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Asus A8N-SLI 1.3.1Product highlights, 1.3Special features, Latest processor technology, AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology, Built-inNVFirewall™ and NVActiveArmor™

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1.3Special features

1.3.1Product highlights

Latest processor technology

The AMD Athlon™ 64FX and Athlon™ 64 desktop processors are based on AMD’s 64-bit and 32-bit architecture, which represents the landmark introduction of the industry’s first x86-64 technology. These processors provide a dramatic leap forward in compatibility, performance, investment protection, and reduced total cost of ownership and development.

See page 2-6.

Scalable Link Interface (SLI™) technology

The NVIDIA® nForce4® Scalable Link Interface (SLI™) technology allows two graphics processing units (GPUs) in a single system. This technology takes advantage of the PCI Express™ bus architecture and features intelligent hardware and software solutions that allows multiple GPUs to work together and achieve exceptional graphics performance. See Chapter 6 for details.

Built-in NVFirewall™ and NVActiveArmor™

The NVIDIA® Firewall™ (NVFirewall™) is an easy-to-use high-performance desktop firewall application that protects your system from intruders. Integrated into the NVIDIA® nForce4® SLI™ chipset with the NVIDIA® Gigabit Ethernet, it provides advanced anti-computer-hacking technologies, remote management capabilities, and a user-friendly setup wizard that improves overall system security.

Enhancing your network security is the NVIDIA® ActiveArmor™

(NV ActiveArmor™) engine that provides advanced data packet inspection. This innovative technology ensures that only safe data packets are passed on the network. It boosts overall system performance by offloading the CPU from the rigorous task of filtering data packets. See page 5-18 for details.

AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology

The motherboard supports the AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology that dynamically and automatically changes the CPU speed, voltage and amount of power depending on the task the CPU performs. See pages 4-20 and 5-41.

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Chapter 1: Product introduction

