PowerEdge 750 Integrated Devices Questions

1.      What type of network controller does my server have?

2.      What type of video controller does my server have?

3.      What USB devices does my system support?

4.      What chipset is in my server?

5.      Does my server support SATA (Serial ATA)?

1.       What type of network controller does my server have?

The PowerEdge 750 provides two Network Interface Controllers (NIC) which are integrated onto the motherboard, capable of 10/100/1000Mbps speeds, half and full duplexing, and supports load-balancing and fault-tolerant teaming solutions.

These NIC's are based on the Intel Kenai II NIC controller architecture, which uses both the Intel 82547GI chip (Communication Streaming Architecture) that connects directly to the Memory Controller Hub of Intel 865 and 875 chipsets and the Intel 82541GI which connects directly to the PCI bus.

The Intel 82541GI chip enables the PE750 to support future IPMI 1.5 standards and management devices, and the Intel 82541GI chip which provides Intel Pro1000MT emulation.

There are two integrated LED's on the rear of the system, a yellow LED which indicates a good network connection and a green LED which indicates NIC activity. This NIC supports ACPI, WOL (wake on LAN) and PXE (network boot). They have a peak bandwidth of 2 GB/s. These NICs are IEEE 802.3 compliant.

These are the available driver downloads for the network controller:

Supported Operating Systems:

Windows 2000 Server

Windows 2003 Server

Novell Netware

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3

Unsupported Operating Systems:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1

Red Hat Linux 9



2.       What type of video controller does my server have?

The PowerEdge 750 server contains an embedded ATI Rage XL video controller with 8MB built-in (non-upgradeable) SDRAM dedicated memory. The controller will support video resolutions of up to 1600X1200 with 64K colors. DirectDraw and Direct3D are supported.

These are the available driver downloads for the Video Controller:

Windows 2000 Server

The ATI Rage XL video drivers are native to these Operating Systems:

Windows 2003 Server

Novell Netware (all recent versions)

Red Hat Linux (all recent versions)



3.       What USB devices does my system support?

The PowerEdge 750 has an integrated USB 2.0 Controller. Due to the current industry demands of having server-class systems work as "headless" units (without having a monitor, mouse, and keyboard constantly connected), it was deemed necessary to allow systems to accommodate the hot-plugging of keyboards and mice via USB ports as needed, while the system remains in full operation.

Dell has also validated an external CDrom, Floppy Drive and a 64Mb Flash Memory stick for use on the PowerEdge 750.
Note:       Most other USB devices should work on this system. However, since only these 5 devices have been tested and validated for use on the PowerEdge 750, these are the only devices that Dell supports.

As far as other USB devices which have not been validated for use on this system, Dell can not guarantee how or if they will function. Dell does not support third party hardware.

341-0107, CDrom, External, USB, 24X
341-0470, Memory Stick, USB, 64Mb
340-9791, Floppy Drive, External, USB, 1.44MB

Other removable Media options:
340-9769, CDRW/DVD, Internal, 24X
340-9790, Floppy Drive, Internal, 1.44MB

Please note that the contents of the above part numbers are subject to change over time, as is availability of those parts. We recommend contacting our Spare Parts department at 1-800-372-3355 for pricing, availability, and purchasing of all the above parts.



4.       What chipset is in my server?

The PowerEdge 750 uses the Intel E7210 chipset, also known as the Canterwood ES Chipset. This chipset has more features than the Canterwood chipset used in workstations. For more information on this chipset, you can refer to this link on Intel's website.



5.       Does my server support SATA (Serial ATA)?

Yes, the PowerEdge 750 does have an integrated Serial ATA controller. Serial ATA is a technology that is aiming to replace IDE. SATA is easier since it has a single point connection eliminating the need for jumpers, and it is faster with speeds up to 150 Megabytes per second. For more information on Serial ATA technology, you can go to www.serialata.org This server also supports an optional SATA RAID controller - the CERC SATA controller. Please see the PCI cards section for more information.

No drivers are necessary for the integrated SATA controller. The integrated SATA controller is native to all supported operating systems. If you are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, please refer to this document for an information update. Basically, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 will recognize SATA drives as if they were SCSI.


Message Edited by DELL-Mark A on 08-10-2004 02:26 PM