The Thunder i7505 is equipped with the P64H2 Southbridge, giving the user three PCI-X slots for powerful cards such as a SCSI 320 controller or 10 GB network components. The slot marked "A" in the picture is designed for PCI-X 133 MHz, the ones marked "B" and "C" for is for 100 MHz. With the help of jumper J30 on the board, slot A can be switched to PCI-2.2-compatible mode. Jumper J31 switches both slots "B" and "C" to this mode.
Adaptec 7902W controller and one of the two SCSI connections
Via the Adaptec 7902 SCSI controller, the board offers connections for 15 SCSI drives. It has two channels and works at a maximum interface speed of 320 MB/s. Added to that, the drives can be operated with "HostRAID" support in RAID 0 or 1 modes. The SCSI controller is connected to the PCI 64 interface on the P64H2 Southbridge. The controller shares this interface with the "B" and "C" PCI slots and the LAN chip. Hence, all components must run in the same compatibility mode. The 7902 is able to exchange its data at 133 MHz but, due to its connection on the PCI 64, is restricted to 100 MHz.
With the 82540EM chip from Intel, the board has Gigabit network functionality. The LAN controller is equipped with a PCI 64 interface working at a bus clock speed of 33 MHz or 66 MHz and coupled with the fast P64H2 Southbridge.
FireWire controller from Texas Instruments
A FireWire port is also included on the board
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The 1394 FireWire chip from Texas Instruments ensures fast data exchange between internal and external peripherals. It is located on the PCI 2.3 interface of the ICH4 Southbridge.
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