Desktop Board Features
17
Intel
®
X79 Express Chipset
The Intel X79 Express Chipset consisting of the Intel X79 Platform Controller Hub
(PCH) provides interfaces to the processor and the USB, SATA, LAN, PCI, and PCI
Express interfaces. The PCH is the centralized controller for the board’s I/O paths.
Go to the following link for more information about the Intel X79 Express Chipset:
http://developer.intel.com/products/chipsets/index.htm
USB Support
The Desktop Board supports USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices.
USB 3.0
USB 3.0 is supported with two USB 3.0 ports (blue) on the back panel. USB 3.0 ports
are backward compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 devices. The USB 3.0 ports are
SuperSpeed, high-speed, full-speed, and low-speed capable. USB 3.0 support requires
both an operating system and drivers that fully support USB 3.0 transfer rates.
USB 2.0
There are 14 USB 2.0 ports (six ports routed to back panel connectors (black) and
eight ports routed to three onboard headers (black)). The USB 2.0 ports are high-
speed, full-speed, and low-speed capable. USB 2.0 support requires both an operating
system and drivers that fully support USB 2.0 transfer rates.
Serial ATA
The board provides two 6.0 Gb/s Serial ATA (SATA) channels (blue connectors) and
four 3.0 Gb/s SATA channels (black connectors).
The four 3.0 Gb/s SATA channels support the following RAID (Redundant Array of
Independent Drives) levels:
• RAID 0 - data striping
• RAID 1 - data mirroring
• RAID 0+1 (or RAID 10) - data striping and data mirroring
• RAID 5 - distributed parity
For information on configuring your system for RAID using Intel
®
Rapid Storage
Technology (Intel
®
RST) see Chapter 4.