Supermicro X7DCX User manual

SUPER

X7DCX

USER’S MANUAL

Revision 1.0

Manual Revision 1.0

Release Date: November 23, 2008

Unless you request and receive written permission from Super Micro Computer, Inc., you may not

copy any part of this document.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Other products and companies

referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark

holders.

Printed in the United States of America

The information in this User’s Manual has been carefully reviewed and is believed to be accurate.

The vendor assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies that may be contained in this document,

makes no commitment to update or to keep current the information in this manual, or to notify any

person or organization of the updates. Please Note: For the most up-to-date version of this

manual, please see our web site at www.supermicro.com.

Super Micro Computer, Inc. ("Supermicro") reserves the right to make changes to the product

described in this manual at any time and without notice. This product, including software, if any,

and documentation may not, in whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or

reduced to any medium or machine without prior written consent.

IN NO EVENT WILL Super Micro Computer, Inc. BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL,

INCIDENTAL, SPECULATIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE

OR INABILITY TO USE THIS PRODUCT OR DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE

POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN PARTICULAR, SUPER MICRO COMPUTER, INC. SHALL

NOT HAVE LIABILITY FOR ANY HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR DATA STORED OR USED

WITH THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING THE COSTS OF REPAIRING, REPLACING, INTEGRATING,

INSTALLING OR RECOVERING SUCH HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR DATA.

Any disputes arising between manufacturer and customer shall be governed by the laws of Santa

Clara County in the State of California, USA. The State of California, County of Santa Clara shall

be the exclusive venue for the resolution of any such disputes. Super Micro's total liability for all

claims will not exceed the price paid for the hardware product.

FCC Statement: 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

manufacturer’s instruction manual, may cause interference with 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, you are 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/television technician for help.

California Best Management Practices Regulations for Perchlorate Materials: This Perchlorate

warning applies only to products containing CR (Manganese Dioxide) Lithium coin cells. “Perchlorate

Material-special handling may apply. See www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlorate”.

WARNING: Handling of lead solder materials used in this

product may expose you to lead, a chemical known to

the State of California to cause birth defects and other

reproductive harm.

Preface

This manual is written for system integrators, PC technicians and

knowledgeable PC users. It provides information for the installation and use of the

X7DCX motherboard.

About This Motherboard

The X7DCX supports dual Intel

Xeon Quad-Core/Dual-Core

5400/5300/5200/5100 Sequence processors with a front side bus speed of up to

1333 MHz. With multi-core processors, cost-effective Intel 5100 chipset and low-

power native DDR2 memory built in, the X7DCX delivers superb processing ca-

pacity without sacriﬁ cing affordability. This motherboard offers powerful business

capabilities with optimal power efﬁ ciency, ideal for complex application computing

in a multi-user environment. Please refer to the motherboard speciﬁ cations pages

on our web site (http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/) for updates.

This product is intended to be professionally installed.

Manual Organization

Chapter 1 introduces the motherboard, providing information on the layout, con-

nectors/jumpers, features, speciﬁ cations and the chipset.

Chapter 2 provides hardware installation instructions. Read this chapter when

installing the processor, memory modules and other hardware components into

the system.

Chapter 3 includes an introduction to the BIOS and provides detailed information

on running the CMOS Setup utility.

If you encounter any problems, see Chapter 4, which describes troubleshooting

procedures for the video, the memory and the system setup stored in the CMOS.

Appendix A lists BIOS POST Error Codes. Appendix B and Appendix C provide

the Windows OS and Other Software Programs Installation Instructions.

Conventions Used in the Manual

Special attention should be given to the following symbols for proper installation and

to prevent damage done to the components or injury to yourself.

Warning: Important information given to ensure proper system installation

or to prevent damage to the components.

iii

Preface

X7DCX User's Manual

Note: Additional Information given to differentiate various models or to

ensure correct system setup.

iv

Contacting Supermicro

v

Contacting Supermicro

Headquarters

Address: Super Micro Computer, Inc.

980 Rock Ave.

San Jose, CA 95131 U.S.A.

Tel: +1 (408) 503-8000

Fax: +1 (408) 503-8008

Email: [email protected] (General Information)

[email protected] (Technical Support)

Web Site: www.supermicro.com

Europe

Address: Super Micro Computer B.V.

