EVGA Z270 Stinger, User Manual

Page 1: ...EVGA Z270 Stinger 111 KS E272 1 User Guide EVGA Z270 Stinger Specs and Initial Installation ...

Page 2: ...tel Z270 STINGER Motherboard LED reference 10 Intel Z270 STINGER Motherboard Component Legend 12 PCI E Slot Breakdown 21 M 2 and U 2 Slot Breakdown 21 Preparing the Motherboard 22 Installing the CPU 22 Installing the CPU Cooling Device 23 Installing System Memory DIMMs 24 Installing the I O Shield 25 Installing the Motherboard 25 Securing the Motherboard into a System Case 26 Installing M 2 device...

Page 3: ...D Controller 49 Fan Header DC and PWM setup 84 Realtek HD Audio Manager 88 Installing Drivers and Software 111 Windows 10 8 7 Driver Installation 111 Warranty and Overclocking 112 Troubleshooting 113 Replacing a BIOS chip 113 SSD HDD is not detected 116 Have a question not covered above or want some online resources 118 EVGA Glossary of Terms 119 Compliance Information 122 ...

Page 4: ...C support USB 3 0 and USB 3 1 Type A and Type C support Intel HD Graphics an updated UEFI BIOS GUI PWM fan control to fit everyone s needs The Z270 STINGER is built with a 10 layer PCB featuring a CPU socket with 150 higher Gold content powered by an Advanced 5 1 phase Digital VRM 5 Phase VCore 1 Phase Memory PWM providing industry leading stability for all your applications Furthermore this board...

Page 5: ...e or SSD Keyboard Mouse Monitor Optional Optical Drive EVGA assumes you have purchased all the necessary parts needed to allow for proper system functionality For a full list of supported CPUs on this motherboard please visit www evga com support motherboard Intentions of the Kit When replacing a different model motherboard in a PC case you may need to reinstall your operating system even though t...

Page 6: ...R4 up to 3600MHz OC Supports up to 32GB of DDR4 memory USB 2 0 Ports 2x from Intel Z270 PCH 2x internal via 1 FP headers Supports hot plug Supports wake up from S3 mode Supports USB 2 0 protocol up to a 480 Mbps transmission rate USB 3 0 Ports 8x from Intel Z270 PCH 6x external 2x internal via 1 FP header Supports transfer speeds up to 5Gbps Backwards compatible USB 2 0 and USB 1 1 support USB 3 1...

Page 7: ...hannel 7 1 audio Supports Optical Output PCI E 3 0 Support Low power consumption and power management features Power Functions Supports ACPI Advanced Configuration and Power Interface Supports S0 normal S3 suspend to RAM S4 Suspend to disk depends on OS and S5 soft off PCI Express Expansion Slots 1x PCI E x16 slot Additional Expansion Slots 1x M 2 Key M 80mm slot on the back of the board from PCH ...

Page 8: ...WM controlled 2x 4 pin DC PWM headers Each fan header can be selected in BIOS to share PWM profiles or be controlled by DC ALL FAN HEADERS HAVE A MAXIMUM POWER LIMIT OF 1 AMP 12 VOLTS 12 WATTS EXCEDING THIS LIMIT WILL CAUSE IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO THE BOARD ...

Page 9: ...bjects and aids in proper airflow within the chassis 2x SATA 3G 6G Data Cables Used to support the SATA protocol and each one connects a single drive to the motherboard Labels and Decals The included stickers and decals for EVGA Products Case Badge EVGA enthusiast Case Badge Installation DVD Contains drivers and software needed to setup the motherboard User Manual The user manual you are reading r...

Page 10: ...vity 8 Backlit Shielded Audio Trace 3 VCC 6 M 2 Key E Activity Bluetooth 9 Backlit Shielded Audio Trace BACK LED Legend Intel Z270 STINGER Motherboard LED reference The EVGA Z270 STINGER Motherboard has several LEDs indicating power connectivity and activity Below is the location of the LEDs and their function ...

Page 11: ...ctivity a RED M 2 detection activity i Some devices do not have full activity detection support for example the LED will turn on when a SM951 drive is attached and blink while accessing However a XP941 drive does not support that function ii Rather than being solid ON some devices when detected active will blink this is specific to some devices b OFF No device attached 6 M 2 Key E Activity Bluetoo...

Page 12: ...Intel Z270 STINGER Motherboard Component Legend The EVGA Z270 STINGER Motherboard with the Intel Z270 and PCH Chipset Figure 1 shows the motherboard and Figure 2 shows the back panel connectors FIGURE 1 Z270 STINGER Motherboard Layout ...

Page 13: ...lit Audio Traces 3 PWM Fan Header 1amp 1 0 M 2 M ount Holes 1 7 Front Panel Connectors 4 DC PWM Header 1amp 1 1 M 2 Socket 3 Key M 80mm 1 8 Removable BIOS Chip 5 DDR4 M emory DIM M Slots 1 2 1 2 M 2 Socket 1Key E 1 9 CMOS Battery 6 24 pin ATX power connector 1 3 PCI E Slot x1 6 20 Front Panel Audio Connector 7 8 pin EPS Connector 1 4 USB 3 0 Headers 21 Rear Panel Connectors Figure 2 Component Lege...

