307013-003 Datasheet, PDF (44/848 Pages) Intel Corporation – Intel I/O Controller Hub 7

Introduction
PCI Express* Interface (Desktop and Mobile Only)
The ICH7R, ICH7DH, ICH7-M DH have six PCI Express root ports and the ICH7 and
ICH7-M have four PCI Express root ports (ports 1-4), supporting the PCI Express Base
Specification, Revision 1.0a. PCI Express root ports 1–4 can be statically configured as
four x1 ports or ganged together to form one x4 port. Ports 5 and 6 on the ICH7R,
ICH7DH, and ICH7-M DH can only be used as two x1 ports. Each Root Port supports
2.5 Gb/s bandwidth in each direction (5 Gb/s concurrent).
Serial ATA (SATA) Controller (Desktop and Mobile Only)
The ICH7 has an integrated SATA host controller that supports independent DMA
operation on four ports (desktop only) or two ports (mobile only) and supports data
transfer rates of up to 3.0 Gb/s (300 MB/s). The SATA controller contains two modes of
operation – a legacy mode using I/O space, and an AHCI mode using memory space.
SATA and PATA can also be used in a combined function mode (where the SATA function
is used with PATA). In this combined function mode, AHCI mode is not used. Software
that uses legacy mode will not have AHCI capabilities.
The ICH7 supports the Serial ATA Specification, Revision 1.0a. The ICH7 also supports
several optional sections of the Serial ATA II: Extensions to Serial ATA 1.0
Specification, Revision 1.0 (AHCI support is required for some elements).
AHCI (Intel^® ICH7R, ICH7DH, and Mobile Only)
The ICH7 provides hardware support for Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI), a
new programming interface for SATA host controllers. Platforms supporting AHCI may
take advantage of performance features such as no master/slave designation for SATA
devices—each device is treated as a master—and hardware-assisted native command
queuing. AHCI also provides usability enhancements such as Hot-Plug (Desktop and
Mobile Only). AHCI requires appropriate software support (e.g., an AHCI driver) and for
some features, hardware support in the SATA device or additional platform hardware.
Intel^® Matrix Storage Technology (Intel^® ICH7R, ICH7DH, and ICH7-M
DH Only)
The ICH7 provides support for Intel Matrix Storage Technology, providing both AHCI
(see above for details on AHCI) and integrated RAID functionality. The industry-leading
RAID capability provides high-performance RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 functionality
(RAID 0/1 functionality for ICH7-M DH) on up to 4 SATA ports of ICH7. Matrix RAID
support is provided to allow multiple RAID levels to be combined on a single set of hard
drives, such as RAID 0 and RAID 1 on two disks. Other RAID features include hot spare
support, SMART alerting, and RAID 0 auto replace. Software components include an
Option ROM for pre-boot configuration and boot functionality, a Microsoft* Windows*
compatible driver, and a user interface for configuration and management of the RAID
capability of ICH7.
PCI Interface
The ICH7 PCI interface provides a 33 MHz, Revision 2.3 implementation. The ICH7
integrates a PCI arbiter that supports up to six external PCI bus masters (three on Ultra
Mobile) in addition to the internal ICH7 requests. This allows for combinations of up to
six PCI down devices (three on Ultra Mobile) and PCI slots.
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Intel ^® ICH7 Family Datasheet