Het Sterrenbeeld 28, 5215 ML

's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

Tel: +31 (0) 73-6400390

Fax: +31 (0) 73-6416525

Email: [email protected] (General Information)

[email protected] (Technical Support)

[email protected] (Customer Support)

Asia-Paciﬁ c

Address: Super Micro Computer, Inc.

4F, No. 232-1, Liancheng Rd.

Chung-Ho 235, Taipei County

Taiwan, R.O.C.

Tel: +886-(2) 8226-3990

Fax: +886-(2) 8226-3991

Web Site: www.supermicro.com.tw

Technical Support:

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 886-2-8228-1366, ext.132 or 139

vi

Table of Contents

Preface ...........................................................................................................3

Chapter 1 Introduction .............................................................................1-1

1-1 Overview .........................................................................................................1-1

Checklist ..........................................................................................................1-1

X7DCX Quick Reference ................................................................................1-4

X7DCX Jumpers ............................................................................................1-4

X7DCX Connectors/Headers ..........................................................................1-5

Motherboard Features ..................................................................................... 1-6

1-2 Chipset and Processor Features Overview ....................................................1-9

The 5100 Memory Controller Hub (MCH) .......................................................1-9

The Ninth Generation I/O Controller Hub (ICH9R) .........................................1-9

1-3 Special Features ...........................................................................................1-10

1-4 PC Health Monitoring ....................................................................................1-10

1-5 ACPI Features ................................................................................................1-11

Slow Blinking LED for Suspend-State Indicator ............................................1-11

Main Switch Override Mechanism ................................................................ 1-12

External Modem Ring-On ............................................................................. 1-12

1-6 Power Supply ................................................................................................1-12

1-7 Super I/O .......................................................................................................1-13

Chapter 2 Installation ................................................................................2-1

2-1 Static-Sensitive Devices .................................................................................. 2-1

Precautions .....................................................................................................2-1

Unpacking .......................................................................................................2-1

2-2 Mounting the Motherboard in the Chassis ......................................................2-2

Installation Procedures .................................................................................... 2-2

2-3 Installing a Processor and Heatsink Fans ......................................................2-4

Installing the LGA771 Processor ....................................................................2-4

Loading the Processor into the Socket ...........................................................2-5

Installing the Heatsink ..................................................................................... 2-6

Uninstalling the Heatsink ................................................................................2-6

2-4 Installing DIMMs ..............................................................................................2-8

DIMM Installation ............................................................................................2-8

Memory Support .............................................................................................. 2-8

Possible System Memory Allocation & Availability ..................................... 2-9

2-5 Control Panel Connectors/IO Ports...............................................................2-10

Back Panel Connectors/IO Ports ..................................................................2-10

X7DCX User's Manual

Table of Contents

vii

Front Control Panel ........................................................................................2-11

Front Control Panel Pin Deﬁ nitions...............................................................2-12

NMI Button ............................................................................................... 2-12

Power LED ...............................................................................................2-12

HDD LED ..................................................................................................2-13

NIC1/NIC2 LED Indicators .......................................................................2-13

Overheat/Fan Fail LED (OH)....................................................................2-14

Power Fail LED ........................................................................................ 2-14

Reset Button .............................................................................................2-15

Power Button ............................................................................................ 2-15

2-6 Connecting to the Headers and Connectors ................................................ 2-16

Power Connectors ......................................................................................... 2-16

ATX Power Connector ..............................................................................2-16

Processor Power Connector ....................................................................2-16

Fan Headers ................................................................................................. 2-17

Fan Headers .............................................................................................2-17

I/O Connections ............................................................................................ 2-18

ATX PS/2 Keyboard and PS/2 Mouse Ports ............................................ 2-18

Serial Ports ...............................................................................................2-18

Universal Serial Bus (USB) ...................................................................... 2-19

GLAN 1/2 (Giga-bit Ethernet Ports) .........................................................2-19

VGA Connector ........................................................................................ 2-20

Serial ATA Ports........................................................................................2-20

T-SGPIO Headers .................................................................................... 2-21

Onboard Headers .......................................................................................... 2-22

Wake-On-Ring .......................................................................................... 2-22

Wake-On-LAN .......................................................................................... 2-22

Power LED/Speaker .................................................................................2-23

Chassis Intrusion ...................................................................................... 2-23

SMB ..........................................................................................................2-24

Power I

2

C Connector ................................................................................ 2-24

2-7 Jumper Settings ............................................................................................2-25

Explanation of Jumpers ................................................................................ 2-25