Page 14: ...t Front Speaker Sub Front Speaker Out Front Speaker Sub Front Speaker Out Front Speaker Out Pink Mic In Mic In Mic In Mic In Black Side Speaker Out Side Speaker Out Side Speaker Out Orange Center Sub Out Center Sub Out Only used in 7 1 and is changed via Realtek Software from within Windows 1 USB 3 0 4 BIOS CMOS Reset 7 HDMI 1 4 2 USB 3 1 Type A 5 Intel I 219 NIC 8 Analog Audio Jacks 3 USB 3 1 Typ...

Page 15: ...s preferable because it eliminates voltage based fan stall points Please see Page 85 for more in depth PWM breakdown and PWM controls within BIOS UEFI 4 DC PWM Fan Headers These headers are DC controlled which means fan speed is based on decreasing voltage to the fan starting at a default of 100 12V When using DC a fan s minimum speed will vary depending on the motor because most fan motors requir...

Page 16: ...e System builders may make the mistake of plugging in a PCI E 8 pin or 6 2 pin connector which will prevent the board from POSTing and possibly short or damage the board although the cables appear similar they are wired differently and attaching a PCI E cable to an EPS connector may cause damage to the motherboard 8 Intel SATA 3 6G Ports The Intel Z270 PCH has a 6 port SATA 3 6G controller See Pag...

Page 17: ...ey E 32mm M 2 Key E is largely used for WiFi and Bluetooth cards Key E and Key M connectors are different meaning that devices are not interchangeable between sockets 13 PCI E Slot x16 x8 PCI E x16 x8 slots are primarily for video cards These full length slots will provide 8 or 16 lanes of bandwidth to a full size card and are backwards compatible with x8 x4 and x1 length cards Skylake and Kaby La...

Page 18: ...r eliminates electrical noise from the onboard audio when running multiple devices at a very high frequency The combination of CPU and graphics card frequencies and or SLI can cause static channel crosstalk or other audio anomalies Each channel s traces are isolated from other sources of electrical noise on the board which improves sound clarity From there the traces are backlit to show the isolat...

Page 19: ...from or played through the audio connectors on the chassis This header has a connector that looks similar to USB2 and will use the standard HD Audio jack Some systems may have two headers one labeled HD Audio and one labeled AC 97 this header is not compatible with AC 97 21 Rear Panel Connectors Figure 2 This is the section referred to as the I O Hub This panel contains the hardwired USB Sound and...

Page 20: ...r 111 KS E272 20 Card Slots The Z270 STINGER features 1 x16 PCI E slots 1 Socket 3 Key M M 2 80mm backwards compatible with Key M 60mm placed on the back of the motherboard and 1 Socket 1 Key E M 2 on a vertical riser ...

Page 21: ...OS o M 2 Key M does not share resources with other components M 2 Key E 32mm x1 from PCH o M 2 Enable Disable is set within the BIOS o M 2 Key E does not share resources with other components U 2 o U 2 Enable Disable is set within the BIOS o U 2 does not share resources with other components This motherboard does NOT have any lane replication via PLX all lanes are native and derived from CPU or PC...

Page 22: ...to the motherboard 1 Remove the plastic protective socket cover by pulling it straight up Be sure not to damage any of the pins inside the socket 2 Unhook the socket lever by pushing down and away from the socket 3 Pull the socket lever back and the load plate will lift 4 Open the load plate and make sure not to damage any of the pins inside the socket Note After removing the CPU socket cover it i...

Page 23: ... socket Note Make sure the CPU is fully seated and level in the socket 7 Lower the load plate so it is resting on the CPU 8 Carefully lock the lever back into place Installing the CPU Cooling Device There are many different cooling devices that can be used with this motherboard Follow the instructions that come with your cooling assembly ...

Page 24: ...of the DIMM slots This matches the gap on a DDR4 DIMM to ensure the memory is installed properly and to prevent the incorrect installation of memory 1 Unlock a DIMM slot by pressing the top side module clips outward 2 Align the memory module to the DIMM slot and insert the module perpendicular to the DIMM slot pressing straight down to seat the module The plastic clips at top side of the DIMM slot...

Page 25: ...ou are replacing an existing motherboard whether you are building a new PC and the type of chassis that will house your PC components You must first determine if it would be easier to secure the motherboard to the chassis or if it would be easier to install other components prior to this step It is normally easier to secure the motherboard first Note Be sure that the CPU fan assembly has enough cl...

Page 26: ...he standoffs 3 Align the connectors to the I O shield 4 Ensure that the fan assembly is aligned with the chassis vents according to the fan assembly instruction 5 Secure the motherboard with four 4 screws See next page for mount hole location Ensure that each screw is lined up with and screwing into the corresponding standoff under the board Double check alignment to make sure nothing gets cross t...

Page 27: ...d but not fully tightened the motherboard should have 1 2mm of movement this can help with mounting cards or tight fits with other components 3 Once the board is properly aligned be sure to fully tighten the board to the chassis before proceeding 4 On the STINGER platform if you intend to use M 2 Key M install M 2 PRIOR to installing the motherboard to the case ...

Page 28: ...e images from an installation of a SSD on a Socket 3 Key M 1 Remove the screw that comes pre attached to the M 2 s retention standoff this will be used to keep the device in place 2 Insert the M 2 device in at a slight angle at approximately 45 degrees to the board This will allow the contacts colloquially called Gold Fingers to seat completely into the slot If the device is fully seated you shoul...

