AX4SG Max ................................................................................................................................................. 1
What’s in this manual .................................................................................................................................................................... 2
You Must Notice ............................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Before You Start .......................................................................................................................................................................... 10
About “User Upgrade Optional” and “Manufacture Upgrade Optional”… ................................................................................... 21
JP14 Clear CMOS Data .............................................................................................................................................................. 22
CPU Installation........................................................................................................................................................................... 23
CPU Fan Installation ................................................................................................................................................................... 25
CPU Over-current Protection ...................................................................................................................................................... 27
AOpen “Watch Dog ABS”............................................................................................................................................................ 29
Full-range Adjustable CPU Core Voltage.................................................................................................................................... 30
CPU and System Fan Connector (with H/W Monitoring) ............................................................................................................ 32
AC Power Auto Recovery............................................................................................................................................................ 36
IDE and Floppy Connector .......................................................................................................................................................... 37
Serial ATA Supported .................................................................................................................................................................. 39
Connecting Serial ATA Disk......................................................................................................................................................... 40
Support RAID 0 and RAID 1........................................................................................................................................................ 43
Front Panel Connector ................................................................................................................................................................ 44
AGP Protection Technology and AGP LED ................................................................................................................................. 46
WOL (Wake on LAN)................................................................................................................................................................... 47
Support 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN onboard................................................................................................................................... 50
Support USB 2.0 Ports ................................................................................................................................................................ 51
Game Port Bracket Supported .................................................................................................................................................... 54
Color Coded Back Panel ............................................................................................................................................................. 55
S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) Connector...................................................................................................................... 56
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Super 5.1 Channel Audio Effect .................................................................................................................................................. 57
Front Audio Connector ................................................................................................................................................................ 58
Die-Hard BIOS II ......................................................................................................................................................................... 59
JP15/JP16 Dr. Voice Language Select Jumpers......................................................................................................................... 60
CD Audio Connector.................................................................................................................................................................... 62
Case Open Connector................................................................................................................................................................. 64
STBY LED (Standby LED)........................................................................................................................................................... 65
V4 Power Engine......................................................................................................................................................................... 69
The noise is gone!! ---- SilentTek................................................................................................................................................. 71
What are the RAID levels? .......................................................................................................................................................... 83
HDD Capacity of RAID Levels..................................................................................................................................................... 86
Serial ATA RAID for Intel ICH5R.................................................................................................................................................. 87
Serial ATA RAID for Silicon Image 3112A ................................................................................................................................... 89
How To Use Phoenix-Award™ BIOS Setup Program ................................................................................................................. 95
How To Enter BIOS Setup........................................................................................................................................................... 96
BIOS Upgrade under Windows environment .............................................................................................................................. 99
Driver and Utility..................................................................................................................................102
Auto-run Menu from Bonus CD ................................................................................................................................................. 102
Installing Intel Application Accelerator RAID Edition Driver in Windows 2000/XP .................................................................... 106
Installing LAN Driver in Windows 2000/XP ............................................................................................................................... 107
Install LAN Driver in Windows NT 4.0 ........................................................................................................................................111
Installing USB 2.0 Driver ........................................................................................................................................................... 114
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Installing Silicon Image SiI3112A SATA Raid Driver.................................................................................................................. 126
AMR (Audio/Modem Riser) ....................................................................................................................................................... 134
ATA (AT Attachment) ................................................................................................................................................................. 134
Bluetooth ................................................................................................................................................................................... 135
CNR (Communication and Networking Riser)........................................................................................................................... 136
DDR (Double Data Rate) RAM.................................................................................................................................................. 136
ECC (Error Checking and Correction)....................................................................................................................................... 136
EV6 Bus .................................................................................................................................................................................... 137
FCC DoC (Declaration of Conformity)....................................................................................................................................... 137
Flash ROM ................................................................................................................................................................................ 138
Parity Bit .................................................................................................................................................................................... 139
PDF Format............................................................................................................................................................................... 139
PnP (Plug and Play) .................................................................................................................................................................. 139
POST (Power-On Self Test) ...................................................................................................................................................... 140
PSB (Processor System Bus) Clock ......................................................................................................................................... 140
RDRAM (Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory) ............................................................................................................ 140
SATA (Serial ATA)...................................................................................................................................................................... 141
SPD (Serial Presence Detect)................................................................................................................................................... 141
USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) ................................................................................................................................................. 141
Wireless LAN – 802.11b............................................................................................................................................................ 142
ZIP file ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 142
How to Contact Us............................................................................................................................... 152
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Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat is trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
AMD, the AMD logo, Athlon and Duron are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Celeron, Pentium II, Pentium III and Pentium 4 are trademarks of Intel Corporation.
Microsoft, Windows, and Windows logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries.