Contents

Page E1952 First Edition March Contents Chapter 1: Product introduction Chapter 2: Hardware information Chapter 3: Powering up Chapter 4: BIOS setup Chapter 5: Software support Chapter 6: SLI™ technology support Appendix Federal Communications Commission Statement Canadian Department of Communications Statement Electrical safety Operation safety How this guide is organized Where to find more information Conventions used in this guide A8N-SLIPremium specifications summary Page Page Page Chapter summary 1.1Welcome Thank you for buying an ASUS® A8N-SLIPremium motherboard 1.2Package contents Motherboard I/O modules 1.3.1Product highlights HyperTransport™ Technology Dual Channel DDR memory support Serial ATA II technology Dual RAID solution PCI Express™ interface S/PDIF digital sound ready IEEE 1394a support USB 2.0 technology Temperature, fan, and voltage monitoring 1.3.2ASUS Proactive features 1.3.3Innovative ASUS features ASUS Multi-languageBIOS ASUS MyLogo2™ ASUS Instant Music Page Hardware2 information Page 2.1Before you proceed Onboard LEDs 2.2.1Placement direction 2.2.2Screw holes 2.2.3Motherboard layout 2.2.4Layout Contents Page 2.3.1Overview 2.3.2Installling the CPU Page 2.3.3Installing the heatsink and fan Page Page 2.4.1Overview 2.4.2Memory Configurations Table DDR400 Qualified Vendors List Page 2.4.3Installing a DIMM 2.4.4Removing a DIMM 2.5.1Installing an expansion card 2.5.2Configuring an expansion card 2.5.3Interrupt assignments 2.5.4PCI slots 2.5.5Two PCI Express x16 slots 2.5.6PCI Express x1 slot 2.5.7PCI Express x4 slot 2.6 Jumpers 1 . Clear RTC RAM (CLRTC) 2.7.1Rear panel connectors 9 . Microphone port (pink) Audio 2, 4, 6, or 8-channelconfiguration 11 . USB 2.0 ports 3 and 12 . USB 2.0 ports 1 and 13 . IEEE 1394a port 2.7.2 Internal connectors 3 . Serial ATA connectors (7-pinSATA1, SATA2, SATA3, SATA4) Page Page 6 . Serial port connector (10-1pin COM1) 7 . USB connectors (10-1pin USB56, USB78, USB910) 8 . ATX power connectors (24-pinEATXPWR1, 4-pinATX12V1, 4-pinEZ_PLUG) Power supply requirements 9 . Internal audio connectors (4-pinCD, AUX) 10 . GAME/MIDI port connector (16-1pin GAME) 11 . Chassis intrusion connector (4-1pin CHASSIS) 12 . IEEE 1394 connector (10-1pin IE1394_2) 13 . Front panel audio connector (10-1pin FP_AUDIO) 14 . System panel connector (20-pinPANEL) •System power LED (Green 3-pinPLED) •Hard disk drive activity (Red 2-pinIDE_LED) Page Page Page 3.1Starting up for the first time 3.2.1Using the OS shut down function 3.2.2Using the dual function power switch 3.3.1Vocal POST messages Page 3.3.2Winbond Voice Editor Changing the default language Load Write Yes Customizing your POST messages Add Add Wave File Edit Event Sound Editor Save .flh Page Page 4.1.1Creating a bootable floppy disk 4.1.2Updating the BIOS File Name to Program 4.1.3Saving the current BIOS file 4.1.4ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2 utility Recovering the BIOS from a floppy disk 4.1.5ASUS EZ Flash utility 4.1.6ASUS Update utility Updating the BIOS through the Internet Updating the BIOS through a BIOS file 4.2BIOS setup program 4.2.1BIOS menu screen 4.2.2Menu bar 4.2.3Legend bar 4.2.4Menu items 4.2.5Sub-menuitems 4.2.6Configuration fields 4.2.7Pop-upwindow 4.2.8General help 4.3.1System Time [xx:xx:xxxx] 4.3.2System Date [Day xx/xx/xxxx] 4.3.3Language [English] 4.3.4Legacy Diskette A [1.44M, 3.5 in.] 4.3.5Primary and Secondary IDE Master/Slave Access Mode [Auto] Transfer Mode 4.3.5First, Second, Third, Fourth SATA Master 4.3.7HDD SMART Monitoring 4.3.8Installed Memory 4.4.1CPU Configuration DRAM Configuration Hyper Transport Frequency [Auto] AMD K8 Cool’n’Quiet control [Disabled] 4.4.2PCIPnP 4.4.3Onboard Devices Configuration IDE Function Setup OnChip IDE Channel0 [Enabled] OnChip IDE Channel1 [Enabled] IDE DMA transfer access [Enabled] Serial Port 1, 2 [Enabled] SATA2 DMA transfer [Enabled] IDE Prefetch Mode [Enabled] NVRAID Configuration RAID Enabled [Disabled] IDE Primary, Secondary Master/Slave