Sapphire Pure Black X79N manual

User’s Manual Sa pphir e Pur e Blac k X79N Intel X79 / L G A 2011 Mainboar d TRADEMARK All products and c ompan y n ames ar e trademar ks or registere d tra demarks of their r espectiv e holders. These specif ications are subject to change without notice. Manual Re vision 1.0 No v ember 14, 2011[...]

~ ii ~ Fe der al Communications Commission (FCC) Stat ement This device has been tested and fo und to comp ly w ith the l imit s for a Cl ass B digital device, pursuant to Pa rt 15 of FCC Rules. Th ese limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This eq uipment generates, uses and[...]

~ iii ~ T able of Content s Chapter 1 Intr oduction .............................................................. 1 1-1 Mainboard S pec ifications ........................................................... 1 1-2 Package C ontents ..................................................................... 4 1-3 Mainboard Layout .........................[...]

~ iv ~ 3-3 Main M enu ............................................................................... 26 3-4 Performanc e Menu .................................................................. 27 CPU Configur ation ................................................................... 29 Memory Config uration .........................................[...]

~ 1 ~ Chapter 1 Introduction 1-1 Mainboard Specifications CPU  Supports I ntel ® Core i7 3900 and 38 00 series processor in LGA2011 packa ge  Supports I ntel ® Turbo Boost technology, Hy per-Threading technology Chipset  Intel ® X79 with N VIDIA nF200 PCI-E bridge System Memory  Four 240- pin DDR3 SDRAM DIMM sockets  Supports 1 .5[...]

~ 2 ~  From M arvell 88SE9128 controller: - Two SATA3 ports with 6Gb/s data transfer rate w it h RA ID 0 an d 1 - Supports AHCI (Advanced Host Controll er Interface)  From M arvell 88SE9172 controller: - Two eSATA3 ports at rear port - Supports AHCI (Advanced Host Controll er Interface) Onboard LAN  Dual Gigabit Ethernet from Marvell 88E80[...]

~ 3 ~  2 x RJ4 5 LAN ports  4 x USB 3.0 po rts  6 Audio jacks Internal I/O Connectors  1 x 24-pi n ATX power connector  1 x 8- pin ATX 12V power co nnector  1 x 6-pin PCI- E power connector  4 x SATA3 connectors (two from Intel X79 chip and two from Marvell 88SE9128 chip)  4 x SATA2 connectors  4 x USB2.0 headers  2 x [...]

~ 4 ~ Form Factor  ATX for m factor of 305mm x 245mm Operating systems:  Supports Windows V ista and Windows 7 1-2 Package C ontent s Your Sapphire mainbo ard comes wit h the following acces sories. 1. Mainboard 2. I/O Shield 3. Quick Installation Guide 4. Driver CD 5. USB3.0 Front Pa nel Cable (Optional) 6. SATA Data Cable *8[...]

~ 5 ~ 1-3 Mainboard L ayout The followin g figure shows th e location of components on the mainboard. See following pag e for descript ion.[...]

~ 6 ~ Item Component description 1 CPU Socket 201 1 2 Intel X79 Chip 3 NVIDIA nF200 Chip 4 DDR3 DIMM Slots 1-4 5 P C I - E 2 . 0 x 1 6 S l o t * 6 6 24-Pin A TX P o wer Connector 7 8-pin A TX _1 2V Power Connector 8 6-pin PCI-E P ower Connector 9 SA T A 3 Connectors *4 10 SA T A 2 Connectors *4 11 Fr ont Panel Header 12 USB 3.0 Header *2 13 USB 2.0[...]

~ 7 ~ I/O Back P anel The I/O back panel f or this mainboard is sh own below. When insta lling the mainboard into th e computer case, use th e bundled I/O shield to protect this back panel. 1. PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Port This connector is used for a keyboard or mouse. You can plug a PS/2 keyboard or mouse directly into this connector. 2. USB 2.0 Ports[...]