All product and brand names used on this manual are used for identification purposes only and may be the registered trademarks of their
respective owners.
All of the specifications and information contained in this manual are subject to change without notice. AOpen reserves the right to revise
this publication and to make reasonable changes. AOpen assumes no responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this
manual, including the products and software described in it.
This documentation is protected by copyright law. All rights are reserved.
No part of this document may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system
without prior written permission from AOpen Corporation.
Copyright
This motherboard comes with a game port (Joystick-Midi) for you to connect any midi devices or joysticks. To use this function you have to
have a joystick module and connect it with a game port cable to this port on the motherboard.
Note: This picture is for example only; it may not exactly look the same with the motherboard you purchased.
Joystick Module
(User Upgrade Optional)
Pin1
Game Port Connector
1
+5V
JAB1
JACX
GND
GND
JACY
JAB2
+5V
+5V
JBB1
JBCX
MIDI_TXD
JBCY
JBB2
MIDI_RXD
KEY
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The onboard I/O devices are PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse, RJ-45 LAN Connector, COM1, VGA port, Printer, USB, AC97 sound and game
ports. The view angle of drawing shown here is from the back panel of the housing.
PS/2 Mouse
Connecto
PS/2 Keyboard
PS/2 Keyboard: For standard keyboard, which use a PS/2 plug.
PS/2 Mouse: For PC-Mouse, which use a PS/2 plug.
USB Port: Available for connecting USB devices.
Parallel Port: To connect with SPP/ECP/EPP printer.
COM1 Port: To connect with pointing devices, modem or others serial devices.
RJ-45 LAN connector To connect Ethernet for home or office use.
VGA Connector: To connect with PC monitor.
Speaker Out: To External Speaker, Earphone or Amplifier.
Line-In: Comes from the signal sources, such as CD/Tape player.
MIC-In: From Microphone.
Cool down CPU and Chipset are important for system reliability. Enlarged aluminum heat sink provides better heat consumption especially
when you are trying to over-clock the CPU.
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The quality of low ESR capacitor (Low Equivalent Series Resistance) during high frequency operation is very important for the stability of
CPU power. The idea of where to put these capacitors is another know-how that requires experience and detail calculation.
Not only that, AX4SG Max implements 3300μF capacitors, which is much larger than normal capacitor (1000 & 1500μF) and it provides
better stability for CPU power.
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While the market are flooded with low quality, cost-down power materials on motherboard by treacherous manufacturers that subsequently
cause the stability of your system, unknown system crashing, overheating of your motherboard, we, AOpen have decided to maintain our
long-lasting reputation of refined manufacturer by keep providing solid materials on our products.
As if V6 engine gives more horsepower to your car driving on the road, so as motherboard needed to have stronger and more robust power
to protect your system. Adopted 4 parelelled PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) controller channels in 4-phase form, this motherboard provide
optimized power density, transient response and thermal performance for satisfying the increasing high CPU temperature. And one thing for
sure, 4-phase PWM controller would definitely be better for 3-phase PWM controller as the same theory of 3000c.c car would certainly be
better than 2000c.c car. Therefore, It is a must for motherboard these days to get prepared with stronger, more stable power.
If we take 60W power consumption shared by 3-phase PWM controller for example, testings shows that it transmits higher temperature to
its surrounding components and thus increasing the temperature of motherbaord, which is very frustrating for CPU overclocking or for
system stability concern at high loading. However, with 4-phase PWM controller implemented, voltage are averagely shared in 4-phase
PWM controller and transmit less temperature onto the board and thus cool down motherboard temperature, so as to protect your system.
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Comprison Transient of 3-phase and 4-phase PWM
As test report shows, while most of the motherboards on the market are powered by 3-phase PWM controller, this motherboard does
comes with 4-phase PWM controller providing stronger power, and could lower down the temperature of motherboard from 15℃ to 30℃.
-phase
4
3-phaseVcore tolerance of - 126 mv
Vcore tolerance of - 116 mv
顯示桌面.scf
3-Phase PWM
4-Phase PWM
Transient difference between 3-phas and 4-phase PWM
As the clock of CPU keeps rocketing higher and higher, it inevitably brings higher heat and
system temperature in a relative way. The way we deal with this heat problem, however, is to
spare no effort to add one fan after another to protect our pampered system, expecting these
fans could cool down our machine as much as they could.
But at the same time, we believe that same users are affected terribly by the irritating noises of these fans while working with
their PC. As a matter of fact, we do not have to get our fans running at such a high speed in most cases; on the contrary, we
discovered that having your fans running
at appropriate time and speed not only
reduces the noise, but also consumes the
least power the system needs, so as to
prevent over-wasting of energy resource.