Page 29: ...ed end There will be some tension this is normal then use the screw you removed in Step 2 to secure the device Below you can see that the contacts will be nearly invisible when the device is properly seated and the copper mounting semi circle is partially visible around the screw ...

Page 30: ...g the M 2 device to not seat fully As a result this may cause a drive detection failure by the BIOS the drive will be detected with the description in gibberish e g characters in the name such as etc and or notifications that the drive has corrupt data stored on it Moreover if the device s connection looks like this then screwing down the device will likely be a VERY tight fit if even possible whi...

Page 31: ...z 16 G4520 2 Cores 3 60 GHz 16 G4500 2 Cores 3 50 GHz 16 G4500T 2 Cores 3 00 GHz 16 G4400T 2 Cores 2 9 GHz 16 G3920 2 Cores 2 90 GHz 16 G3900T 2 Cores 2 60 GHz 16 KabyLake S SkyLake Vendor Part Number Size Frequency Slot Timing Voltage Crucial CT8G4DFD8213 16FA1 8G 2133 1 2 15 15 15 36 1 2V G SKILL F4 2133C15Q 16GRR 4G 2133 1 2 15 15 15 36 1 2V G SKILL F4 2133C15Q 32GRR 8G 2133 1 2 15 15 15 36 1 2...

Page 32: ...99F 8G 2400 1 2 15 15 15 35 1 2V G SKILL F4 2400C15D 8GRR 4G 2400 1 2 15 15 15 35 1 2V G SKILL F4 2666C15Q 16GRR 4G 2666 1 2 15 15 15 35 1 2V G SKILL F4 2666C15Q 32GRR 8G 2666 1 2 15 15 15 35 1 2V CORSAIR CMD32GX4M4A2666C16 8G 2666 1 2 16 18 18 35 1 2V CORSAIR CMD16GX4M4A2666C15 4G 2666 1 2 15 17 17 35 1 2V CORSAIR CMD16GX4M4A2666C16 4G 2666 1 2 16 18 18 35 1 2V CORSAIR CMK16GX4M4A2666C16 4G 2666 ...

Page 33: ...200 1 2 16 16 16 39 1 35V CORSAIR CMD16GX4M4B3200C16 4G 3200 1 2 16 18 18 36 1 35V G SKILL F4 3200C16Q 32GVK 8G 3200 1 2 16 16 16 36 1 35V Kingston HX432C15PBK2 8 4G 3200 1 2 15 17 17 39 1 35V G SKILL F4 3200C14Q2 64GTZ 8G 3200 1 2 14 14 14 34 1 35V G SKILL F4 3200C14Q 64GVK 16G 3200 1 2 14 14 14 34 1 35V G SKILL F4 3600C17C 16GVK 4G 3600 1 2 17 18 18 38 1 35V G SKILL F4 3600C17Q 32GVK 8G 3600 1 2...

Page 34: ... Samsung MZ HPU128T 004 128GB M 2 Kingston SHPM2280P2H 240 240GB M 2 PCIE Adapter Card Samsung MZ VKV512 NVMExpress 512GB M 2 Intel SSDSCKKW120H6 120GB M 2 Intel SSDSCKKW240H6 240GB M 2 Intel 6000P SERIES SSDPEKKF256G7 256GB M 2 PCIE Adapter Card Intel 6000P SERIES SSDPEKKF512G7 512GB M 2 PCIE Adapter Card M 2 Key M SSD Brand Part Number Wifi Support Intel 7265NGW BT 4 0 802 11ac Azure Wave AW NB1...

Page 35: ...otprint of the component AND the cable pinouts for the ports The locations of these ports can be found in the Component Legend on Page 13 14 This section takes you through all the necessary connections on the motherboard This will include Power Connections 24pin ATX power PW1 EPS 8 pin 12V power Internal Headers Front Panel connectors Power Reset LEDs Fan Headers PWM for CPU and DC for case fans U...

Page 36: ...ong the lower right edge of the board Make sure that the power supply cable and pins are properly aligned with the connector on the motherboard Firmly plug the power supply cable into the connector and make sure it is secure The 24 pin Power Connector may be standard or right angled depending on your motherboard model ...

Page 37: ... optional for improved overclocking Please remember to make sure that the tab on the EPS socket is aligned with the release clip on the cable NOTE If the tab and release clip are on opposite sides yet the power connector fits then you are using a PCI E 8 pin cable which WILL damage the board if powered on Please review installation instructions from your power supply manufacturer to verify which c...

Page 38: ...Attach the power button cable from the case to these two pins Pressing the power button on the front panel turns the system on and off rather than using the onboard button HD_LED Attach the hard disk drive indicator LED cable to these two pins The HDD indicator LED indicates the activity status of the hard disks RESET Attach the Reset switch cable from the front panel of the case to these two pins...

Page 39: ... only has 4 pin fan headers which are backwards compatible with 3 pin fan connectors Fans may be controlled by PWM or DC controls The headers have an absolute safe power limit of 1 Amp 12 Volts 12 Watts These headers are for your CPU heatsink and chassis cooling fans ...

Page 40: ...rd contains 2x 19 pin internal header connectors onboard that can be used to connect an optional external bracket containing up to four 4 USB 3 0 ports Secure the bracket to either the front or rear panel of your chassis not all chassis are equipped with the front panel option Connect the end s of the cables to the USB 3 0 or 3 1 headers on the motherboard ...

