Asrock 970 Extreme3 manual

1 970 Extreme3 User Manual V ersion 1.0 Published August 201 1 Copyright©201 1 ASRock INC. All rights reserved.[...]

2 Copyright Notice: No part of this manual may be reproduced, transcribed, transmitted, or translated in any language, in any form or by any means, except duplication of documentation by the purchaser for backup purpose, without written consent of ASRock Inc. Products and corporate names appearing in this manual may or may not be regis- tered trade[...]

3 Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................. 5 1.1 Package Contents ..................................................................... 5 1.2 Speci fi cations ............................................................................. 6 1.3 Motherboard Layout .....................................[...]

4 3. UEFI SETUP UTILITY.......................................................... 38 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................ 38 3.1.1 UEFI Menu Bar ................................................................ 38 3.1.2 Navigation Keys ......................................................[...]

5 1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing ASRock 970 Extreme3 motherboard, a reliable mother- board produced under ASRock’s consistently stringent quality control. It delivers excellent performance with robust design conforming to ASRock’s commitment to quality and endurance. In this manual, chapter 1 and 2 contain introduction of the motherbo[...]

6 1.2 Specifications Platform - A TX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.6-in, 30.5 cm x 21.8 cm - All Solid Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors) CPU - Support for Socket AM3+ processors - Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenom TM II X6 / X4 / X3 / X2 (except 920 / 940) / Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 / Sempron process[...]

7 Rear Panel I/O I/O Panel - 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port - 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port - 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port - 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port - 4 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports - 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 3.0 Ports - 1 x eSA T A3 Connector - 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED) - HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker/Rear Speaker/Central/Bass/ Line in/Fro[...]

8 Unique Feature - ASRock Extreme T uning Utility (AXTU) (see CAUTION 7 ) - ASRock Instant Boot - ASRock Instant Flash (see CAUTION 8 ) - ASRock APP Charger (see CAUTION 9 ) - ASRock SmartView (see CAUTION 10 ) - ASRock XFast USB (see CAUTION 1 1 ) - ASRock XFast LAN (see CAUTION 12 ) - ASRock On/Off Play T echnology (see CAUTION 13 ) - Hybrid Boos[...]

9 CAUTION! 1. ASRock UCC (Unlock CPU Core) feature simpli fi es AMD CPU activa- tion. As long as a simple switch of the UEFI option “ASRock UCC”, you can unlock the extra CPU core to enjoy an instant performance boost. When UCC feature is enabled, the dual-core or triple-core CPU will boost to the quad-core CPU, and some CPU, including quad-co[...]

10 8. ASRock Instant Flash is a BIOS fl ash utility embedded in Flash ROM. This convenient BIOS update tool allows you to update system BIOS without entering operating systems fi rst like MS-DOS or Windows ® . With this utility , you can press <F6> key during the POST or press <F2> key to BIOS setup menu to access ASRock Instant Flas[...]

11 14. Although this motherboard offers stepless control, it is not recommended to perform over-clocking. Frequencies other than the recommended CPU bus frequencies may cause the instability of the system or damage the CPU. 15. While CPU overheat is detected, the system will automatically shutdown. Before you resume the system, please check if the [...]

12 1.3 Motherboard Layout 1 A TX 12V Power Connector (A TX12V1) 20 SA T A3 Connector (SA T A3_5, Gray) 2 Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_F AN3) 21 Clear CMOS Jumper (CLRCMOS1) 3 AM3+ CPU Socket 22 Power LED Header (PLED1) 4 CPU Heatsink Retention Module 23 System Panel Header (P ANEL1, Black) 5 CPU Fan Connector (CPU_F AN2) 24 Chassis Speaker Header (SP[...]

13 1.4 I/O P anel ** If you use 2-channel speaker , please connect the speaker ’ s plug into “Front Speaker Jack”. See the table below for connection details in accordance with the type of speaker you use. T ABLE for Audio Output Connection Audio Output Channels Front Speaker Rear Speaker Central / Bass Side Speaker (No. 8) (No. 5) (No. 6) (N[...]

14 T o enable Multi-Streaming function, you need to connect a front panel audio cable to the front panel audio header . After restarting your computer , you will fi nd “Mixer” tool on your system. Please select “Mixer T oolBox” , click “Enable playback multi-streaming”, and click “ok”. Choose “2CH”, “4CH”, “6CH”, or “[...]

15 2. Installation This is an A TX form factor (12.0-in x 8.6-in, 30.5 cm x 21.8 cm) motherboard. Before you install the motherboard, study the con fi guration of your chassis to ensure that the motherboard fi ts into it. Pre-installation P recautions T ake note of the following precautions before you install motherboard components or change any [...]

