Intel 82801EB User Manual

AC ’97 Programmer’s Reference Manual 11 

 

 

In this document, “ICH5” stands for I/O Controller Hub 5. The ICH5 provides an AC ’97-
compliant controller. References to the “AC ’97 Component Specification” refer to the Audio 
Codec ’97 Specification, Revision 2.1, Revision 2.2, and Revision 2.3. The ICH5 AC ’97 Digital 
Controller implementation interfaces to AC ’97 Component Specification, Revision 2.3 and 
below-compliant codecs. The ICH5 supports up to three AC ’97 Component Specification 
compliant codecs on the AC-link interface.  

This document is limited to specifying the software requirements and driver interface for the ICH5 
AC ’97 digital controller. Wherever possible, it has pointers to additional considerations for 
supporting future proliferation or derivatives of the ICH5 digital controller. However, 
considerations for these future devices are subject to change. 

The ICH5 AC ’97 controller is fully compatible with the features found in the ICH1/2/3/4 
versions. This allows for current drivers developed by ISVs and IHVs to work without 
modifications. The ICH5 however, provides capabilities not found in ICH family components 
prior to ICH4. The following matrix provides a description of the available features for each of the 
ICHx component generations. This document specifically addresses features on ICH5 while 
maintaining the original programming model reference for new developers working directly with 
ICH5 and not previously exposed to the ICH component. 

Figure 1 displays a block diagram of the platform chipset with the ICH5 component. Figure 2 
represents the typical configuration for the ICH5 AC ’97 controller and companion codecs.