GLAN Enable/Disable ..............................................................................2-25

CMOS Clear .............................................................................................2-26

Watch Dog Enable/Disable ......................................................................2-26

VGA Enable/Disable ................................................................................. 2-27

I

2

C Bus to PCI Slots ................................................................................. 2-27

2-8 Onboard Indicators ........................................................................................ 2-28

viii

GLAN LEDs .............................................................................................. 2-28

Onboard Power LED ................................................................................ 2-28

2-9 Floppy, SIMSO IPMI and HDD Connections ................................................2-29

Floppy Connector ..................................................................................... 2-29

IDE Connector .......................................................................................... 2-30

SIMSO IPMI Slot ..................................................................................... 2-30

Chapter 3 Troubleshooting ......................................................................3-1

3-1 Troubleshooting Procedures ........................................................................... 3-1

Before Power On ........................................................................................... 3-1

No Power ........................................................................................................ 3-1

No Video ......................................................................................................... 3-2

Losing the System’s Setup Conﬁ guration .......................................................3-2

3-2 Technical Support Procedures ........................................................................3-2

3-3 Frequently Asked Questions ........................................................................... 3-3

3-4 Returning Merchandise for Service.................................................................3-4

Chapter 4 BIOS ..........................................................................................4-1

4-1 Introduction ......................................................................................................4-1

System BIOS ...................................................................................................4-1

How To Change the Conﬁ guration Data ......................................................... 4-1

Starting the Setup Utility ................................................................................. 4-1

4-2 Running Setup ................................................................................................ 4-2

4-3 Main BIOS Setup ............................................................................................ 4-2

4-4 Advanced Setup .............................................................................................. 4-7

4-5 Security .........................................................................................................4-23

4-6 Boot ...............................................................................................................4-24

4-7 Exit ................................................................................................................4-25

Appendix A BIOS POST Error Codes ..................................................... A-1

A-1 Recoverable POST Errors ..............................................................................A-1

Appendix B Installing the Windows OS ................................................. B-1

B-1 Installing the Windows XP/2003 OS for systems with RAID Functions .........B-1

B-2 Installing the Windows OS to Systems without RAID Functions ....................B-2

Appendix C Installing Other Software Programs and Drivers ............ C-1

C-1 Installing Other Drivers ...................................................................................C-1

C-2 Conﬁ guring Supero Doctor II ..........................................................................C-2

X7DCX User's Manual

Chapter 1: Introduction

1-1

Chapter 1

Introduction

1-1 Overview

Checklist

Congratulations on purchasing your computer motherboard from an acknowledged

leader in the industry. Supermicro boards are designed with the utmost attention to

detail to provide you with the highest standards in quality and performance. Check

that the following items have all been included with your motherboard. If anything

listed here is damaged or missing, contact your retailer.

All the following items are included in the retail box.

One (1) Supermicro Mainboard

•

One (1) ﬂ oppy cable (CBL-0022L)•

One (1) IDE cable (CBL-036L-03)•

Six (6) SATA cables (CBL-0044L)•

One (1) I/O Backplane (CSE-PT07L))•

One (1) Supermicro CD containing drivers and utilities•

One (1) User's/BIOS Manual (MNL-1029)•

1-2

X7DCX User's Manual

X7DCX Image

Note: The drawings and pictures shown in this manual were based on the

latest PCB Revision available at the time of publishing of the manual. The

motherboard you’ve received may or may not look exactly the same as the

graphics shown in the manual.

Chapter 1: Introduction

1-3

X7DCX Motherboard Layout

Notes:

Jumpers not indicated are for test purposes only.

•

See Chapter 2 for detailed information on jumpers, I/O ports and JF1 front panel •

connections.

" " indicates the location of Pin 1.

•

JPW3

JSMB1

JUSB3

JUSB2

JUSB4

JUSB5

JBT1

JBAT1

JD1

SP1

JPG1

JPL2

JWD1

CPU1

JF1

CH0_DIMM2

CH0_DIMM0

CH1_DIMM0

CH1_DIMM2

CH1_DIMM1

CH0_DIMM1

JPW1

DP1

JI2C2

JI2C1

JL1

Fan3

X7DCX

SIMSO

USB7

USB6

USB4/5

I-SATA5

I-SATA4

I-SATA3

I-SATA1

I-SATA2

I-SATA0

CPU1 Fan

CPU2 Fan

Slo3 PCI-Ex8

Slot4 PCI-Ex8

SMBus1

Fan6

Fan1

Fan8

T-SGPIO2

JWOL

Fan7

Fan2

Floppy

IDE

Fan4

USB2/3

PWR I2C

KB/MS

USB0/1

COM1

VGA

LAN1

LAN2

Slot6 PCI-Ex8

Slot5 PCI-Ex8(in x16slot)