16 STEP 1: Lift Up The Socket Lever STEP 2 / STEP 3: Match The CPU Golden T riangle T o The Socket Corner Small T riangle STEP 4: Push Down And Lock The Socket Lever Lever 90° Up CPU Golden T riangle Socker Corner Small Triangle 2.1 CPU Installation Step 1. Unlock the socket by lifting the lever up to a 90 o angle. Step 2. Position the CPU directl[...]

17 2.3 Installation of Memor y Modules (DIMM) This motherboard provides four 240-pin DDR3 (Double Data Rate 3) DIMM slots, and supports Dual Channel Memory T echnology . For dual channel con fi guration, you always need to install identical (the same brand, speed, size and chip-type) DDR3 DIMM pair in the slots. In other words, you have to install[...]

18 notch break notch break Installing a DIMM Please make sure to disconnect power supply before adding or removing DIMMs or the system components. Step 1. Unlock a DIMM slot by pressing the retaining clips outward. Step 2. Align a DIMM on the slot such that the notch on the DIMM matches the break on the slot. The DIMM only fi ts in one correct ori[...]

19 2.4 Expansion Slots (PCI and PCI Express Slots) There are 2 PCI slots and 4 PCI Express slots on this motherboard. PCI Slots: PCI slots are used to install expansion cards that have the 32-bit PCI interface. PCIE Slots: PCIE1 / PCIE3 (PCIE x1 slot; Black) is used for PCI Express cards with x1 lane width cards, such as Gigabit LAN card and SA T A[...]

20 2.5 CrossFireX TM and Quad CrossFireX TM Operation Guide This motherboard supports CrossFireX TM and Quad CrossFireX TM feature. CrossFireX TM technology offers the most advantageous means available of combining multiple high performance Graphics Processing Units (GPU) in a single PC. Combining a range of different operating modes with intellige[...]

21 Step 2. Connect two Radeon graphics cards by installing CrossFire Bridge on CrossFire Bridge Interconnects on the top of Radeon graphics cards. (CrossFire Bridge is provided with the graphics card you purchase, not bundled with this motherboard. Please refer to your graphics card vendor for details.) CrossFire Bridge or Step 3. Connect the DVI m[...]

22 The Catalyst Uninstaller is an optional download. We recommend using this utility to uninstall any previously installed Catalyst drivers prior to installation. Please check AMD website for AMD TM driver updates. Step 3. Install the required drivers to your system. For Windows ® XP OS: A. AMD TM recommends Windows ® XP Service Pack 2 or higher [...]

23 Although you have selected the option “Enable CrossFire TM ”, the Cross- FireX TM function may not work actually . Y our computer will automatically reboot. After restarting your computer , please con fi rm whether the option “Enable CrossFire TM ” in “A TI Catalyst Control Center” is selected or not; if not, please select it again,[...]

24 * ASRock Smart Remote is only supported by some of ASRock motherboards. Please refer to ASRock website for the motherboard support list: http://www .asrock.com USB 2.0 header (9-pin, black) CIR header (4-pin, gray) 2.7 ASRock Smart Remote Installation Guide ASRock Smart Remote is only used for ASRock motherboard with CIR header . Please refer to[...]

25 2.8 Jumpers Setup The illustration shows how jumpers are setup. When the jumper cap is placed on pins, the jumper is “Short”. If no jumper cap is placed on pins, the jumper is “Open”. The illustration shows a 3-pin jumper whose pin1 and pin2 are “Short” when jumper cap is placed on these 2 pins. Jumper Setting Description Clear CMOS [...]

26 2.9 Onboard Headers and Connectors Onboard headers and connectors are NOT jumpers. Do NOT place jumper caps over these headers and connectors. Placing jumper caps over the headers and connectors will cause permanent damage of the motherboard! Serial A T A3 Connectors These fi ve Serial A T A3 (SA T A3_1: see p.12, No. 17) (SA T A3) connectors s[...]

27 Front Panel Audio Header This is an interface for the front (9-pin HD_AUDIO1) panel audio cable that allows (see p.12 No. 32) convenient connection and control of audio devices. Consumer Infrared Module Header This header can be used to (4-pin CIR1) connect the remote (see p.12 No. 25) controller receiver . 1 ATX+5VSB IRTX GND IRRX J_SENSE OUT2_[...]

28 PLED (System Power LED): Connect to the power status indicator on the chassis front panel. The LED is on when the system is operating. The LED keeps blinking when the sys-tem is in S1 sleep state. The LED is of f when the system is in S3/S4 sleep state or powered off (S5). HDLED (Hard Drive Activity LED): Connect to the hard drive activity LED o[...]

