Theory of Operation
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3.4.1.4 PCI Express x16 Slot
The development board provides access to one x16 PCI Express* connector. Any
industry standard x1 or x16 PCI Express* video adapter may be used with this
interface. Additionally, any industry standard non-graphics x1, x4 or x8 adapter may
also be used. x2 adapters are not part of the PCI Express* specification but x2 non-
graphics devices are also supported.
Note: The AMI BIOS that is included with the development board is configured to allow x2,
x4 and x8 non-graphics support through the x16 PCI Express* connector. If the user
wishes to use another BIOS on the development board then the BIOS may need to be
modified to support this feature.
3.4.2 ICH8-M The ICH8-M is a highly integrated multifunctional I/O controller hub that provides the
interface to the system peripherals and integrates many of the functions needed in
today’s PC platforms. The following sections describe the development board
implementation of the ICH8-M features, which are listed below:
• Three PCI Express* (x1) connectors
• One PCI connectors
• LPC interface
• System Bus Management
• ACPI* 3.0 compliant
• Real Time Clock
• 676-ball mBGA package
• Three SATA drive connectors
• One IDE connector
• Ten Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 ports (five ports provided on rear-panel,
four provided via headers (J6H3, J6H4) and one on the docking connector.
3.4.2.1 PCI Express* Slots
The development board has three x1 PCI Express* slots for add-in cards. The PCI
Express* interface is compliant to the PCI Express* Rev. 1.1 Specification.
Note: There are actually Five x1 PCI Express* slots but slots 2 and 4 are not intended for
use with PCI Express* add-in cards. Only slots 1, 3 and 5 are supported.
3.4.2.2 PCI Slots
The development board has one 5V PCI slot for add-in cards. The PCI bus is compliant
to the PCI Rev. 2.3 Specification at 32-bit/33 MHz