~ 8 ~ 7. Dual LAN Ports with LEDs The mainboard provides two sta ndard RJ-45 ja cks for connecting to a Local Area Network (LAN). Two LEDs are bu ilt into the RJ-45 LAN connector. These LEDs indicate the status of the LAN. 8. USB 3.0 ports (four) USB 3.0 ports are backward compatible with USB 2.0 dev ices. Supports data transfer rates up to 4.8Gb/s[...]

~ 9 ~ Chapter 2 Installation 2-1 Bef ore Y ou Begin Please take note of all precautions bef ore you install anything on to the mainboard or change any o f the mainboard settings. Turn off the power to your system and discharge your b ody’s static electric charge by touching a grounded surf ace— for example, the metal surface of the power supply[...]

~ 10 ~ 2-4 Ins tall ing th e CPU and Cool er Follow the steps below to insta ll t he CPU & cooler correctly. 1. Open the hinge lever (a ) then fully open the active lever (b). 2. Open the load plate by pushing down on the hinge lever to raise the load plate and Grasp the tab. 3. Open load plate to fully open position. 4. Remove the protective s[...]

~ 11 ~ 5. Align the CPU pin one (sm all triangle marking) and CPU notc hes. Place C PU straight do wn without tilting or sliding it. 6. Close the load plate and close the active lever (b) then close the hinge lever (a). Í Note: Apply some thermal paste onto the surface of the CPU for better heat dispersion. 7. To install the fan cooler, align the [...]

~ 12 ~ 2 - 5 I n st a l l i n g S y st e m M e m o r y This mainboar d has four 240 -pin DIMM sockets for DDR3 memor y. These slots support 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB DDR3 DIMMs up to max. 32GB Make sure that you install memory module s of the same type and dens ity in the different channel DIMM slots for Dual-C hannel mode. There must be at least one m[...]

~ 13 ~ 2-6 Ins tall ing Expansio n Card s The mainboard provides six PCI Express 2. 0 x16 slots that comply with the PCI Express specifications. The PCI-E slot 1 and 2 are PCI-E Gen3 re ady. These PCI-E slots with LED in dicating the activity status. When the PCI-E slot is powered on, the LED is on. Note: When installing multiple gr aphic cards in [...]

~ 14 ~ Please refer to PCI Express card co nfigurat ion table. The design of this motherboard supports AMD CrossF ireX TM technology for support of multiple graphic cards. Plea se refer to the location of slots and recommended configurat ion table for PCI -E operating mo de to get the best performance possible. Recommended con figur ation table Slo[...]

~ 15 ~ 2-7 Connecting C abl es This section ta kes you throu gh all the ne cessary connections on the mainboard. Connecting Pow er Supply Cables  24-pin ATX Power PW2 is the main po wer supply co nnect or. Make sure that the power supply cable pins are properly aligned with th e connector on the main board. Firmly plug the power supply cab le in[...]

~ 16 ~ Connecting Serial A T A (SA T A) Cables SATA cables support the Serial ATA protoc ol. Eac h cable can be used to connect one SATA drive to the mainboard. The S1 to S3 conn ectors a re control led by the In tel X79 chi p and support RA ID 0, 1, 10, 5 functions. S1 works at speeds of up to 6 Gb/s , S2 and S3 works at s peeds of up to 3 Gb/s. T[...]

~ 17 ~ Connecting to the Int ernal Header s and Connector s Front Panel Header The front panel header on this motherbo ard is used to connect the front panel switches and LEDs. PWR_LED Attach the front panel power LED cable to these two pins of the connector. The Power LED indicates the system’s stat us. System Status P ower LED indi cates On The[...]

~ 18 ~ 1 VCC 2 USB 1- USB1 + Ground No C onnect Em p ty USB 0- USB 0+ Ground USB2.0 Headers This mainboar d contains four (4) USB 2. 0 ports that are exposed on the rear panel of the chas sis. This mai nboard also contains four 10-pin onbo ard header connectors that ca n be used to connect t o eight (8) external USB 2.0 devices. Refer to the follow[...]