29 CPU Fan Connectors Please connect the CPU fan (4-pin CPU_F AN1) cable to the connector and (see p.12 No. 6) match the black wire to the ground pin. Though this motherboard provides 4-Pin CPU fan (Quiet Fan) support, the 3-Pin CPU fan still can work successfully even without the fan speed control function. If you plan to connect the 3-Pin CPU fan[...]

30 HDMI_SPDIF Header HDMI_SPDIF header , providing (2-pin HDMI_SPDIF1) SPDIF audio output to HDMI ( see p.12 No. 31) VGA card, allows the system to connect HDMI Digital TV/ projector/LCD devices. Please connect the HDMI_SPDIF connector of HDMI VGA card to this header . SPDIFOUT GND 1[...]

31 2.10 Serial A T A3 (SA T A3) Hard Disks Installation This motherboard adopts AMD SB950 chipset that supports Serial A T A3 (SA T A3) hard disks and RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10) functions. Y ou may install SA T A3 hard disks on this motherboard for internal storage devices. This sec- tion will guide you to install the SA T A3 hard di[...]

32 Caution 1. Without SA T A 15-pin power connector interface, the SA T A3 Hot Plug cannot be processed. 2. Even some SA T A3 HDDs provide both SA T A 15-pin power connector and IDE 1x4-pin conventional power connector interfaces, the IDE 1x4-pin conventional power connector interface is de fi nitely not able to support Hot Plug and will cause the[...]

33 How to Hot Plug a SA T A3 HDD: Points of attention, before you process the Hot Plug: Please do follow below instruction sequence to process the Hot Plug, improper procedure will cause the SA T A3 HDD damage and data loss. Connect SA T A 15-pin power cable connector (Black) end to SA T A3 HDD. How to Hot Unplug a SA T A3 HDD: Points of attention,[...]

34 2.13 Driver Installation Guide T o install the drivers to your system, please insert the support CD to your optical drive fi rst. Then, the drivers compatible to your system can be auto-detected and listed on the support CD driver page. Please follow the order from up to bottom side to install those required drivers. Therefore, the drivers you [...]

35 2.14.2 Installing Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit With RAID F unctions If you want to install Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit on a RAID disk composed of 2 or more SA T A3 HDDs with RAID functions, please follow below steps. STEP 1: Set up UEFI. A. Enter UEFI SETUP UTILITY Advanced screen Storage Con fi [...]

36 Using SA T A3 HDDs without NCQ and Hot Plug functions (IDE mode) STEP 1: Set up UEFI. A. Enter UEFI SETUP UTILITY Advanced screen Storage Con fi guration. B. Set the “SA T A Mode” option to [IDE]. STEP 2: Install Windows ® XP / XP 64-bit OS on your system. 2.15 Installing Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bi[...]

37 STEP 1: Set up UEFI. A. Enter UEFI SETUP UTILITY Advanced screen Storage Con fi guration. B. Set the “SA T A Mode” option to [IDE]. STEP 2: Install Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit OS on your sys- tem. Using SA T A3 HDDs without NCQ and Hot Plug functions (IDE mode) 2.15.2 Installing Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / [...]

38 3. UEFI SETUP UTILITY 3.1 Introduction This section explains how to use the UEFI SETUP UTILITY to con fi gure your sys- tem. The SPI Memory on the motherboard stores the UEFI SETUP UTILITY . Y ou may run the UEFI SETUP UTILITY when you start up the computer . Please press <F2> or <Del> during the Power-On-Self-T est (POST) to enter [...]

39 3.1.2 Navigation K eys Please check the following table for the function description of each navigation key . Navigation Key(s) Function Description / Moves cursor left or right to select Screens / Moves cursor up or down to select items + / - T o change option for the selected items <Enter> T o bring up the selected screen <F1> T o [...]

40 3.3 OC T weak er Screen In the OC T weaker screen, you can set up overclocking features. OC Mode Use this to select OC Mode. Con fi guration options: [Manual] and [CPU OC Mode]. The default value is [Manual]. CPU Con fi guration Overclock Mode Use this to select Overclock Mode. Configuration options: [Auto] and [Manual]. The default value is [[...]

41 AMD T urbo Core T echnology This item appears only when the processor you adopt supports this fea- ture. Use this to select enable or disable AMD Turbo Core T echnology . Con fi guration options: [Auto] and [Disabled]. The default value is [Auto]. AMD IO C-State Support This allows you to enable or disable AMD IO C-State Support. The default va[...]

42 Power Down Enable Use this item to enable or disable DDR power down mode. Bank Interleaving Interleaving allows memory accesses to be spread out over banks on the same node, or accross nodes, decreasing access contention. Channel Interleaving It allows you to enable Channel Memory Interleaving. Con fi guration op- tions: [Disabled], [Auto]. The[...]