Slot7 PCI-Ex4(inx8 slot)

Slot1 PCI 33MHz

JWOR

COM2

Fan5

JPW2

T-SGPIO1

CPU2

BIOS

JPL1

Slo2 PCI-Ex8

LAN

CTRL

LAN

CTRL

DIMM1B

DIMM1A

DIMM2B

DIMM2A

DIMM3B

DIMM3A

Intel

North Bridge

Intel

South Bridge

VGA

CTRL

S I/O

PLX

PCI-Exp.

Switch

IDE

CTRL

1-4

X7DCX User's Manual

JPW3

JSMB1

JUSB3

JUSB2

JUSB4

JUSB5

JBT1

JBAT1

JD1

SP1

JPG1

JPL2

JWD1

CPU1

JF1

CH0_DIMM2

CH0_DIMM0

CH1_DIMM0

CH1_DIMM2

CH1_DIMM1

CH0_DIMM1

JPW1

DP1

JI2C2

JI2C1

JL1

Fan3

X7DCX

SIMSO

USB7

USB6

USB4/5

I-SATA5

I-SATA4

I-SATA3

I-SATA1

I-SATA2

I-SATA0

CPU1 Fan

CPU2 Fan

Slo3 PCI-Ex8

Slot4 PCI-Ex8

SMBus1

Fan6

Fan1

Fan8

T-SGPIO2

JWOL

Fan7

Fan2

Floppy

IDE

Fan4

USB2/3

PWR I2C

KB/MS

USB0/1

COM1

VGA

LAN1

LAN2

Slot6 PCI-Ex8

Slot5 PCI-Ex8(in x16slot)

Slot7 PCI-Ex4(inx8 slot)

Slot1 PCI 33MHz

JWOR

COM2

Fan5

JPW2

T-SGPIO1

CPU2

BIOS

JPL1

Slo2 PCI-Ex8

LAN

CTRL

LAN

CTRL

DIMM1B

DIMM1A

DIMM2B

DIMM2A

DIMM3B

DIMM3A

Intel

North Bridge

Intel

South Bridge

VGA

CTRL

S I/O

PLX

PCI-Exp.

Switch

IDE

CTRL

16

48

49

50

51

52

53

X7DCX Quick Reference

X7DCX Jumpers

Jumper Label Description Default Setting

JBT1 26 CMOS Clear (See Chapter 2)

JI

2

C1/JI

2

C2 19/20 SMB to PCI slots Connect Enable Off (Disabled)

JPL1/JPL2 5/11 LAN1/2 Enable/Disable Pins 1-2 (Enabled)

JPG1 18 VGA Enable/Disable Pins 1-2 (Enabled)

JWD1 40 Watch Dog Pins 1-2 (Reset)

1718192021 22

23

24

25

26 27 28

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

5455

565758

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

293031

3233

34

35

36

Chapter 1: Introduction

1-5

X7DCX Connectors/Headers

Connector Label Description

BIOS Chip 24 Phoenix BIOS SPI Chip

COM1/COM2 3/16 COM1/COM2 Serial Port/Header

Fans 1~6

Fan1: 51, Fan2: 49,

Fans 1~6: Chassis/System FansFan3: 45, Fan4: 36,

Fan5: 57, Fan6: 58

Fans 7~8 Fan7: 54, Fan8: 44 CPU Fans

Floppy 38 Floppy Drive Connector

IDE 37 IDE Connector

I-SATA0 ~5 34/33/32/31/30/29 Intel (South Bridge) SATA Ports 0~5

JBAT1 43 Onboard Battery

JD1 47 Onboard Speaker/Power LED

JF1 50 Front Panel Control Connector

JL1 35 Chassis Intrusion Header

JPW1 52 12V 8-Pin Auxiliary PWR Connector

JPW2 55 ATX 24-pin Main Power Connector

JPW3 56 4-Pin CPU PWR Connector

JWOL 21 Wake-On-LAN Header

JWOR 17 Wake-On-Ring Header

LAN1/2 6/7 Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) Ports

KB/MS 1 Keyboard/Mouse (JKM1)