~ 19 ~ CFPA Header This header allows yo u to connect t he front panel audio. The audio connector supports HD audio standard. S/PDIF Header This header is used to conne ct S/PD IF (Son y & Philips Di gital Interconnect Format) interface for digi tal audio transmission. Serial Port Header The Serial port header (COM1) can provid e one serial por[...]

~ 20 ~ Fan Headers There are six fan headers (CPUFAN, SYSFAN, SYSFAN1, PWRFAN, C HAFAN, AUXFAN) on the motherboard. Three of these fans (CPUFAN, PWRFAN, CHAFAN) can be speed detected/controlled and displayed in the Hard ware Health Configuration section of the CMOS Set up. The fans are a utomatically t urned off after the system enters S3, S4 or S5[...]

~ 21 ~ 2-8 Diagnos tics LED This mainboard provides a t wo-digit POST code to show why the system m ay be failing to boot. It is useful d uring a troubles hooting situation. This Debug LED will also display the current CPU temper ature after the system has fully booted into the operating system. Please find a list of debug co des at the end of this[...]

~ 22 ~ 2-10 Onboard But tons These onboard buttons include Cle ar CMOS, RESET and POWER, which allow you to easily clear the CMOS, reset th e system and turn on/off the system. Clear CMOS But ton The mainboard uses the CMOS RAM to stor e some of the system configuration. The CMOS can be cleared by pr essing the Clear CMOS button. Reset and P o wer [...]

~ 23 ~ 2-11 Dual BIOS S witch This mainboard includes dual on board BIOS, (Primary and Secondar y BIOS), When the primary BIOS is corrupted or has failed, you can use t he secondary BIOS to take over on the next system b oot to ensure normal system operation.  To enable the secondary BIOS , please refer to the follo wing steps: 1. Turn off the s[...]

~ 24 ~ Chapter 3 Configuring the BIOS This chapter provides information o n the BIOS Setup pro gram and allo ws you to configure the system for optimum use. 3-1 Sel ect Boot Dev ice Select Boot Device Menu allows you to set the first boot device without entering BIOS Setup. During Power On Self Test (POST), you can press the < F7 > key to ent[...]

~ 25 ~ upon the bottom of the display duri ng Power On Self Test (POST). Press F1 to continue, DE L to enter Setup. Pressing Del takes yo u to the BIOS Setup Utility. Í Note1: It is strong ly re commended that you do not change the default BIOS settings. Changing some set tin gs could damage yo ur computer. Í Note2: The BIOS options in this manua[...]

~ 26 ~ 3-3 Main Menu When entering the BIOS Setup Utility, the main menu screen appears. This main menu includes the system ov erview and displays the basic system config uration, such as BIOS information , memory size and system date/time. BIOS Information This field displays the current BIOS vers ion, build date and ID information etc.. Memory In[...]

~ 2 7 ~ Access Level This item is used to lim it the user access le vel. 3-4 Perf ormance Menu The Performance me nu allows you to specif y your settings for CPU, memory, voltage control and overclocking. Press <Enter> to display the configuration options. HD6850 1G OverClock Allow you to enable the overclock functio n for HD6850 VGA card. Op[...]

~ 28 ~ Note: This function doesn’t support o verclocking, when us ing CrossFireX tec hnology to support multiple graphic cards. CPU Host Clock (Mhz) This item allows you to select the CPU host clock (in MHz). Options: 100 ~ 110. Gear Ratio This item allows you to select the Gear Ratio. Options: 1.000, 1.250 , 1.667, 2.50 0. Af te r o v e r c l o [...]

~ 29 ~ CPU Configuration Non Turbo Ratio Override This is used to select the Ratio or Mult iplier of the CPU, this varies depending on what CPU you ha ve. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology Enables the Intel ® SpeedStep technology (EIST). Options: Enabled, Disabled. CPU C6 report Enable/Disable CPU C6 (AC PI C3) report to OS Options: Enabled, Dis[...]