Page 41: ...oard that can be used to connect an optional external bracket containing up to four 4 USB 2 0 ports Secure the bracket to either the front or rear panel of your chassis not all chassis are equipped with the front panel option Connect the end s of the cables to the USB 2 0 headers on the motherboard ...

Page 42: ...port different audio standards and can provide two kinds of audio output choices HD Audio or AC 97 to accommodate older cases that still use AC 97 rather than HD The Z270 STINGER only has a HD Audio front panel connector This header is also for 2 channel headphones or 2 1 speakers and a Mic ...

Page 43: ... platform natively support full AHCI and RAID functions AHCI is enabled by default however the controller can be put into RAID mode in the BIOS RAID mode supports RAID levels 0 1 5 and 10 and supports all AHCI functionality All SATA ports are boxed above in RED U 2 is a new storage standard and is enabled or disabled in BIOS and has the advantage of the performance of a M 2 SSD and the ease of ins...

Page 44: ...1 KS E272 44 Clear CMOS Button The motherboard uses CMOS RAM to store set parameters The CMOS may be cleared by pressing the Clear CMOS button on the motherboard PCB or on the external I O Panel External Clear CMOS Button ...

Page 45: ...e and it will allow you to navigate to where your ROM file was stored and press Enter to update IMPORTANT NOTE DO NOT CUT POWER OR REBOOT THE SYSTEM DURING A BIOS UPDATE YOU WILL LIKELY RENDER THAT SPECIFIC BIOS UNBOOTABLE If you did update the BIOS you will be greeted with the same screen as before stating that there is a Checksum error Please press Delete to go into the BIOS UEFI The Z270 chipse...

Page 46: ...esn t show at this point please check the troubleshooting section on Page 117 If you plan on using the M 2 U 2 SATA Express as a boot device click on or navigate to the Advanced menu select Onboard Device Configuration and enable the desired port Once this is done press F10 to save and exit plug in your operating system installation medium likely a thumb drive and Windows 10 should be able to boot...

Page 47: ...ardware combinations PLEASE SEE CHART ON PAGE 22 FOR A DETAILED BREAKDOWN OF SHARED RESOURCES M 2 Physical Installation 1 Please see Page 29 for M 2 physical installation instructions PCI E Physical Installation 1 Install the SSD into any available PCI E slot with at least x4 Lanes available Gen3 Lanes are preferred for better speed but Gen2 Lanes will still outperform the top end of SATA SSDs a P...

Page 48: ...using a SSD connected via PCI E e g an Intel 750 or through an adapter that connects a M 2 SSD to PCI E go to Advanced PCI E Configuration and verify that the device shows on the slot you have it installed a Verify the lane count and PCI E Generation It should state x4 Gen3 7 Next check the Dashboard on the upper right The populated slot lanes used and PCI E Generation should all match the informa...

Page 49: ...n taking several physical drives and making one logical drive out of them You can add a minimum of two drives up to a maximum of six drives depending on the configuration for this controller specifically and the operating system will see only one logical device RAID LEVELS ALL RAID LEVELS All RAID levels will lose some capacity through the process of making the array A small amount of disk space i...

Page 50: ...H WILL SEND THE CONTROLLER THE MESSAGE THAT THE DRIVE HAS FAILED OR DISCONNECTED If you are unsure about any of the bolded section above please contact the drive manufacturer s customer service to make sure the device is supported for RAID If the drive is not the controller cannot work around it and make it function as intended RAID0 This type of array is often referred to as Striping or a Striped...

Page 51: ...s it very volatile if you lose even 1 drive you lose everything If you use this method make sure to back up often Below is the breakdown of RAID0 s function and the breakdown of a drive failure in this type of array Wherever you see the section labelled DATA at the bottom turn red this indicates an array failure As RAID0 has no fault tolerance even a single drive failure compromises the array and ...

Page 52: ...least on these PCH driven controllers are limited to 2 drives Also being that this is a mirror you will use 50 of your capacity in redundancy The Good RAID1 allows you to suffer a catastrophic failure of 1 drive with no ill effects to the data being stored Because data is stored on 2 drives at once read speeds typically increase a little but not to the speed of RAID5 and certainly not to the speed...

Page 53: ...lt Tolerance which attempts to bridge the gap between speed and redundancy This level will always reserve a capacity equivalent to one drive for fault tolerance regardless of the overall capacity This means that if you use four 1TB drives to create your RAID5 you will only have the capacity of three 1TB drives likewise if you use five 1TB drives to create your array you will only have the capacity...

Page 54: ...reated in part to create large size arrays with fault tolerance Due to the capacity available on modern drives other RAID solutions are now better and with fewer downsides RAID5 protects data rotating parity there are several terms coined by different RAID manufacturers over the years for RAID5 and they all mean roughly the same thing which means taking small portions of data duplicating them and ...

Page 55: ...e same 50 drive capacity as all data has a 1 1 copy The Good Excellent Fault Tolerance Good rebuild times o Vastly superior rebuild times compared to the previous 0 1 methodology of nested RAID Overall performance is good comparable or slightly faster than RAID5 The Bad Low space efficiency o With the capacity of modern drives this will likely be less of a consideration than in previous years P DR...

