Preface
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  written  consent  of
the  author.
Version  1.0
Disclaimer
The  information  in  this  document  is  subject  to  change  without  notice.  The  manufac-
turer  makes  no  representations  or  warranties  with  respect  to  the  contents  hereof  and
specifically  disclaims  any  implied  warranties  of  merchantability  or  fitness  for  any
particular  purpose.  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.
Trademark Recognition
Microsoft,  MS-DOS  and  Windows  are  registered  trademarks  of  Microsoft  Corp.
MMX,  Pentium,  Pentium-II,  Pentium-III,  Celeron  are  registered  trademarks  of  Intel
Corporation.
Other  product  names  used  in  this  manual  are  the  properties  of  their  respective
owners and are acknowledged.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
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  installa-
tion.  This  equipment  generates,  uses,  and  can  radiate  radio  frequency  energy  and,  if
not  installed  and  used  in  accordance  with  the  instructions,  may  cause  harmful  inter-
ference  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 onto 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
Shielded  interconnect  cables  and  a  shielded AC  power  cable  must  be  employed  with
this equipment to ensure compliance with the pertinent RF emission limits governing
this  device.  Changes  or  modifications  not  expressly  approved  by  the  system’s  manu-
facturer  could  void  the  user’s  authority  to  operate  the  equipment.
Preface
ii
Declaration of Conformity
This  device  complies  with  part  15  of  the  FCC  rules.  Operation  is  subject  to  the
following  conditions:
•
•
This device may not cause harmful interference, and
This device must accept any interference received, including interfer-
ence that may cause undesired operation
Canadian Department of Communications
This  class  B  digital  apparatus  meets  all  requirements  of  the  Canadian  Interference-
causing  Equipment  Regulations.
Cet appareil numérique de la classe B respecte toutes les exigences du Réglement sur
le matériel brouilieur du Canada.
About the Manual
The  manual  consists  of  the  following:
Chapter 1
Introducing the Motherboard
Chapter 2
Installing the Motherboard
Chapter 3
Using BIOS
Chapter 4
Using the Motherboard Software
Chapter 5
ATI CrossfireXTM Technology Support
Chapter 6
Intel® Matrix Storage Manager
RAID Configurations
Preface
Describes  features  of  the
motherboard.
Go to  page  1
Describes  installation  of
motherboard  components.
Go to  page 7
Provides information on us-
ing the BIOS Setup Utility.
Go to  page  25
Describes  the  motherboard
software
Go to 
page  45
Describes the ATI
CrossfireXTM Technology
Go to  page  51
Describes  the  Intel® Matrix
Storage Manager RAID Con-
figurations
Go to  page  55
TTTTTABLE OF CONTENTS
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iii
Preface
                      i
1
Chapter 1
 1
Introducing the Motherboard
                 Introduction.....................................................................................1
                 Feature..............................................................................................2
                 Specifications...................................................................................4
                 Motherboard Components............................................................5
  7  7  7  7  7
Chapter 2
Installing the Motherboard                                                                            7
Safety Precautions............................................................................7
Choosing a Computer Case.............................................................7
Installing the Motherboard in a Case............................................7
Checking Jumper Settings...............................................................8
Setting Jumpers...................................................................8
Checking Jumper Settings...................................................9
Jumper Settings...................................................................9
Connecting Case Components.....................................................10
Front Panel Header...........................................................12
 Installing Hardware........................................................................13
 Installing the Processor.....................................................13
 Installing Memory Modules...............................................15
 Installing a Hard Disk Drive/CD-ROM/SATA Hard Drive..17
Installing a Floppy Diskette Drive....................................18
 Installing Add-on Cards....................................................19
Connecting Optional Devices............................................21
Connecting I/O Devices................................................................23
Chapter 3
Using BIOS
   25
25
 About the Setup Utility........................ ......................................... 25
 The Standard Configuration..............................................25
Entering the Setup Utility...................................................25
Updating the BIOS............................................................27
Using BIOS......................................................................................27
Standard CMOS Setup......................................................28
Advanced Setup.................................................................30
Advanced Chipset Setup....................................................32
iv
Integrated Peripherals.......................................................33
Power Management Setup.................................................34
PCI/PnP Setup...................................................................35
PC Health Status...............................................................36
M.I.B (MB Intelligent BIOS)..............................................39
Load Default Settings........................................................42
Supervisor Password........................................................42
User Password..................................................................43
Save & Exit Setup..............................................................43
Exit Without Saving............................................................43
Chapter 4
Using the Motherboard Software
     45 45 45 45 45
 45
About the Software CD-ROM......................................................45
Auto-installing under Windows XP/Vista..................................45
Running Setup....................................................................46
Manual Installation........................................................................50
Utility Software Reference............................................................50
Chapter 5
ATI CrossFireX™ Technology Support
     51 51 51 51 51
51
Requirements..................................................................................51
Installing a single graphics card..................................................51
Installing CrossFireX™ graphics cards......................................52
The Catalyst™ Control Center Dialog Box.................................54
View....................................................................................54
To Enable CrossFireX™...................................................54
Chapter 6
Intel® Matrix Storage Manager RAID Configurations
     55 55 55 55 55
 55
Before creating a RAID set...........................................................55
Entering  Intel® Matrix Storage Manager RAID BIOS utility...55
Creating a RAID set.......................................................................57
Deleting a RAID set.......................................................................59
Resetting disks to Non-RAID......................................................60
Exiting Setup...................................................................................60
1
Chapter 1
Introducing the Motherboard
Introduction
Thank  you  for  choosing  the  X48T-A  motherboard.  This  motherboard  is  a  high
performance, enhanced function motherboard designed to support the LGA775 socket
Intel® Yorkfield/Wolfdale/CoreTM  2  Extreme/CoreTM 2  Quad/CoreTM  2  Duo  processors
for  high-end  business  or  personal  desktop  markets.
