Abit VL6 User Manual page 21

Installing the Motherboard
! The Master or Slave status of the hard disk drive is set on the hard disk itself. Please
refer to the hard disk drive user's manual.
! A red mark on a wire typically designates the location of pin 1. You need to align the
wire pin 1 to the FDC1 connector pin 1, then insert the wire connector into the FDC1
connector.
The VL6 supports the Ultra ATA/66 (Also known as Ultra DMA/66) specification. It
enhances existing Ultra ATA/33 technology by increasing both performance and data
integrity. This new high-speed interface doubles the Ultra ATA/33 burst data transfer rate to
66.6 Mbytes/sec. The result is maximum disc performance using the current PCI local bus
environment. Figure 2-10 shows you the difference between the Ultra ATA/33 and Ultra
ATA/66 Conductor Cable.
Figure 2-10. The difference between Ultra ATA/33 and
Ultra ATA/66 Conductor Cables
Figure 2-11. Photo of an
Ultra ATA/66 Conductor
*The operating system must support Direct Memory Access (DMA); Microsoft Windows
98 and Windows 95B (OSR2) support DMA.
*The cable must be an 80-pin conductor. The length should not exceed 18 inches. If all of
the above requirements are met, you can enjoy the Ultra ATA/66 features of your computer
system.
Note
Ultra ATA/66 is backwards compatible with all Ultra
ATA/33 systems, but it will be limited in its transfer mode
to the Ultra ATA/33 (Ultra DMA Mode 2 - 33 Mbytes/sec)
or PIO Mode 4 (16.6 Mbytes/sec). Ultra ATA/66 hard
drives are 100 percent backward compatible with both
Ultra ATA/33 and DMA and with existing ATA (IDE) hard
drives, CD-ROM drives, and host systems. The Ultra
ATA/66 protocol and commands are designed to be
compatible with existing ATA (IDE) devices and systems.
Although a new 40-pin, 80-conductor cable is required for
Ultra ATA/66, the chip set pin connector remains the same
at 40. Hard drives that support Ultra ATA/66 also support
Ultra ATA/33 and legacy ATA (IDE) specifications.
There are four requirements for attaining Ultra ATA/66:
*The drive must support Ultra ATA/66.
*The motherboard and system BIOS (or an add-in
controller) must support Ultra ATA/66.
Figure 2-11 shows you a
photo of an Ultra ATA/66
Conductor Cable. An Ultra
ATA/66-capable cable is a
40-pin, 80-conductor cable
with a black connector on
one end, a blue connector on
the other end and a gray
connector in the middle. In
addition, line 34 on the
cable should be notched or
cut (this may be difficult to
see).
User's Manual
2-13