Today, AOpen Motherboard is honored to
bring you a new overall solution, SilentTek,
to make your system quiet. To collocate
with hardware circuit, BIOS and the utility
under Windows, SilentTek combined
“Hardware-Status Monitoring”, “Overheat
Warning” and “Fan Speed Control” with
user-friendly interfaces to provide you a
perfect balance among noises, system
performance and stability.
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The first image you have here is the Voltage Status
page. You can find current status of all voltages and set
your expected margins of warning level.
You may check your
system voltage from the
indicating bar here.
In “Temp/Fan/Case” page, you may get aware of the
current temperature of CPU and the heat inside chassis.
Also, you can check if fans are running properly.
Of course, you may set your
defaulted lowest margin for
your fans and SilentTek would
also pop up a message box to
alarm you when the fan is
rotating slower than this
specified speed.
You may set the highest
margin of your CPU and
system temperature as
default, and SilentTek would
pop up a message box to alert
you with alarm when the
temperature goes beyond the
specified margin.
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The following page is surely the most important part of this utility. You may control the rotation speed of specific fans that you have got the
options inside in this page.
CD-ROM Rotation Speed Control: by enabling the CD-ROM
Rotation Speed Control, you can adjust the rotation speed of your
CD-ROM. When you set the speed to high level, the CD-ROM will
work at its fastest speed and it will run at basic required speed
while you set the value to low speed.
1. Smart FAN Control: This is the default setting of
SilentTek and can be used for any branded computer
housing. With a special algorithm developed by AOpen,
the fan speed is automatically adjusted by the factors of
CPU and ambient temperature. Ease-of-use and trouble
free at your service.
2. Fixed FAN Control: Under this setting, a desired fan
speed is set fixed when operating.
3. Multiple Level Control: This is the most versatile
setting that allows you to set fan speed in relation to
temperature. You may find that this setting fits you best.
4. AOpen Recommend Setting: This setting is designed
specifically for AOpen housing. A series of lab tests were
conducted under the real world scenario to determine
optimum fan speed to reduce noise level within CPU
working condition and temperature. Most of the time, the
fan would remain still when CPU is not fully utilized.
Note: Due to hundreds different brands of fan on the
market, inaccuracy may happen in some cases when you
had your rotation speed adjusted. It is still under the
criterion and please rest assured that it won’t cause any
problem to your system.
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Have you ever thought how great it would be if you can adjust the frequency setting on your motherboard under Windows environment
and be a real master of your system? Everybody knows that the ratio and frequency setting are key factors to influence the system
performance, however, it’s absolutely not an easy task for an amateur to adjust the setting value. On most traditional motherboards, you
have to get into BIOS screen for the frequency and
reboot the system again and again. But from now on,
you don’t have to surfer the boring stuffs anymore.
With brand-new and user-friendly EzClock that
AOpen specially designs for his users, you can adjust
those important values as you please and think of
suitable. This tailor-made EzClock allows you to set
the voltage and frequency of CPU, VGA, PCI and
memory under Windows environment as well as in
BIOS setting page; even better, those settings will be
displayed realtime. Having this handy EzClock, you
can monitor the system when you’re fine-tuning the
performance of your system. It provides you detailed
and necessary information. Now let’s take a look how
it works on utility, BIOS and POST.
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How You Adjust the Settings in EzClock Utility
In EzClock utility, you can adjust CPU Front Side Bus (FSB), the voltage and frequency of VGA, AGP, PCI and DRAM. Besides, the
CPU related information such as CPU voltage, temperature and CPUFAN rotation speed will also be displayed on this utility.
CPU Color Bars:
The color bar will
light on and show
different colors as
values change. On
default values, it
will show green.
On the right part of the panel is the section that you adjust the settings of
VGA, AGP, PCI and memory. To adjust the voltage and clock frequency of
those installments, you can press “-“ or “+” on corresponding items. The
color parts represent the situation of values. The higher value you set, the
light on the color bar goes to right and turns red. After finishing those value
settings, you can press “S” button on the upper right hand corner to save
changes to CMOS.
VGA, AGP, PCI and DRAM Voltage / Clock Area:
Pressing “_” and “+” buttons, you can adjust the
voltage and clock frequency values of onboard
VGA, AGP, PCI and DRAM.
On the left circle area shows Ratio, FSB and frequency information
about CPU. When the values are set to factory default, the light on
the top and bottom of the circle will show green and it will vary as you
change these CPU settings.
CPU Ratio, FSB and frequency displaying area:
You can adjust CPU FSB here by entering preferred value.
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Control buttons:
“_” button allows you
to minimize the utility
and “X” button to close
the utility. Pressing
“Apply” button you can
save the changes to
CMOS.
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On the bottom rectangular panel represents CPU fan speed, CPU voltage and CPU temperature. The three color bars on the right hand
side will light on according to operation temperature. Please refer to the picture shown above.