~ 30 ~ Memory Configuration XMP Profile 1/2 These items display the current status of the X.M.P support information. DDR SPD Type Allows the BIOS to read the SPD data on memory module to enhance memory performance or select manually con figuring timings. Options: Standard SP D, User defined. Memory Frequency (MHz) Allows you to select the system me[...]

~ 31 ~ RAS# to CAS# Delay(tRCD) Set the RAS to CAS Delay time for Read/Write commands to the same bank. Options: Auto(9), 3 ~ 15. Row Precharge Time(tRP) Set the Row Precharge time. This is the Precharge-to-Active or Auto-to-Refresh of the same bank. Options: Auto(9), 3 ~ 15. RAS# Active Time(tRAS ) Set the minimum RAS# active time. Options: Auto(2[...]

~ 32 ~ Voltage Configuration Loadline Control Loadline Control function is a saf ety measure to protect the CPU. Options: Enabled, Disabled. Internal CPU PLL Overvoltage Allows you to enable the In ternal CPU PLL Overvoltage. Options: Enabled, Disabled. CPU VCORE Allows you to adjust the CPU Vcore voltage. Options: +000mv ~+800 mV in 10mV incre men[...]

~ 33 ~ DIMM 3 / 4 Voltage Allows you to adjust the D IMM3 and DIM M4 Slots voltage. Options: Auto, 1.10V ~2.50V in 0.01V. CPU VTT Allows you to adjust the CPU VTT voltage. Options: Auto, 1.050V ~2 .000V in 0.025V i ncrement PCH Allows you to adjust the I ntel PCH VCore V oltage. Options: Auto, 1.10V ~1.72V in 0.01 increments. CPU PLL Allows you to [...]

~ 34 ~ 3-5 Advanced Menu The Advanced menu items allow you to change the settings for the CPU, USB and other system devices. Press <E nter> to display the configur ation opt ions. Launch PXE OpROM Enables the Boot option for legacy network devices. Options: Enabled, Disabled. Launch Storage OpROM Enables the Boot option for mass storage devic[...]

~ 35 ~ ACPI Settings Enable Hibernation Enables system abilit y to Hibernate (OS/S4 Sleep S ate). This option may be not effective with some OS. Options: Enabled, Disabled. ACPI Sleep State Selects the power saving mo des for ACPI function. Options: Suspend Disabled, S1 (CPU Stop Clock), S3 (Suspend to RAM). EuP Function Enables the EuP (Energy Usi[...]

~ 36 ~ CPU Configuration Hyper-threading This item enables the Intel Hyper-Thre ading technology. Options: Enabled, Disabled. Active Processor Cores Use this item to select the number of co res to enable in each processor package. Options: All, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Limit CPUID Maxi mum We recommend leavin g it disabl ed, unles s you are usi ng a very ol [...]

~ 37 ~ Options: Enabled, Disabled. Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch This item enables Adjacent Ca che Line Prefetch function. Options: Enabled, Disabled. Intel Virtualization Technology When this function is enable d, it allows a VMM to utilize the additional h ardware capabilities provided by Inte l Virtualization Technology. Options: Enabled, Disable[...]

~ 38 ~ SATA Configuration SATA Port0 ~ SATA Port5 This filed show SATA ports connection state. SATA Mode Allows you to set the onboard Serial SATA type. Options: Disabled, RAID Mode, AHCI Mode, IDE Mode.  IDE Mode: Use the SATA hard disk driv ers as Par allel ATA storage devices.  RAID Mode: Create a RAID 0, 1, 0+ 1, 5 configuratio n  AHCI[...]

~ 39 ~ USB Configuration USB3.0 Support Enables USB3.0 (XHCI) controller support. Options: Enabled, Disabled. USB transfer time-o ut The time-out value for control, bulk, and interrupt transfers. Options: 1 sec, 5 se c, 10 sec, 20 sec. Device reset time-out Sets USB mass storage devices start unit c ommand time-out. Options: 10 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec,[...]