RAID [Disabled] USB Configuration USB Controller [Enabled] USB 2.0 Controller [Enabled] USB Legacy Support [Enabled] Onboard NV LAN [Enabled] OnBoard LAN2 Boot ROM [Disabled] AC97 Audio [Enabled] PCI IEEE 1394a [Enabled] Silicon SATA Controller [Enabled] Serial Port1 Address [3F8/IRQ4] 4.4.4SLI Configuration 4.4.5JumperFree Configuration PCI Express Clock [100MHz] DDR Voltage [Auto] Chipset Voltage [+1.5V] HT Voltage [+1.2V] CPU Multiplier [Auto] 4.4.6LAN Cable Status 4.4.7PEG Link Mode 4.4.8Speech Configuration 4.4.9Instant Music 4.5.1ACPI Suspend Type [S1&S3] 4.5.2ACPI APIC Support [Enabled] 4.5.3APM Configuration Power On By RTC Alarm [Disabled] Day of Month Alarm [Disabled] Time (hh:mm:ss) Alarm [Disabled] Power Up By PS/2 Mouse [Disabled] Power On By PS/2 Keyboard [Disabled] 4.5.4Hardware Monitor CPU Target Temperature CPU Fan Speed warning [1200 RPM] CHA1 Fan Speed warning [Disabled] CHIP Fan Speed warning [Enabled] 4.6.1Boot Device Priority 4.6.2Removable Drives 4.6.3Hard Disk Drives 4.6.4CDROM Drives 4.6.5Boot Settings Configuration Boot Up Floppy Seek [Enabled] Bootup Num-Lock[On] Typematic Rate Setting [Disabled] Typematic Rate (Chars/Sec) Typematic Delay (Msec) 4.6.6Security A note about passwords Forgot your password Password Check 4.7Exit menu Exit & Save Changes Exit & Discard Changes Load Setup Defaults Exit & Save Changes Discard Changes Page Software5 support Page 5.2.1Running the support CD 5.2.2Drivers menu 5.2.3Utilities menu ASUS AI Booster Microsoft DirectX Anti-virusUtility ADOBE Acrobat Reader Winbond Voice Editor 5.2.4Manuals menu 5.2.5ASUS Contact information 5.2.6Other information Browse this CD Technical support Form Filelist 5.4.1ASUS MyLogo2™ Ratio 5.4.2AI NET Using the Virtual Cable Tester™ 5.4.3Audio configurations Sound Effect S/PDIF option SPDIF Speaker Configuration Speaker Configuration Auto Test UAJ Automatic AI Audio feature Connector Sensing Bracket Option HRTF Demo HRTF Demo Play Stop General settings General Language Rear panel audio ports function variation 5.4.4Using the NVIDIA® Firewall™ Setting security profiles Low High Lockdown Anti-hacking Turning the NVFirewall™ off Current Firewall Profile combo list box then select Off 2.Click Turn Firewall OFF 5.5RAID configurations RAID RAID 0+1 JBOD Just a Bunch of Disks 5.5.1Installing hard disks 5.5.2NVIDIA® RAID configurations Entering the NVIDIA® RAID utility Creating a RAID Volume RAID Mode Page Rebuilding a RAID array Page Deleting a RAID array Clearing a disk data 5.5.3Silicon Image RAID configurations Entering the Silicon Image BIOS RAID Configuration Utility Create RAID set Delete RAID set Rebuild RAID1 set Resolve Conflicts Creating a RAID 0 set (Striped) Create RAID set then press <Enter> to display an option menu Creating a RAID 1 set (Mirrored) Create RAID set then press <Enter>. The following sub-menuappears configuration and press Create with data copy, the following pop-upmenu appears Creating a RAID 5 set (Parity) Manual configuration a. Select Manual configuration and Creating a RAID 10 set (Mirrored+Striped) Page Creating a JBOD set (Spanning) 5.6Creating a RAID driver disk Make NVIDIA RAID Driver \Drivers\Sil3114 5.7.1Enabling Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology 5.7.2Launching the Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ software 5.8.1Managing your nForce™ system 5.8.2Clock control 5.8.3Voltage/Fan control 5.8.4Information 5.8.5Other options 5.9.1Launching the ASUS AI Selector 5.9.2Using the SLI mode Page Page Page 6.1.1Requirements 6.1.2ASUS Certified SLI Graphics cards GeForce 6800 GT models GeForce 6600 GT models 6.2.1Installing SLI-readygraphics cards PCIEX16_1 PCIEX16_2 EZ_PLUG 6.2.2Installing the device drivers 6.2.3Installing the ASUS AI Selector utility 6.2.4Enabling the multi-GPUfeature in Windows 6.Select the NVIDIA GeForce tab multi-GPU item 6.2.5Setting the ASUS AI Selector utility Page Page Page A.1.1 Installing the 2-portSATA extension module A.1.2 Installing SATA hard drives