PWR I

2

C 53 Power Supply SMBus I

2

C Header

SIMSO 39 SIMSO (Remote Management) IPMI

SMBus1 (JSMB1) 22 System Management Bus

SP1 46 Internal Buzzer/Speaker

T-SGPIO1/2 42/41 SATA General Purpose I/O Headers

USB 0~1 2 Back Panel Universal Serial Bus (USB)

USB 2~3, 4~5 USB2/3:28, 4/5: 27 Front Panel USB Headers #2~3, #4~5

USB 6~7 USB 6: 23, 7: 25 FP USB Connectors #6~7

VGA 4 VGA Connector

X7DCX LED Indicators

LED Label Description

DP1 48 Power LED

1-6

X7DCX User's Manual

Motherboard Features

CPU

Dual Intel•

®

64-bit Xeon LGA 771 Quad-Core/Dual-Core 5400/5300/5200/5100

Sequence processors at a front side bus speed of 1333 MHz/1066 MHz

Memory

Six 240-pin DIMM sockets with support up to 48 GB ECC Buffered (Registered) •

DDR2 667/533 MHz Memory (See Section 2-4 in Chapter 2 for DIMM Slot

Population.)

Chipset

Intel 5100 chipset, including: the 5100 Memory Control Hub (MCH), and the •

ICH9R South Bridge

Expansion Slots

Six PCI-Exp.x8 slots (Slots 2~6, one in x16 slot: Slot5)•

One PCI-Exp. x4 in x8 slot (Slot7)•

One PCI 33MHz slot (Slot1)•

One SIMSO IPMI slot (with full KVM support if a SIMSO+ Add-on Card is •

installed)

BIOS

16 Mb Phoenix•

®

SPI Flash EEPROM

DMI 2.3, PCI 2.2, APM 1.2, ACPI 1.0/2.0, Plug and Play (PnP), USB Keyboard

•

support, Hardware BIOS Virus Protection, and SMBIOS 2.3

PC Health Monitoring

Onboard voltage monitors for CPU core, Memory, Chipset, +1.8V, +3.3V, +5V, •

+12V, −12V, +3.3V standby, +5V standby and VBAT)

Fan status monitor with ﬁ rmware control

•

CPU/chassis temperature monitors•

Low noise fan speed control •

Fan status monitor for on-off control•

CPU fan auto-off in sleep mode•

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) fan control•

I•

2

C temperature sensing logic

Thermal Monitor 2 (TM2) support

•

PECI Ready (Platform Environment Control Interface)•

CPU slow-down on temperature overheat•

Chapter 1: Introduction

1-7

CPU thermal trip support for processor protection•

Power-up mode control for recovery from AC power loss•

Chassis intrusion detection•

System resource alert via Supero Doctor III•

ACPI Features

Slow blinking LED for suspend state indicator•

Main switch override mechanism•

ACPI Power Management•

Power-on mode for power recovery•

Onboard I/O

Six SATA 2 ports (supporting RAID0, 1,10 and 5 in the Windows OS environ-•

ment)

One SIMSO IPMI socket

•

Two Intel 82573V and 82573L LAN chips support two Giga-bit LAN ports•

One EIDE Ultra DMA/100 bus master interface supports UDMA Mode 5 and •

PIO Mode 4

One ﬂ oppy port interface

•

Two COM ports(1 header, 1 port) supports Fast UART 16550 connections•

Up to eight USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) (two ports, two headers and two •

Type A connectors)

Super I/O: Winbond W83627DHG

•

XGI Z9s 32 MB Controller supports one VGA port•

Other

External modem ring-on•

Wake-on-LAN (WOL)•

Wake-on-Ring (WOR)•

Console redirection•

Onboard Fan Speed Control by Thermal Management via BIOS•

CD/Diskette Utilities•

BIOS ﬂ ash upgrade utility and device drivers•

Dimensions

Extended ATX 13.0" (L) x 12" (W) (330.2 mm x 304.8 mm)•

1-8

X7DCX User's Manual

Block Diagram

Note: This is a general block diagram. Please see the previous Motherboard Fea-

tures pages for details on the features of each motherboard.