Page 56: ...which increases the theoretical number of failures the array can suffer before a loss of data occurs However an array can still fail due to both drives on a node failing P DRIVE1 P DRIVE2 P DRIVE3 P DRIVE4 P DRIVE1 P DRIVE2 P DRIVE3 P DRIVE4 P DATA A P DATA A P DATA B P DATA B P DATA A P DATA A P DATA B P DATA B P DRIVE1 P DRIVE2 P DRIVE3 P DRIVE4 P DRIVE1 P DRIVE2 P DRIVE3 P DRIVE4 P DATA A P DAT...

Page 57: ... DATA B L Drive DATA C L Drive DATA ABC L Drive DATA A L Drive DATA B L Drive DATA C L Drive DATA ABC L Drive DATA A L Drive DATA B L Drive DATA C RAID 10 6 Drive L DRIVE 3TB L Drive DATA A L Drive DATA B L Drive DATA C In the case of a drive failure the array controller will notify you When you replace a failed drive in the RAID10 rebuilding the array is mostly seamless For example look at the ar...

Page 58: ...tain the mirror To the end user the final result appears very similar however the significant differences lie in fault tolerance and recovery In a RAID0 1 ANY drive failure results in half of the array becoming effectively failed If one drive fails that stripe fails and the mirrored stripe takes over When the failed drive is replaced the entire capacity of the mirrored array must be rewritten to t...

Page 59: ...ds compared to RAID10 because the stripes are larger without the overhead of an internal mirror This is because RAID10 increases both the number of mirror sets as the array scales upwards and the backend calculations needed to maintain the arrays whereas RAID0 1 only increases stripe size P DRIVE1 P DRIVE2 P DRIVE3 P DRIVE4 P DRIVE1 P DRIVE2 P DRIVE3 P DRIVE4 P DRIVE1 P DRIVE2 P DRIVE3 P DRIVE4 P ...

Page 60: ...TA ABC L Drive DATA ABC L Drive DATA ABC L Drive DATA ABC L Drive DATA ABC RAID 0 1 6 Drive L Drive DATA ABC L Drive DATA ABC L Drive DATA ABC L DRIVE 3TB L Drive DATA ABC L Drive DATA ABC L Drive DATA ABC As you can see the difference between RAID0 1 and RAID10 is significant when looking at how data is stored Although the drive volume scaling and the level of fault tolerance is the same internal...

Page 61: ...e and RAID5 for speed and protection Also you can run more than one array on your controller so long as the total is under five 5 drives Configuring the Array Attach all SATA devices you intend to use and make sure power is attached Power the system on Press the Delete key repeatedly to enter BIOS Once into BIOS you will need to enable the RAID function of the board Once into BIOS click on or navi...

Page 62: ...on on Page 117 Once RAID is enabled and all devices are detected press F10 to save and exit Upon reboot repeatedly press Delete to reenter the BIOS Once in the BIOS go back to the Advanced tab where you ll find a new item at the bottom of the list called Intel Rapid Storage Technology The Intel Rapid Storage Technology utility in the BIOS replaces the Intel RAID manager that was previously launche...

Page 63: ...see a list of all detected drives and a Create RAID Volume button To begin click on Create RAID Volume or navigate to the button and hit Enter Choose a name for the volume The controller allows up to 15 characters you can use numbers and letters but not special characters ...

Page 64: ...r pressing the enter key and using the down arrow to select the RAID level and pressing Enter again Please see the top half of Page 62 for a quick reference on different RAID levels and RAID types based on your total number of drives Next select the drives you want to use for the array Select the down arrow and the X for each drive you want to include in the array ...

Page 65: ...ault The controller defaults the capacity to the maximum available space for the RAID Leaving the capacity at default is recommended because reducing the size is not beneficial except in limited cases To complete the setup process please select Create Volume at the bottom of the page Depending on the array type drive type and volume this can take a few seconds to a few minutes Once the array is co...

Page 66: ...from within the UEFI For testing purposes a drive was intentionally removed from a RAID5 array and wiped to guarantee that the array rebuild behaved the same as if a new replacement drive was added to a degraded array If a drive fails and the array becomes degraded you will typically see an alert in Windows during the controller booting Legacy mode only or while checking the array status within UE...

Page 67: ...ray The drive attached is an exact match to the other drives in our RAID 5 however you can use a different drive if it is the same size and preferably same type series as well ALL DATA ON THAT DRIVE WILL BE REMOVED AND WILL NOT BE RECOVERABLE WHEN ADDING IT INTO THE ARRAY The controller will also give you this information but it cannot be overstated that using a drive with data on it will result i...

Page 68: ...s in uncomplicated arrays with small amounts of data can rebuild very quickly Large platter drive based arrays especially in RAID5 can take several hours to rebuild The duration of the rebuild process will further increase based on the usage of both the array and the CPU during the process The rebuild process can be monitored from the Intel Rapid Storage Technology utility in Windows which is effe...

Page 69: ...RST the IRST may be more convenient for some people due to a more detailed UI than the UEFI This guide will illustrate how to create a RAID1 array using the IRST Using the screen above we know that three 3 SSDs are currently attached to the controller and the other three 3 INTEL SATA ports are empty this can vary board to board based on how many Intel SATA ports are present If you plan to create a...

Page 70: ... Select SATA and Real time protection RAID1 Then click Next at the bottom of the window RAID1 can only support two 2 drives Left click the open boxes from the list below to select your two preferred drives You may also name the array anything you like Although you have the option to define volume size it is recommended to leave the array at 100 which is the default ...

