1.3Special features

1.3.1Product highlights

Latest processor technology

The motherboard comes with a 939-pin surface mount, Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) socket that supports AMD Athlon™ 64/Athlon™ 64 FX/Athlon™ 64 X2 processors. With an integrated low-latency high-bandwidth memory controller and a highly-scalable HyperTransport™ technology-based system bus, the motherboard provides a powerful platform for your diverse computing needs, increased office productivity, and enhanced digital media experience. See page 2-6.

ATI CrossFire™ Xpress 3200

The motherboard features ATI CrossFire™ Xpress 3200 support, delivering improved overclocking and optimal PCI Express device performance. The combined multi-GPU power boosts image quality and rendering speed for the highest quality images. With its optimized peer-to-peer and general link performance GPU sharing, you are a step ahead in graphics and gaming effects. The chipset allows higher antialiasing, anisotropic filtering, sharing, and texture settings. The ATI CrossFire™ Xpress 3200 also comes with the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center that allows you to get real-time 3D-rendered previews of adjustments to your display configurations and advanced 3D settings.

PCI Express™ interface

The motherboard fully supports PCI Express, the latest I/O interconnect technology that speeds up the PCI bus. PCI Express features point-to-point serial interconnections between devices and allows higher clockspeeds by carrying data in packets. This high speed interface is software compatible with existing PCI specifications. See page 2-17 for details.

Serial ATA 3Gb/s technology

The motherboard supports the Serial ATA II 3 Gb/s technology through the Serial ATA interfaces and the ULI M1575 Southbridge. The Serial ATA II 3 Gb/s specification provides twice the bandwidth of the current Serial ATA products with a host of new features, including Native Command Queueing (NCQ), and Power Management (PM) Implementation Algorithm. Serial ATA allows for thinner, more flexible cables with lower pin count, reduced voltage requirement. See page 2-23 for details.

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Chapter 1: Product introduction