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4-12 System Board
Processor and Secondary Cache
The system uses an Intel Celeron, Pentium II, or Pentium III processor with an
internal clock speed of 300 MHz, 333 MHz, 350 MHz, 366 MHz, 400 MHz,
433 MHz, 450 MHz, or 500 MHz (depending on type of processor and model).
The processor is an advanced pipelined 32-bit addressing, 64-bit data processor
designed to optimize multitasking operating systems. The 64-bit registers and
data paths support 64-bit addresses and data types.
To use the processor’s power, the system features an optimized 64-bit memory
interface and 512 KB (128 KB for Celeron) of secondary write-back cache on
the processor.
The processor is compatible with 8-, 16-, and 32-bit software written for the
Intel386™, Intel486™, Pentium, and Pentium Pro processors. The processor is
mounted in S.E.C. cartridge with an attaching heatsink that installs as a unit in
Slot 1 on the system board.
System BIOS
The ISA- and PCI-compatible BIOS is contained in a flash memory device on
the system board. The BIOS provides the Power-On Self-Test (POST), the
system Setup program, a PCI and IDE auto-configuration utility, and BIOS
recovery code.
The system BIOS is always shadowed. Shadowing allows any BIOS routine to
be executed from fast 32-bit DRAM on the system board, instead of from the
slower 8-bit flash device.
The Flash ROM allows fast, economical BIOS upgrades. The Flash ROM is a
reprogrammable EPROM containing both the system and video BIOS. Using
the Flash ROM to change the ROM BIOS provides the following advantages:
the BIOS upgrade is performed quickly and easily
the expense of replacing ROM BIOS chips is eliminated, so system
maintenance costs are reduced
there is less chance of inadvertently damaging the system board than
when physically replacing ROMs
new technology can be incorporated while maintaining corporate
standards
network administrators can exercise company-wide control of BIOS
revisions.
The BIOS programs execute the Power-On Self-Test, initialize processor
controllers, and interact with the display, diskette drive, hard drives,
communication devices, and peripherals. The system BIOS also contains the
Setup utility. The POST copies the ROM BIOS into RAM (shadowing) for
maximum performance.