drive, CD-ROM, etc.
You will also need external system peripherals you intend to use
which will normally include at least a keyboard, a mouse and a
video display monitor.

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Motherboard Manual
The Motherboard

9
Introduction
Specifications
Chipset • North bridge: RADEON XPRESS 200P
(RX480)
• South bridge: ULI M1573
• AMD Athlon 64
• Socket 754
• 1600MT/s Hyper Transport
• 2 184-pin DDR DIMM sockets
• Up to 2GB unbuffered non-ECC memory
• DDR266/333/400
• CPU integrated memory controller
• 1 PCI Express x16 slot
• 2 PCI Express x1 slots
• 3 PCI slots
• 1 FDD connector supports 2 floppy drives
• 2 parallel IDE connectors support up to 4
UltraDMA 133 hard drives
• 4 Serial ATA connectors support RAID 0,
RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and JBOD
• Supports up to 8 USB 2.0 ports (4 USB
ports and 2 connectors for 4 USB ports)
• VIA VT6307 supports 2 IEEE 1394 ports (1
1394 port and 1 connector for 1 1394 port)
• Azalia ALC880 8-channel audio CODEC
• Coaxial S/PDIF-in and S/PDIF-out ports
• Realtek Gigabit LAN controller supports
1Gbps, IEEE 802.3ab compliant (model
with Gigabit LAN)
•Realtek PCI LAN controller supports
100Mbps, IEEE 802.3 compliant
• ITE 8712 controller
CPU
System bus
Memory
Expansion slots
Storage
USB
IEEE 1394
Audio
LAN
Legacy I/O

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Motherboard Manual
Rear Panel I/O • 1 PS/2 mouse port
• 1 PS/2 keyboard port
• 1 S/PDIF-in port
• 1 S/PDIF-out port
• 1 parallel port
• 1 COM 2 port
• 1 IEEE 1394 port
• 1 LAN port
• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• Line-in, line-out and mic-in jacks
• Side right/left, center/subwoofer and rear
right/left
• 2 connectors for 4 additional USB ports
• 1 IEEE 1394 connector
• 1 COM 1 connector
• 1 front audio connector
• 1 CD-in connector
• 1 IrDA connector
• 1 CIR connector
• 2 fan connectors
• 1 Wake-On-LAN connector
• 1 24-pin ATX power connector
• 1 4-pin 12V ATX power connector
• 1 front panel connector
• 1 power LED connector
• 1 speaker connector
• AMI BIOS
• 4Mbit flash ROM
• ATX form factor
• 30.5 cm x 21.5 cm (12 in x 8.46 in)
Internal I/O
BIOS
Form Factor

11
Introduction
AMD AthlonTM 64
The AMD AthlonTM 64 CPU provides superior computing for many
software applications by allowing both 32-bit and 64-bit
applications to run simultaneously on the same platform. This
allows the operating system and software to process more data
and access a tremendous amount of memory, improving the
overall system performance.
AMD Cool‘n’QuietTM Technology
AMD CPU’s Cool‘n’QuietTM technology allows the system to
detect the CPU’s tasks and utilization status. When the CPU’s
task slows down, the system effectively lowers power
consumption by lowering its CPU speed and voltage. This
subsequently decreases the noise level.
DDR
DDR (Double Data Rate) is a type of SDRAM that doubles the
data rate through reading and writing at both the rising and
falling edge of each clock. This effectively doubles the speed of
operation therefore providing two times faster data transfer.
PCI Express
PCI Express is a high bandwidth I/O infrastructure that
possesses the ability to scale speeds by forming multiple lanes.
The motherboard currently supports the physical layer of x1 and
x16 lane widths.
The x1 PCI Express lane supports transfer rate of 2.5 Gigabytes
(250MBbps) per second. The PCI Express architecture also
provides a high performance graphics infrastructure by doubling
the capability of the existing AGP 8x designs over a x16 PCI
Express lane that provides 4 Gigabytes per second transfer rate.
Product Features Explained