Page 71: ...EVGA Z270 Stinger 111 KS E272 71 ...

Page 72: ... you can select the option to Initialize Volume which will occur after the array is created If the array is not initialized now it can be initialized later in Disk Management See Page 80 for Disk Management instructions When done click Next at the bottom ...

Page 73: ...ections made click the Back key and make your corrections When ready click Create Volume at the bottom This typically takes between a few seconds to a couple minutes depending on the size and complexity of the volume Once finished you will see the message below The array is now ready to be partitioned formatted and used ...

Page 74: ...initialize was selected the initialization status will be shown below circled in red If you select the Manage tab you can see a bit more in depth information on the array and additional options to manage or change the array Before the drive can be used however the drive must be partitioned formatted and assigned a drive letter Please see Page 80 for instructions ...

Page 75: ... Below you can see a degraded array and one of its drives reported as missing failed The data on the other drive is still intact but the fault tolerance is offline due to the missing failed drive The IRST also shows several warnings the for Status a for the portion of the array missing showing the degradation of the logical drive and the for the physical drive which also states 0GB a further indic...

Page 76: ...specifically and not just the controller as a whole Next to Status Degraded left click the hyperlink labeled Rebuild to another disk This will bring a pop up window over the IRST showing a list of attached drives that can be used for the repair see pic on next page ...

Page 77: ...EVGA Z270 Stinger 111 KS E272 77 Select the drive you wish to use for the repair and click the Rebuild button ...

Page 78: ...ll begin As with any RAID array with Fault Tolerance the rebuilding time depends on several factors such as array size array type CPU etc You will then see the Rebuild status in the Manage tab Once repairs are complete the array will update to Status Normal ...

Page 79: ... prepared the array to be used To begin you ll need to go into Disk Management Windows 8 8 1 and 10 Right click on the Windows Start button and select Disk Management Alternatively press the Windows Key X on your keyboard and select Disk Management Windows 7 Left click the Start menu right click on Computer and select Manage from the drop down The Computer Management window will pop up and you ll ...

Page 80: ...a new drive or created a new array Generally it s recommended to select GPT unless you need backwards compatibility with an old OS or PC When you ve made your choice click OK Note If you previously initialized your array through IRST you will skip this step and move on to the New Simple Volume Wizard in the next step ...

Page 81: ... the New Simple Volume Wizard will automatically pop up If your drive or array is initialized but not partitioned the disk will appear in Disk Management as Unallocated as shown in the image below Right click on the box containing Unallocated and select New Simple Volume this text may vary slightly based on operating system The New Simple Volume Wizard will pop up When the window below opens click...

Page 82: ...ote The drive letter does NOT have to be a consecutive letter with previous drive s Also the wizard will not allow you to accidentally select the letter of a drive in use The next step is to format the partition Select your File System NTFS is default and generally recommended for most large drives Check the box for Perform a quick Format You may rename the volume or leave it at default Click Next...

Page 83: ... a summary of the process then click Finish The drive is now usable To confirm go back to File Explorer in Windows Click on This PC and check the drives section You should have a new empty drive there with the letter you designated At this point the process of building an array and making it usable is completed ...

Page 84: ...nd 14 component number 3 are PWM controlled whereas the remaining fans see Pages 13 and 14 component number 4 are controlled by either DC Direct Current or PWM To configure the fans in BIOS UEFI first power on restart the PC During the POST sequence press Delete repeatedly to get into the BIOS Once in the BIOS use the arrow keys or your mouse to navigate whichever is easier and make your way to th...

Page 85: ...n headers can be set to either DC Mode or PWM Mode which can be selected by clicking on the pulldown menu DC Mode will power the header using the static percentage set and the fan s maximum speed PWM Mode will power the header and communicate via PWM with a supported PWM fan PWM mode is necessary if you are running a PWM fan powered by a different connector such as a molex SATA or 3 pin header not...

Page 86: ... control to the PWM temp Once you ve set the Fan Control reference point you can set the Default fan speed The fan speed will increase once the temperature reference point has heated up enough to hit the Level 1 Temperature Once it hits the Level 1 Temperature the fan controls will override the Default speed setting based on the temperature at the time There are four tiers of temp control with Lev...

Page 87: ...nts a constant ramp up down from happening when your system sits exactly at the temp you set for SMART fan controls For example if your setting is at 30C and you hit 31C the fan will ramp up and cool down to 29C letting the fan slowdown which lets the system heat back up to 31C again repeating indefinitely and causes the system to sound like it s breathing Hysteresis adds a 4C buffer for CPU and P...

Page 88: ...ions that are available in the software To begin use your installation DVD or download the current Realtek drivers form www evga com support download Once the zip file is downloaded right click the file to extract it and run the correct 32 bit or 64 bit executable for your operating system Once launched select Next on the extraction window Next on the installation window then select Yes I want to ...

Page 89: ...d Sound Manager to launch the Realtek software front end The below images are all composites showing the popup texts for multiple buttons menus on screen at once to reduce the picture clutter however you will not see the same popups simultaneously in the Realtek HD Audio Manager Once the Sound Manager is open you will be able to configure several aspects of the sound output First on the main scree...

Page 90: ... component number 8 The center section of the side panel is for Front Panel Audio Front Panel Audio ONLY supports 2 0 2 1 speakers or headphones and a standard microphone These are only usable if you are using a front panel connector such as a 5 bay device with audio connectors or the front panel audio pre attached to your chassis The Front panel header can be found in the component legend on Page...