CPU Color Bars:
The color bars will light on
according to CPU operation
erature.
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CPU Fan, Voltage and Temperature:
representing CPU fan speed, CPU
voltage and CPU temperature in
Celsius and Fahrenheit degrees.
How You Adjust the Settings in BIOS
Apart from EzClock utility, the voltage and frequency values of CPU, PCI and memory can also be adjusted on BIOS page. By pressing
“+”, “-“, “PgUp” or “PgDn” keys, you can
adjust the frequency values of CPU Bus,
PCI Bus and DRAM.
Also, the same keys help you adjust the
voltage of CPU and DDR settings. Some
values may change while you adjust the
settings. You can press “F10” to save the
changes you’ve made.
Function Keys
Description
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How Your Boot Screen Looks Like
After you finish setting BIOS, these setting values will
be displayed on the boot screen like the shown
picture here.
Every time you boot your system, both default and
current settings will pop up on the screen. Your
personal settings that had been adjusted earlier will
be highlighted; thus, you can have clear idea how
your system functions and monitor your system more
With the latest chipsets implemented, Intel ICH5R provides RAID 0, 1 function in Windows 2000/XP for the Serial ATA hard disks. You may
follow the steps shown below to setup your disk array.
After having properly installed your Serial ATA hard disks, you may directly get into the BIOS setting screen for adjustment. You may simply
press “Integrated Peripherals Æ On-Chip IDE Device Æ On-Chip Serial ATA” to choose Enhanced mode. In ord er to utilize Serial ATA
function, please select RAID in SATA Mode. Finally, do save the changes and exit BIOS setup screen.
Generally, you can use arrow keys to highlight items that you want to choose, then press <Enter> key to select, and use the <Page Up>
and <Page Down> key to change setting values. You can press <Esc> key to quit Phoenix-Award™ BIOS setup program. The following
table provides details about how to use keyboard in the Phoenix-Award BIOS setup program. Alternatively, it's strongly recommended to
install AOpen’s newest WinBIOS Utility to get more detailed description, further powerful functions and advanced setting of BIOS.
Page Up or + Changing setting to next value or increase the value.
Page Down or - Changing setting to previous value or decrease value.
Enter Select the item.
Esc 1. In main menu: Quit and don’t save any change.
Up Arrow Highlight previous item.
Down Arrow Highlight next item.
Left Arrow Move the light bar to left side of menu.
Right Arrow Move the light bar to right side of menu.
F6 Load fail-save setting value from CMOS.
F7 Load turbo setting value from CMOS.
F10 Save changed setting and exit setup program.
Key Description
2. In sub menu: Exit current menu to main menu.
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After you finish jumper settings and connect correct cables, power on and enter the BIOS Setup. Press <Del> during POST (Power-On Self
Test) and choose "Load Setup Defaults" for recommended optimal performance.
Del
Warning: Please avoid of using "Load Turbo Defaults", unless you
are sure your system components (CPU, DRAM, HDD, etc.) are
good enough for turbo setting.
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good timing during POST (Power-On-Self-Test) screen to get
into the BIOS, which is inconvenient and clumsy. From now on,
AOpen provides an easier way to configure your BIOS. WinBIOS
is a customized utility for running exclusively on AOpen
motherboards, which allows you to setup your BIOS under
Windows environment. Designed with traditional-BIOS-alike
interface, you may adjust BIOS parameter with clear descriptions
for each item.
WinBIOS is natively designed with multi-language support. There
are various widely-use languages provided on our website for
your downloading, which also helps to prevent wrong settings
caused by misunderstanding of the languages. The only thing
you have to do is to visit our official website and download your
respective language pack (of few KB size), then double-click on it to activate the support with your chosen language.
Moreover, with high scalability, either for newly bought motherboard or the latest BIOS version with new function, you don’t have
to re-install the whole program again and again. All you have to do is to grab the latest profile from our website, simply
double-click on it as well to support the latest version of your BIOS. You don’t have to spend any extra effort to have your
motherboard supported by WinBIOS.
In the past, users have to keep
punching the DEL key at a
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Function keys:
It’s definitely easy to handle WinBIOS as if you’re using traditional
BIOS setting. Users can use the arrow keys such as
to move around the items in WinBIOS screen. And use,
“+” or “-” to change the setting value if they are available. Press
get back to the previous screen. Furthermore, the hotkeys shown in the
table may help you and save your time. Some settings may not come
into effect until you reboot your system.
Caution: After updating your BIOS, please remember to update
WinBIOS profile as well. If the upgraded BIOS version is newer
than WinBIOS profile, WinBIOS will not be able to launch and a
dialog box with error message will pop up. This verification is
designed on purpose to protect your BIOS from damaged by
wrong profile version.
For the latest WinBIOS profile and language pack modules, you may
find them from AOpen official web site as shown below: