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ASUS A7PRO User’s Manual
2. FEATURES
Performance
2. FEA TURES
2.1.2 Special Features
• ACPI Ready: Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI) provides more
Energy Saving Features for operating systems that support OS Direct Power
Management (OSPM) functionality. With these features implemented in the OS,
PCs can be ready around the clock, yet satisfy all the energy saving standards.
To fully utilize the benefits of ACPI, an ACPI-supported OS, such as Windows
98 must be used.
• Easy Installation: Incorporates BIOS that supports autodetection of hard disk
drives, PS/2 mouse, and Plug and Play devices to make the setup of hard disk
drives, expansion cards, and other devices virtually automatic.
• Suspend and Go: Suspend-to-RAM (STR) provides maximum power savings
as an alternative to leaving the computer ON and QuickStart™ so that you do
not have to wait for a long time for system bootup.
• New Compliancy: Both the BIOS and hardware levels of this motherboard meet
the stringent requirements for PC 99 certification The new PC 99 requirements
for systems and components are based on the following high-level goals: Sup-
port for Plug and Play compatibility and power management for configuring
and managing all system components, and 32-bit device drivers and installation
procedures for Windows95/98/NT . Color-coded connectors and descriptive icons
make identification easy as required by PC 99.
• Symbios SCSI BIOS: Supports optional ASUS SCSI controller cards through
the onboard SYMBIOS firmware.
2.1.3 Performance Features
• Concurrent PCI: Concurrent PCI allows multiple PCI transfers from PCI mas-
ter busses to the memory and processor.
• High-Speed Data Transfer Interface: IDE transfers using UltraDMA/33 Bus
Master IDE can handle rates up to 33MB/s. This motherboard with its chipset
and support for UltraDMA/66 doubles the data transfer rate to 66.6MB/s.
UltraDMA/66 is backward compatible with DMA/33, and DMA and with exist-
ing DMA devices and systems so there is no need to upgrade current EIDE/IDE
drives and host systems. (UltraDMA/66 requires a 40-pin 80-conductor cable to
be enabled.)
• VCM/SDRAM Optimized Performance: This motherboard supports a new gen-
eration memory, NEC’s 64Mb Virtual Channel Memory (VCM) Synchronous Dy-
namic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), which is compatible to the industry
standard SDRAM. The VCM’s core design provides up to 50% higher SDRAM
speed at reduced power consumption of about 30%. This motherboard also supports
standard SDRAM, which increases the data transfer rate (1.064GB/s max using
PC133-compliant SDRAMs and 800MB/s max using PC100-compliant SDRAMs).