USB 2.0

Ports

Port

#0

Intel 5100

Porcessor#2

ICH9R

VGA

PCI 33MMz

Volari/Z9S

VGA

CONN

VRD

#2,3

#6,7

VRD

1067/1333

MT/S

1067/1333

MT/S

USB

#0

#1

#2

#3

#4

PCIE x4

#0-2

#0-1

DDR2 667

#1-2

#1-1

DDR2 667

DMI

Lane 6

Lanes1/2/3/4

82573L

DDR2 SDRAM 32MB

PCI-E x8

#4

#5

3.0 Gb/S

SATA

#0

#1

#2

#3

#5

#6

LAN

#7

PCI Slot

82573V

LAN

RJ45

LAN1

Lane 5

#0-3

#1-3

RJ45

LAN2

#4,5

PEX8532

PCI-E Bridge

PCI-E X16

PCI-E x8

IT8213F

IDE

CONN

MCH

COM2

Internal/SOL

SPI

LPC

COM1

External

SIO

W83627DHG

KB

MS

Porcessor#1

Ports

PCI-E x8

PCI-E x4

PCI-E x8

PCI-E x1

SIMSO

Chapter 1: Introduction

1-9

1-2 Chipset and Processor Features Overview

Built upon the functionality and the capability of the Intel 5100 chipset, the

X7DCX motherboard provides the performance and feature set required for dual

processor-based high-end computer systems with conﬁ guration options optimized

for intensive computing, high energy-efﬁ ciency and complex business applications.

The 5100 chipset supports single or dual Intel Xeon 64-bit Quad-Core/Dual-Core

5400/5300/5200/5100 Sequence processors with front side bus speeds of up to

1333 MHz. The chipset consists of the 5100 Memory Controller Hub (MCH), Intel

I/O Controller Hub (ICH9R) and the I/O subsystem.

The 5100 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)

The Intel 5100 MCH chip is designed for symmetric multiprocessing across two

independent front side bus interfaces. Each front side bus uses a 64-bit wide,

1333/1066 MTS data bus capable of transferring data at 8.5/10.6 GB/s for a total

bandwidth of 17/21.3 GB/s. The MCH supports a 36-bit wide address bus and up

to four DDR2 667 MHz/533 MHz DIMM modules, providing a total memory capacity

of up to 48 GB.

The 5100 MCH also provides three x8 PCI-Express interfaces and one x4 DMI

Interface to the ICH9R. Each PCI Express port on the MCH provides 4 GB/s bi-

directional bandwidth if conﬁ gured as a x8 port, or 2 GB/s bi-directional bandwidth

if conﬁ gured as a x4 port.

The Ninth Generation I/O Controller Hub (ICH9R)

The I/O Controller ICH9R provides the data buffering and interface arbitration re-

quired for the system to operate efﬁ ciently. It also provides the bandwidth needed

for the system to maintain its peak performance. The Direct Media Interface (DMI)

provides the connection between the MCH and the ICH9R. The ICH9R supports up

to one PCI-Express x16 slot, six Serial ATA ports and six USB 2.0 ports. In addition,

the ICH9R offers the Intel Matrix Storage Technology which provides various RAID

options for data protection and rapid data access. It also supports the next genera-

tion of client management through the use of PROActive technology in conjunction

with Intel's next generation Gigabit Ethernet controllers.

1-10

X7DCX User's Manual

1-3 Special Features

Recovery from AC Power Loss

BIOS provides a setting for you to determine how the system will respond when

AC power is lost and then restored to the system. You can choose for the system

to remain powered off (in which case you must hit the power switch to turn it

back on) or for it to automatically return to a power- on state. See the Power Lost

Control setting in the Advanced BIOS Setup section to change this setting. The

default setting is Last State.

1-4 PC Health Monitoring

This section describes the PC health monitoring features of the X7DCX. All have an

onboard System Hardware Monitor chip that supports PC health monitoring.

Voltage Monitoring

An onboard voltage monitor will scan the CPU Core, Chipset, +1.8V, +3.3V, +5V,

+12V, -12V, +3.3V Standby, +5V Standby and VBAT voltages continuously. Once

a voltage becomes unstable, a warning is given or an error message is sent to

the screen. Users can adjust the voltage thresholds to deﬁ ne the sensitivity of the

voltage monitor.

Fan Status Monitor with Firmware Control

The PC health monitor can check the RPM status of the cooling fans. The onboard

CPU and chassis fans are controlled by Thermal Management via BIOS (under

Hardware Monitoring in the Advanced Setting).

Environmental Temperature Control

The thermal control sensor monitors the CPU temperature in real time and will turn

on the thermal control fan whenever the CPU temperature exceeds a user-deﬁ ned

threshold. The overheat circuitry runs independently from the CPU. Once it detects

that the CPU temperature is too high, it will automatically turn on the thermal fan

control to prevent any overheat damage to the CPU. The onboard chassis thermal

circuitry can monitor the overall system temperature and alert users when the chas-

sis temperature is too high.

Chapter 1: Introduction

1-11

CPU Overheat LED and Control

This feature is available when the user enables the CPU overheat warning function

in the BIOS. This allows the user to deﬁ ne an overheat temperature. When the CPU

temperature reaches the pre-deﬁ ned overheat threshold, both the overheat fan and

the warning LED are triggered.

System Resource Alert

This feature is available when used with Supero Doctor III in the Windows OS

environment or used with Supero Doctor II in Linux. Supero Doctor is used to

notify the user of certain system events. For example, if the system is running

low on virtual memory and there is insufﬁ cient hard drive space for saving the

data, you can be alerted of the potential problem. You can also conﬁ gure Supero

Doctor to provide you with warnings when the system temperature goes beyond

a pre-deﬁ ned range.

1-5 ACPI Features

ACPI stands for Advanced Conﬁ guration and Power Interface. The ACPI speciﬁ -

cation deﬁ nes a ﬂ exible and abstract hardware interface that provides a standard

way to integrate power management features throughout a PC system, including

its hardware, operating system and application software. This enables the system

to automatically turn on and off peripherals such as CD-ROMs, network cards,

hard disk drives and printers. This also includes consumer devices connected to

the PC such as VCRs, TVs, telephones and stereos.

In addition to enabling operating system-directed power management, ACPI

provides a generic system event mechanism for Plug and Play and an operating

system-independent interface for conﬁ guration control. ACPI leverages the Plug

and Play BIOS data structures while providing a processor architecture-indepen-

dent implementation that is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP and

Windows 2003 Servers.

Slow Blinking LED for Suspend-State Indicator

When the CPU goes into a suspend state, the chassis power LED will start blinking

to indicate that the CPU is in suspend mode. When the user presses any key, the

CPU will wake-up and the LED will automatically stop blinking and remain on.

1-12

X7DCX User's Manual

Main Switch Override Mechanism

When an ATX power supply is used, the power button can function as a system

suspend button to make the system enter a SoftOff state. The monitor will be

suspended and the hard drive will spin down. Pressing the power button again

will cause the whole system to wake-up. During the SoftOff state, the ATX power

supply provides power to keep the required circuitry in the system alive. In case

the system malfunctions and you want to turn off the power, just press and hold

the power button for 4 seconds. This option can be set in the Power section of the

BIOS Setup routine.

External Modem Ring-On

Wake-up events can be triggered by a device such as the external modem ringing

when the system is in the Standby or Off state. The external modem ring-on can

only be used with an ATX 2.01 (or above) compliant power supply.

Wake-On-LAN is deﬁ ned as the ability of a management application to remotely

power up a computer that is powered off. Remote PC setup, up-dates and asset

tracking can occur after hours and on weekends so that daily LAN trafﬁ c is kept

to a minimum and users are not interrupted. The motherboard has a 3-pin header

(WOL) to connect to the 3-pin header on a Network Interface Card (NIC) that has

WOL capability. In addition, an onboard LAN controller can also support WOL

without any connection to the WOL header. The 3-pin WOL header is to be used

with a LAN add-on card only.

Note: Wake-On-LAN requires an ATX 2.01 (or above) compliant power supply.

1-6 Power Supply

As with all computer products, a stable power source is necessary for proper and

reliable operation. It is even more important for processors that have high CPU

clock rates.

The X7DCX can only accommodate 24-pin ATX power supply. Although most power

supplies generally meet the speciﬁ cations required by the motherboard, some are

inadequate. You should use one that will supply at least 400W of power, depend-

ing on your system conﬁ guration. In addition, the 12V 8-pin is also required for

adequate power supply to the CPU. Also your power supply must supply 1.5A for

the Ethernet ports.

It is strongly recommended that you use a high quality power supply that meets

ATX power supply Speciﬁ cation 2.02 or above. It must also be SSI compliant (info

at http://www.ssiforum.org/). Additionally, in areas where noisy power transmission

is present, you may choose to install a line ﬁ lter to shield the computer from noise.

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Supermicro X7DCX User manual

Supermicro X7DCX User manual

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