The  motherboard  incorporates  the  Intel X48  Northbridge  (NB)  and  Intel  ICH9-R
Southbridge  (SB)  chipsets.  The  Northbridge  supports  a  Front  Side  Bus  (FSB)  fre-
quency  of  1600/1333/1066/800  MHz  using  a  scalable  FSB  Vcc_CPU.  The  memory
controller  supports  DDR3  memory  DIMM  frequencies  of  1600/1333/1066/800.  It
supports  four  DDR3  sockets  with  up  to  maximum  memory  of  8  GB.  DDR3  Maxi-
mum  memory  bandwidth  of  25.6  GB/s  in  dual-channel  symmetric  mode  assuming
DDR3  1600  MHz.  High  resolution  graphics  via  two  PCI  Express  slots,  intended  for
Graphics Interface, is fully compliant to the PCI Express Base Specification revision
2.0.  It  supports  the ATI  CrossFireXTM  Technology  that  allows  you  to  install  GPU
graphics  cards.
The  ICH9-R  Southbridge  supports  two  PCI  slots  which  are  PCI  v2.3  compliant.  In
addition, two PCI Express x1 slots are supported, fully compliant to the PCI Express
Base  Specification,  Revision  1.1.  It  implements  an  EHCI  compliant  interface  that
provides  480  Mb/s  bandwidth  for  twelve  USB  2.0  ports  (6  USB  ports  and  3  USB
headers  support  additional  6  USB  ports). The  Southbridge  integrates  a  Serial ATA
host controller, supporting six SATA ports with maximum transfer rate up to 3.0 Gb/
s  each.  It  supports  Intel®  Matrix  Storage  Technology,  providing  both AHCI  and
RAID  0,  1,  5  and  10  configuration.
The  motherboard  is  equipped  with  advanced  full  set  of  I/O  ports  in  the  rear  panel,
including  PS/2  mouse  and  keyboard  connectors,  COM,  one  RCA  SPDIFI  port,  one
RCA  SPDIFO  port,  one  optical  SPDIFO  port,  one  ESATA  port,  six  USB  ports,  two
LAN  ports  and  audio  jacks  for  microphone,  line-in  and  6-ch  line-out. Additionally,
one  Heat  pipe  heat  sink  is  supported  for  NB  &  CPU  heat  dissipation.
Introducing the Motherboard
2
Feature
Processor
The  motherboard  uses  an  LGA775  type  of  Intel® Yorkfield/Wolfdale/CoreTM  2
Extreme/CoreTM 2  Quad/CoreTM  2  Duo  that  carries  the  following  features:
•
Accommodates  Intel® Yorkfield/Wolfdale/CoreTM  2  Extreme/CoreTM 2
Quad/CoreTM 2 Duo processors
Supports a system bus (FSB) of 1600/1333/1066/800 MHz
•
•
•
•
•
Chipset
The  X48  Northbridge  (NB)  and  ICH9-R  Southbridge  (SB)  chipsets  are  based  on
an  innovative  and  scalable  architecture  with  proven  reliability  and  performance.
 X48 (NB)
Supports 36-bit host bus addressing, allowing the CPU to
access the entire 64 GB of the memory address space
2 GB/s point-to-point Direct Media Interface (DMI) to ICH9 (1
GB/s each direction)
Supports 512 Mb and 1 Gb DDR3 DRAM technologies for
x8 and x16 devices
Two, 16-lane PCI Express ports intended for external de-
vice attach, compliant to the PCI Express* Base Specifica-
tion revision 2.0
Enhanced DMA Controller, interrupt controller, and timer func-
tions
Compliant with PCI v2.3 specification
Integrated SATA 3.0 Gb/s Host Controller
Supports up to twelve USB 2.0 ports
•
•
•
•        Integrated Gigabit LAN Controller
•
Supports Intel® Matrix Storage Technology, providing both
AHCI and RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 configuration.
ICH9-R
(SB)
•
Memory
•
Supports DDR3 1600/1333/1066/800 DDR SDRAM with Dual-channel
architecture
Accommodates four unbuffered DIMMs
Up to 2 GB per DIMM with maximum memory size up to 8 GB
•
•
Audio
•
•
Compliant with Intel High Definition Audio Codec
8-channel audio CODEC
Onboard LAN (Optional)
•
•
Intel Giga LAN Controller
Realtek Giga LAN Controller
Introducing the Motherboard