MAGNUM ETX
Product Summary
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Introduction
The Blue Chip Technology Magnum ETX is the latest offering in the Biscuit format Single Board PC range,
integrating the latest advances in low power processor, memory, and I/O technologies to provide an ideal
platform for embedded applications. The Magnum ETX consists of a processor daughter card that complies with
the embedded ETX standard version 3.02, and a baseboard that contains the I/O interfaces. The concept of ETX
is to provide the user with a standard connector interface with fixed connector locations and predefined IO
functions. This modular approach provides a cost effective means of system upgrade and allows the user to
easily validate a number of CPU board price/power/performance options.
The product is available with CPU build options of Ultra Low Voltage VIA Eden 500Mhz, VIA C7 nanobga2
1GHz and the VIA C7 nanobga2 2GHz processors. On-board voltage regulator circuits provide the required
voltages for the processor from the incoming 5 volt power supply. The 500MHz version is targeted at lower
cost, power conscious, performance driven applications. Where reduced power is less of a requirement then the
1GHz and 2GHz versions offer a higher performance solution.
The processor maintains full backward compatibility with the 8086, 80286, i386 and Intel486 processors. It
supports both read and write burst mode bus cycles, and includes separate on-chip code and data caches which
employ a write-back policy. Cache is integrated within the CPU and operates at the full CPU frequency giving
excellent performance. Cache size is 128K L1 and 128K L2. Also integrated into the processor is an advanced
numeric co-processor which significantly increases the speed of floating point operations, whilst maintaining
backward compatibility with Intel486 math co-processor and complying with ANSI/IEEE standard 754-1985.
The memory interface supports up to 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM, in a standard 200 pin SODIMM socket.
The Magnum ETX utilises the VIA CN700 Northbridge and VT8237R Plus Southbridge to integrate many
peripherals. These include: VGA controller with CRT, LVDS and LCD interfaces, ATA-100 IDE interface,
10/100 Fast Ethernet controller, quad USB ports, dual serial ports, parallel port, real-time clock, keyboard and
mouse (PS/2) controller, AC’97 audio interface. The VT8237R also provides SATA interface which is accessed
via two SATA connectors positioned on the daughter board in accordance with the ETX V3.02 specification.
The MAGNUM ETX will drive a single PCI card, as well as mini-PCI and Compact Flash.