~ 40 ~ Super IO Configuration Serial Port 0 Configurati on Serial Port Enables the Serial Port support. Options: Enabled, Disabled. Change Settings Select an optimal setting for super I/O device. Options: Auto, IO=3F8H; IRQ =4; IO=3F8 h; IRQ=3,4,5,6,7,10,11, 12; IO=2F8h; IRQ=3,4,5,6,7,10 ,11,12; IO=3E 8h; IRQ=3,4,5,6,7,10 ,11,12; IO=2E8h; IRQ=3,4,5[...]

~ 41 ~ H/W Monitor CPU / VREG/ System Displays the current CP U, onboard regulator and system temperature. CPU /Power /Chassis Fan Speed Displays the current CPU, Power and Chassiss Fan Speed VCC3V/CPU VCore/CPU VTT/PCH 1.1V/DIMM 1 / 2/ DIMM 3 / 4 /CPU PLL/ VSB3V/VBAT The current voltages are au toma tica lly d etec ted a nd displayed by the system[...]

~ 42 ~ Smart Fan Configuration CPU Fan Type Allows you to select the CPU Fan type. Options: PWM FAN (4 pin), Linear FAN (3 pin) CPU Fan Mode Setting This item controls the speed of th e various fans on the motherboard. Choose [SmartFan] when you wa nt th e speed of the fa ns automatically controlled based on te mperature. To set the fan speed to a [...]

~ 43 ~ Onboard Device Configuration Marvell 88SE9128 SATA3 Controller (SATA3 A/B) Enables the onboard Marvell SATA3 controller (SATA3 A/B). Options: Auto, Enabled, Disabled. Gigabit Ethernet Controller (LAN1/LAN2) Enables the onboard Giga Lan 1 / 2 function for LAN. Options: Auto, Enabled, Disabled eSATA Controller (BP) Enables the onboard eSATA co[...]

~ 44 ~ USB3.0 Controller (FP) Enables the onboard USB 3.0 controller of front panel. Options: Auto, Enabled, Disabled. Azalia HD Audio Enables the onboard High Definition Audio controller. Options: Enabled, Disabled. Bluetooth Enables Bluetoo th function. Options: Enabled, Disabled. C80P Show CPU Temperature Enables the onboard POST Port LED to dis[...]

~ 45 ~ 3-6 Chipset Menu The chipset menu items allow you to change the advanced chipset settings. Press <Enter> to display the sub -menu. Intel(R) VT-d Enables the Intel (R) Virtualiz ation Technology for directed I/O. Options: Enabled, Disabled. Intel(R) I/OAT Enables the Intel (R) I/O Acceleration Tec hnology (I/OAT). Options: Enabled, Disa[...]

~ 46 ~ 3-7 Boot Menu The Boot menu is used to configure the boot settings and the boot priority. Setup Prompt Timeout This is used to set an additional time the POST should wait for the operator to press the key to enter setup. The time is entered in seconds. Bootup NumLock State Selects the state of the keyboard’s numlock function af ter POST. O[...]

~ 47 ~ 3-8 Security Me nu The Security menu allows you to change the system secu rity settings. Administrator Password This function is used to set, change or delete the Administrator password. If there is already a password installed, the system as ks for this first. To clear a password, simply enter nothing and acknowledge by pressing Return. To [...]

~ 48 ~ 3-9 Save & Exit Menu The Save & Exit menu allo ws you to lo ad the optimal default values for BIOS, and save or discard your changes to the BI OS items. Save Changes and Reset This resets system after saving the change s. Discard Changes and Reset This resets system without saving the changes. Restore Defaults The restore defaults ar[...]

~ 49 ~ Boot Override This group of functions includes a list, each of them corresponding to one device within the boot order. Select a drive to immediately boot that device regardless of the current boot order. S_BIOS Flash Utility This utility allows you to update the system BIOS in embedded BIOS. Please refer to "4-4 S_BIOS Flash Utility&quo[...]

~ 50 ~ Chapter 4 Driver Installation After the operating system ha s been installed, you need to install drivers for this mainboard. The support CD that came with the moth erboard contains necessary drivers and useful utilities that enhance the mot herboard features. 4-1 Driver In s tall Insert the bundled driver CD into your optical drive and the [...]