Page 91: ... must be connected to a receiver that supports live encoding or an equivalent technology Also on the side panel is the Device Advanced Settings button This will bring up a popup menu with options for playback and recording devices Both options in Playback Device and Recording Device are mutually exclusive within their respective sections The top options are default for both Once you have made your...

Page 92: ...nge to Microphone If you d prefer to disable this notification then deselect the Enable auto popup dialog option The Disable front panel jack detection option is mostly used for troubleshooting in cases where the Realtek Manager refuses to acknowledge speakers plugged into the rear ports causing no sound to come out from your speakers Should you run into that problem checking the box for this opti...

Page 93: ...You should also see a Digital Output Optical at the top This shares all the same options as Digital Output the difference is strictly connection type In the Default Format section there are a couple basic selections of CD Quality and DVD Quality which allow you to select optimized presets based on standards of how the media is recorded and written to a disk for those formats Use the pulldown menu ...

Page 94: ... this is the volume control for the Realtek software but also adjusts Windows main volume this will also work similarly to a pre amp if your speakers have a separate volume control that controls the volume after leaving the PC but before reaching the speakers For this reason many modern speaker systems use sequential volume controls working additively off each other To the right is the Mute button...

Page 95: ...en a bathroom If you want a preset other than what is available on the main screen click the pulldown box next to Environment which defaults to None and contains a list of 24 total options You can revert the sound effects back to a default state anytime by clicking the Reset button To the right of the Reset button is the Loudness Equalization setting This is effectively volume normalization which ...

Page 96: ...ualizer icon to bring up the 10 band equalizer This will bypass all presets and enable manual control From here you can adjust the tone of the music by raising or lowering the slider on each frequency band You can make multiple presets of your own which will appear in the pulldown after you have saved them The presets each have their own benefits but cannot take into account your audio equipment r...

Page 97: ...will raise the pitch of the music and voice while lowering the value down to 4 will lower the pitch of the music and voice This setting is designed to add a fun effect to your audio it generally should not be used as a means to fix audio The next device section is Speakers which is where you can configure all of the output options while using the analog connectors on the back This section will foc...

Page 98: ...nge to the speakers whereupon the speakers will engage its own hardware crossover filters to appropriately direct audio to the individual drivers If your speakers are not full range they will not have necessary hardware components to play low frequencies nor are they designed for that purpose When the full range option is unchecked the Audio Manager will instead send the full signal out using cros...

Page 99: ...requencies Headphones tend to be full range speakers as they are designed to operate without a subwoofer However the quality of your headphones will determine whether you should configure them as full range or not If you use a receiver or your speaker system has its own controls for the type of speakers do not use the full range setting in the Creative panel without consulting the instructions of ...

Page 100: ... source to create a virtual surround effect using additional speakers 5 1 and 7 1 add more options Speaker Fill carries over from Quadraphonic but also includes Swap Center Subwoofer Output and Enable Base Management Speaker Fill is still a virtual surround sound emulation feature for stereo audio sources but not a true surround Swap Center Subwoofer output is an option because the Realtek control...

Page 101: ... the crossover settings provide enough room to set the crossover frequency a little higher than your speakers minimum frequency response which will reduce distortion and provide a smoother transition to your subwoofer A good rule of thumb is to set the crossover frequency about 20Hz higher than your minimum speaker frequency response However you may run into three different scenarios First the fre...

Page 102: ...s you to disable satellite speakers in pairs to bring any 5 1 or 7 1 system down to stereo This is mainly used as a diagnostic tool for testing sound issues In the image above speakers become transparent in the image when they are unchecked this is to give you a visual reference of which speakers are enabled and disabled when testing for sound The last section under Speakers is Room Correction Thi...

Page 103: ...r you check the box to Enable Room Correction you will need to select whether you want distances displayed in Feet or Meters Once selected the unit of measurement will be colored in light orange and will be reflected in the measurements below for each speaker From here enter the measurements from the seating area to each speaker Once the distances are entered test the audio and adjust the gain val...

Page 104: ... play back any audio the microphone picks up This is a useful feature to assist with hearing your own speaking volume or audio content playing in the background By default this setting is muted If you encounter an issue where you constantly hear yourself talk and you re sure it s coming from the computer check first to see if this setting is enabled The Microphone Boost button is next to the upper...

Page 105: ... voice bouncing off objects in your room This creates an echo audible to whomever you re speaking to much like being on a phone call with someone on speaker phone and you hear your own voice coming back into your speaker In these situations this setting can prevent this from occurring As with any speaker or microphone setting your audio equipment will have a significant effect on audio quality and...

Page 106: ...e next tab is Mainboard which provides a bit more detailed information on the motherboard itself Here you can find the part number in the Model line the CPU speed the chipset and even the date and revision of the BIOS The Memory tab provides an overview of the speed and settings of your system memory At the top you can verify that the memory is in Dual channel mode the size and the NB frequency Be...

Page 107: ...tages is Temperatures This covers the CPU socket PWM SYS individual CPU cores and the CPU package which reports temperatures from the CPU Register The bottom section is for Fans which displays the RPM of all fans currently plugged in to the motherboard using the 3 pin or 4 pin fan header The next tab is Overclocking which covers adjustments to the BCLK individual Cores and the RING The BCLK can be...

