ECS 946GZT-M2, Manual, Page: 8 / 80

2
Introducing the Motherboard
Audio
Feature
• Accommodates Intel Core TM 2 Duo/Pentium D/Pentium 4/Celeron D processors
• Supports a system bus (FSB) of 800/533 MHz
• Supports “Hyper-Threading” technology CPU
This motherboard uses an LGA775 type of Intel Core TM 2 Duo/ Pentium D/ Pentium 4/
Celeron D that carries the following features:
Processor
The 946GZ Northbridge (NB) and ICH7 Southbridge (SB) chipsets are based on an
innovative and scalable architecture with proven reliability and performance.
946GZ (NB) • Supports 36-bit host bus addressing, allowing the CPU to ac-
cess the entire 4 GB of the GMCH’s memory address space.
• 2 GB/s point-to-point Direct Media Interface (DMI) to ICH7
(1 GB/s each direction)
• Supports 256-Mb, 512-Mb and 1-Gb DDR2 technologies for x8
and x16 devices
• Supports PCI Express x16 for Graphics Interface
• Supports DDR2 memory DIMM frequencie of 667/533 MHz
• Analog Display and Digital Display
Chipset
ICH7 (SB)
• Enhanced DMA Controller, interrupt controller, and timer func-
tions
• Compliant with PCI Express Base Specification v1.0a
• Compliant with PCI 2.3 specificaiton
• Integrated SATA 3.0 Gb/s Host controller
• Integrated USB 2.0 Host Controller supporting up to eight USB
2.0 ports
• Integrated IDE controller supports Ultra ATA100/66/33
• Supports DDR2 667/533 DDR2 SDRAM with Dual-channel DDR2 architecture
• Accommodates two unbuffered DIMMs, with maximum memory size up to
4 GB
Memory
“Hyper-Threading” technology enables the operating system into thinking it’s hooked
up to two processors, allowing two threads to be run in parallel, both on separate
“logical” processors within the same physical processor.
Graphics (only 946GZ supports)
• Core frequency of 400 MHz
• High Quality 3D Setup and Render Engine
• High Quality Texture Engine
• Supports both AC’97 and HD audio interfaces
• Supports 6 DHC channels for 5.1 surround
• Provides High quality differential CD input and 20-bit resolution on all DACs
and ADCs
• Variable sample rate: 7 kHz to 96 kHz; 7 kHz to 48 kHz in 1 Hz increments; 96
kHz for double rate audio
• Built-in Microphone/Center/LFE/Line-in sharing & Surround/Line_in sharing