~ 51 ~ 4-2 TRIXX Util ity TRIXX is a simple a nd easy-to-use utility that allows users to adj ust system settings for overclocking in a Windo ws environment. The TRIXX utility includes three configuratio ns for frequenc y, voltage and hardware monit oring. To install TRIXX Utility, run it from the S apphire Utility page from the bun dled DVD. A TRI[...]

~ 52 ~ 4-3 Ha rdwa re m on ito r gad get This Hardware monitor gadget directly appears in windows screen after TriX X installation is completed. It can be used to help keep track of temperatures of CPU, System and fan speed of CPU, Sy stem and voltages of CPU, Syst em. Displays har dwar e monitor temper ature. Displays f an spee ds. Displays v olta[...]

~ 53 ~ 4-4 S_BIOS Fl ash Util ity This mainboar d provides a BIOS update to ol. The S_BIOS allows you to update the system BIOS without having to en ter MS-DOS or Windows environment. Embedded in the BIOS, the S_BIOS is simple and easy-to-use utility to flash BIOS. Note: To Flash Secondar y BIOS, need to chan ge the BIOS sele ct switch position. Pl[...]

~ 54 ~ Setp3: To Update BIOS form Drive, select the BIOS update file and press <OK> to start update. If the BIOS file stored in USB de vice , please must first insert USB device before turning on the system and make sure the BIOS update file matches your mainboard model.[...]

~ 55 ~ Setp4: The update BIOS processing screen appear s. Setp5: The BIOS update is completed. Please press any key to restart the system.[...]

~ 56 ~ Setp6: Save BIOS to Drive, allows you to save the current BIOS file. If the BIOS file stored in USB device, pl ease must first insert USB device before turning on the system. Setp7: To S ave BIOS to Dri ve, Sel ect th e st ore d location and press <OK> to start saving BIOS file.[...]

~ 57 ~ Setp8: After saving BIOS file is completed. Sele ct <Ese> to return “Exit” tab of BIOS setup.[...]

~ 58 ~ Chapter 5 POST Code This chapter provides the Aptio POST Co des List for the mainboard during the BIOS pre-boot process. The POST Codes are displayed on the Debug LED readout located dire ctly onboard the mainboard. Please refer to following “ boot phases ”, which may apply t o various stat us code & checkpoint descriptions: ♦ Secu[...]

~ 59 ~ 05 OEM initializati on before microcode l oading 06 Microcode loading 07 AP initialization after microcode loadin g 08 North Bridge in itializatio n after microco de loading 09 South Bridge init ialization af ter microco de loading 0A OEM initiali zation after micr ocode loading 0B Cache initialization SEC Err or Codes 0C – 0D R e serve d [...]

~ 60 ~ 3C Post-Memory Sou th Bridge initi alization (South Br idge module sp ecific) 3D Post-Memory Sou th Bridge initi alization (South Bridge module specific) 3E Post -Memory South Bri dge initializat ion (South Bridg e module specifi c) 3F-4E OEM post memory i nitialization cod es 4F DXE IPL is started PEI Error Codes 5 0 Memor y initialization [...]

~ 61 ~  DX E P h a s e Status Code Description 60 DXE Core is started 61 NVRAM initialization 62 Installation of the South Bridge R untime Servic es 63 CPU DXE initializatio n is started 64 CPU DXE initialization (CP U module specific) 65 CPU DXE initialization (CP U module specific) 66 CPU DXE initialization (CP U module specific) 67 CPU DXE in[...]

~ 62 ~ A1 IDE Reset A2 IDE Detect A3 IDE En able A4 SCSI initializatio n is s tart ed A5 SCSI Reset A6 SCSI Detect A7 SCSI Enable A8 Setup Verifying Password A9 Start of Setup AA Reserved for ASL (see ASL Status Codes sec tion belo w) AB Setup Input Wai t AC Reserved for ASL (see ASL St atus Code s section below) AD Ready To Boot event AE Legacy Bo[...]