Page 108: ...d Windows versions However this menu can still be used to bypass the inter load distribution of the CPU and always set a certain CPU core or cores to run a specific process The processes pulldown list is a snapshot only of the processes in Task Manager when E LEET launches Click the Refresh Processes button to ensure the processes list is current before making affinity setting changes or if the pr...

Page 109: ...hod of setting your CPU Vcore voltage Adaptive gives you both Target Voltage and Offset Voltage as an option When adjusting Adaptive you start by setting your target voltage which you will discover through stress testing your CPU The Offset voltage is then used to fine tune additional voltage that may be required in load or stress situations Override just provides a static voltage outside of extre...

Page 110: ...ease be careful when adjusting voltages as there are risks to running electronics out of spec Although EVGA warranties overclocking other components are manufactured by different brands i e RAM and CPU which may have different policies towards overclocking When your changes are complete click Apply Selection at the bottom or return to defaults by clicking the Restore button Below is the voltage ra...

Page 111: ...onal software The CD that has been shipped with the EVGA Z270 Motherboard contains the following software and drivers Chipset Drivers Audio Drivers RAID Drivers LAN Drivers USB 3 0 Drivers USB 3 1 Drivers ME Drivers WiFi Bluetooth Drivers Serial IO Drivers EVGA E LEET X User s Manual Windows 10 8 7 Driver Installation 1 Insert the EVGA Z270 installation CD for the motherboard included in the kit 2...

Page 112: ...h a hand tool or liquid damage the warranty is void Similarly permanent changes to components or the PCB will void your warranty including the removal of pre attached components soldered to the board or the addition of components that are not removable without heat or solvents In other words you may use Precision XOC to raise the voltage on your graphics card while overclocking but you may not sol...

Page 113: ...ed approximately nine months after the Z97 motherboards launched Chances are if you purchased the board and CPU together in that timeframe retail motherboards may not have the latest BIOS with compatibility added for that new CPU and the board may need a BIOS update to be able to POST successfully FOR ANY AND ALL INSTANCES WHERE YOU THINK YOU MAY NEED A REPLACEMENT BIOS CHIP PLEASE CALL CUSTOMER S...

Page 114: ...but under a set of gray plastic doors that keep the chip in place 2 There is a circular mark on the bottom right that is used for alignment Circled in RED Please keep in mind that this chip IS DIRECTIONAL and inserting the replacement backwards will cause immediate failure of the motherboard and BIOS chip including the potential for fire or smoke from the socket a As a tip the doors will only clos...

Page 115: ...ARE USED TO SHOW WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU ATTEMPT TO INSTALLED THE BIOS CHIP INCORRECTLY a If the chip is in backwards the pins will seat but the top will overhang the socket slightly making it impossible to seat the door properly See picture to the right the red circled alignment mark is opposite of where it is supposed to be b When you push the left door the chip will lift off the right side pins and...

Page 116: ...uld feel the drive spin up warmth from the motor and a light on the front from an optical drive If you see hear and feel this then the device is receiving power and you may skip to the next section If you do not see hear or feel this first try the cable on a device that you know works if the cable works then the issue is the device in question However if you replace the device and the issue persis...

Page 117: ...hese same steps can be used for SATA Express you can only try a different cable or device with U 2 because there is only one U 2 port M 2 devices have a bit less to test due to their connection that provides data and power through a single socket M 2 devices are installed at an angle gently pushed down flush with the motherboard then screwed into place M 2 drives only fit one way and cannot fit up...

Page 118: ...ard including the minimum required BIOS revision for compatibility at http www evga com support motherboard BIOS updates are cumulative so they will always support products from the previous version except when specified otherwise For our Frequently Asked Questions FAQ database go to http www evga com support knowledgebase To visit our Community Forums go to http forums evga com For our Community ...

Page 119: ...uctor CPU Central Processing Unit DC Direct Current DDR Double Data Rate DIMM Dual In line Memory Module DMI Direct Memory Interface DP Display Port DRAM Dynamic random access memory DVI Digital Video Interface ELEET ELEET X EVGA motherboard monitoring and tuning software FIVR Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator GHz Gigahertz GPIO Thunderbolt General Purpose Input Output GPU Graphics Processing Uni...

Page 120: ...stal Display LGA Land Grid Array LN2 Liquid Nitrogen Cooling MAC Media Access Control MCP Media and Communications Processor Intel ME Intel Management Engine MHz Megahertz MMIO Memory Mapped I O NB Northbridge NCQ Native Command Queuing NIC Network Interface Card NTFS New Technology File System NVMe Non Volatile Memory Express OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer PATA Parallel Advanced Technology A...

Page 121: ...CSI Small Computer System Interface SFR Split Frame Rendering SLI Scalable Link Interface SPD Serial Presence Detect S PDIF Sony Philips Digital Interconnect Format SPP System Platform Processors SSD Solid State Drive TCP IP Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol Thunderbolt High speed hot swappable interface similar function to USB U 2 High Speed storage interface also referred to as SFF...

Page 122: ...ology Equipment EN 55024 1998 A1 2001 A2 2003 Trademark Copyright Information 2001 2016 EVGA Corp EVGA the EVGA logo and combinations thereof are trademarks of EVGA Corp All brand names company names service marks logos and trademarks of the company or its affiliates or licensors are trademarks or registered trademarks of the company or its subsidiaries affiliates or licensors in the US and other ...

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