Dell Precision 420 User Manual
Page 96
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Introduction: Dell Precision™ WorkStation 420 Systems User's Guide
Overview
Dell Precision WorkStation 420 systems are high-speed, upgradable workstations, designed around Intel
® Pentium® III slot 1 microprocessors.
These systems support the high-performance Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus and the accelerated graphics port (AGP) bus. One of
the 32-bit PCI slots has a port extension that supports an optional redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID) card.
This section describes the major hardware and software features of the system and provides information you need to reinstall the operating
system, if necessary. It also provides information about the indicators and controls on the computer's front panel and discusses connecting external
devices to the computer.
System Features
The system offers the following features:
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Single or dual Pentium III microprocessor(s) with a front-side bus with an external speed of 133 MHz.
The Intel Pentium III processor includes MMX™ technology designed to handle complex multimedia and communications software. This
microprocessor incorporates an instruction set called Streaming™ SIMD extensions (SSE). SSE allows the microprocessor to process
multiple data elements in parallel, thereby improving system performance when you are running application programs written to take
advantage of MMX technology. The SSE instruction set includes floating-point single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) to enhance 3D display
performance and other multimedia capabilities.
The Intel Pentium III processor also includes the new processor serial number feature, which uniquely identifies each Pentium III processor.
This feature can be enabled or disabled (default) (see
CPU Serial Number
in System Setup Options).
The Intel Pentium III processor has a 16-kilobyte (KB) internal data cache and a 16-KB internal instruction cache, an internal math
coprocessor, and other advanced internal logic.
A second Pentium III processor single-edge connector cartridge 2 (SECC2) package (of the same type and operating frequency as
the installed microprocessor) can be purchased as a kit from Dell. Dual processing improves performance under operating systems
that support multiprocessing, such as the Microsoft
® Windows NT® 4.0 and Windows® 2000 operating systems.
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A secondary cache of static random-access memory (SRAM) integrated in the microprocessor.
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Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) support, which warns you at system start-up if the hard-disk drive may be
becoming unreliable. To take advantage of this technology, you must have a SMART-compliant hard-disk drive in the computer. All enhanced
integrated drive electronics (EIDE) and small computer system interface (SCSI) hard-disk drives shipped with Dell Precision 420 systems
are SMART-compliant.
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A 32-bit integrated Crystal SoundFusion CS4614 PCI audio controller that is Sound Blaster Pro-compatible and supports Microsoft
DirectSound, DirectSound3D, and wavetable synthesis. See "
Using the Integrated Audio Controller
" for details.
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System memory of up to 1 gigabyte (GB) on dual Rambus dynamic random-access memory (RDRAM) Rambus in-line memory modules
(RIMMs) in the four RIMM slots on the system board (two channels). Memory connectors support four RIMM modules in matched pairs of 64-,
128-, 256-, and 512-megabyte (MB) module capacity.
The memory subsystem also provides error checking and correction (ECC) capability, which corrects all single-bit memory errors and
detects all double-bit errors. See "
Adding Memory
" for details on installing additional memory.
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The system's basic input/output system (BIOS), which resides in flash memory and can be upgraded remotely or by diskette if required.
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Remote Wake Up capability, which, when enabled in the System Setup program, allows the system to be started up from a server
management console. Remote Wake Up capability also allows remote computer setup, BIOS upgrades, software downloading and
installation, file updates, and asset tracking after hours and on weekends when local area network (LAN) traffic is at a minimum.
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Universal Serial Bus (USB) capability, which simplifies connection of peripheral devices such as keyboards, printers, and speakers. The
USB connectors on the system's back panel provides two connection points for multiple USB-compliant devices. USB-compliant devices
Important Note to Microsoft Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0
Users
NOTE: Dell Precision WorkStation 420 systems do not support the 16-bit Industry-Standard Architecture (ISA) bus.