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Motherboard Manual
Serial ATA Interface with RAID
Serial ATA is a storage interface that is compliant with SATA 1.0
specification. With speed of up to 1.5Gbps, it improves hard
drive performance faster than the standard parallel ATA whose
data transfer rate is 100MB/s. The motherboard allows
configuring RAID on SATA drives. It supports RAID 0, RAID 1,
RAID 0+1 and JBOD.
IEEE 1394 Interface
IEEE 1394 is fully compliant with the 1394 OHCI (Open Host
Controller Interface) 1.1 specification. 1394 is a fast external bus
standard that supports data transfer rates of up to 400Mbps. In
addition to its high speed, it also supports isochronous data
transfer which is ideal for video devices that need to transfer
high levels of data in real-time. 1394 supports both Plug-and-
Play and hot plugging.
IrDA Interface
IrDA provides wireless connectivity between your computer and
peripheral devices. The IRDA (Infrared Data Association)
specification supports data transfers of 115K baud at a distance
of 1 meter.
USB Ports
The motherboard supports USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 ports. USB 1.1
supports 12Mb/second bandwidth while USB 2.0 supports
480Mb/second bandwidth providing a marked improvement in
device transfer speeds between your computer and a wide
range of simultaneously accessible external Plug and Play
peripherals.
8-channel Audio Output
The 7.1-channel audio CODEC, S/PDIF interfaces and the audio
ports at the rear panel of the motherboard provides 8-channel
audio output.

13
Introduction
S/PDIF
S/PDIF is a standard audio file transfer format that transfers
digital audio signals to a device without having to be converted
first to an analog format. This prevents the quality of the audio
signal from degrading whenever it is converted to analog. S/PDIF
is usually found on digital audio equipment such as a DAT
machine or audio processing device. The S/PDIF interfaces on
the motherboard sends surround sound and 3D audio signal
outputs to amplifiers and speakers and to digital recording
devices like CD recorders.

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Motherboard Manual
Installation
Chapter 2

15
Installation
The Components of the Motherboard
KB
Mouse
S/PDIF-
in
S/PDIF-
out
1394_1
USB 0-1
LAN
USB 2-3
1394_2
CD-in
USB 4-5
USB 6-7
CIR COM 1
Power
LED
Speaker
Front panel
IrDA
FDD
WOL
Clear
CMOS
SATA 0
SATA 3
CPU fan
COM 2
Front audio
SATA 1
SATA 2
IDE 1
IDE 2
1
Line-in
Line-out
Mic-in
Side R/L
Rear R/L
Center/
Subwoofer
Socket 754
1
+12V power
ATX power
System fan
1
1
DDR 1DDR 2
PCI-E x16
PCI-E x1
PCI-E x1
1
Realtek
LAN chip
VIA
VT6307
1
1
ULI
M1573
1
1
PCI 1
PCI 2
PCI 3
Azalia
ALC880
1
ITE
8712
1
1
1
1
Battery
1
BIOS
1
Parallel
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
PS/2 power
select (JP1)
ATI
RADEON
XPRESS
200P

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Motherboard Manual
• Make sure the PC and all other peripheral devices
connected to it has been powered-off.
• Disconnect all power cords and cables.
Quick Installation Guide
Step 1
Install the CPU, CPU fan / heatsink and other system fans.
Step 2
Install the DIMM.
Step 3
Install add-in cards.
Step 4
Configure the jumpers.
Step 5
Connect the storage device cables to their respective devices.
Step 6
Connect the ATX power supply’s cables to the appropriate
connectors and devices.
Step 7
Connect devices to the ports located at the rear panel.
Step 8
Connect the front panel cables (LED indicators and switch
connectors) to the front panel connectors.
Step 9
Power on the PC.
Step 10
Configure the BIOS.
Step 11
Reboot the PC.
Step 12
Install the drivers and utilities that are in the provided CD.
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17
Installation
Power
LED
Speaker
Front panel
IrDA
FDD
System fan
1
11
1
1
1
1
1
X
Overview
The 754-pin CPU socket on the motherboard is exclusively
designed for installing an AMD Athlon 64 CPU.
Installing the CPU
1. Make sure the PC and all other peripheral devices connected
to it has been powered down.
2. Disconnect all power cords and cables.
3. Locate the 754-pin CPU socket on the motherboard.
CPU

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Motherboard Manual
5. Position the CPU above the socket. The gold mark on the
CPU must align with the corner of the CPU socket (refer to
the enlarged view) shown below.
4. Unlock the socket by pushing the lever sideways, away from
the socket, then lifting it up to a 90oangle. Make sure the
lever is lifted to at least this angle otherwise the CPU will not
fit in properly.
Lever
Gold mark
Important
• Handle the CPU by its edges and avoid touching
the pins.

19
Installation
6. Insert the CPU into the socket until it is seated in place. The
CPU will fit in only one orientation and can easily be inserted
without exerting any force.
7. Once the CPU is in place, push down the lever to lock the
socket. The lever should click on the side tab to indicate that
the CPU is completely secured in the socket.
Side tab
Important
• Do not force the CPU into the socket. Forcing the
CPU into the socket may bend the pins and
damage the CPU.