43 Four Activate Window (tF A W) Use this item to change Four Activate Window (tF A W) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. V oltage Control DRAM V oltage Use this to select DRAM V oltage. The default value is [Auto]. NB V oltage Use this to select NB V oltage. The default value is [Auto]. HT V oltage Use this to select HT V oltage. The defa[...]

44 Instant Flash Instant Flash is a UEFI fl ash utility embedded in Flash ROM. This conve- nient UEFI update tool allows you to update system UEFI without entering operating systems fi rst like MS-DOS or Windows ® . Just launch this tool and save the new UEFI fi le to your USB fl ash drive, fl oppy disk or hard drive, then you can update your[...]

45 Cool ‘n’ Quiet Use this item to enable or disable AMD’ s Cool ‘n’ Quiet TM technology . The default value is [Enabled]. Con fi guration options: [Enabled] and [Disabled]. If you install Windows ® 7 / Vista TM and want to enable this function, please set this item to [Enabled]. Please note that enabling this function may re- duce CPU [...]

46 3.4.2 North Bridge Configuration Primary Graphics Adapter This item will switch the PCI Bus scanning order while searching for video card. It allows you to select the type of Primary VGA in case of multiple video controllers. The default value of this feature is [PCI Express]. Con- fi guration options: [PCI] and [PCI Express]. IOMMU Use this to[...]

47 3.4.3 South Bridge Configuration Onboard HD Audio Select [Auto], [Enabled] or [Disabled] for the onboard HD Audio feature. If you select [Auto], the onboard HD Audio will be disabled when PCI Sound Card is plugged. Front Panel Select [Auto] or [Disabled] for the onboard HD Audio Front Panel. On/Off Play Use this item to enable or disable On/Off [...]

48 3.4.4 Storage Configuration SA T A Controller Use this item to enable or disable the “SA T A Controller” feature. SA T A Mode Use this item to adjust SA T A Mode. The default value of this option is [IDE Mode]. Con fi guration options: [AHCI Mode], [RAID Mode] and [IDE Mode]. If you set this item to RAID mode, it is suggested to install SA [...]

49 3.4.5 Super IO Configuration Serial Port Use this item to enable or disable the onboard serial port. Serial Port Address Use this item to set the address for the onboard serial port. Con fi guration options: [3F8h / IRQ4] and [3E8h / IRQ4]. Infrared Port Use this item to enable or disable the onboard infrared port. Infrared Port Address Use thi[...]

50 3.4.6 ACPI Configuration Suspend to RAM Use this item to select whether to auto-detect or disable the Suspend-to- RAM feature. Select [Auto] will enable this feature if the OS supports it. Check Ready Bit Use this item to enable or disable the feature Check Ready Bit. Restore on AC/Power Loss This allows you to set the power state after an unexp[...]

51 ACPI HPET table Use this item to enable or disable ACPI HPET T able. The default value is [Enabled]. Please set this option to [Enabled] if you plan to use this moth- erboard to submit Windows ® Vista TM certi fi cation.[...]

52 3.4.7 USB Configuration USB 2.0 Controller Use this item to enable or disable the use of USB 2.0 controller . USB 3.0 Controller Use this item to enable or disable the use of USB 3.0 controller . Legacy USB Support Use this option to select legacy support for USB devices. There are four con fi guration options: [Enabled], [Auto], [Disabled] and[...]

53 CPU Fan 1 & 2 Setting This allows you to set the CPU fan 1 & 2 speed. Con fi guration options: [Full On] and [Automatic Mode]. The default is value [Full On]. Chassis Fan 1 Setting This allows you to set the chassis fan 1 speed. Con fi guration options: [Full On], [Manual Mode] and [Automatic Mode]. The default is value [Full On]. Chas[...]

54 3.6 Boot Screen In this section, it will display the available devices on your system for you to con fi g- ure the boot settings and the boot priority . Setup Prompt Timeout This shows the number of seconds to wait for setup activation key . 65535(0xFFFF) means inde fi nite waiting. Bootup Num-Lock If this item is set to [On], it will automati[...]

55 3.7 Security Screen In this section, you may set or change the supervisor/user password for the system. For the user password, you may also clear it.[...]

56 3.8 Exit Screen Save Changes and Exit When you select this option, it will pop-out the following message, “Save con fi guration changes and exit setup?” Select [OK] to save the changes and exit the UEFI SETUP UTILITY . Discard Changes and Exit When you select this option, it will pop-out the following message, “Discard changes and exit se[...]

57 4. Sof tware Support 4.1 Install Operating System This motherboard supports various Microsoft ® Windows ® operating systems: 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit. Because motherboard settings and hardware options vary , use the setup procedures in this chapter for general reference only . Refer to your OS documentation fo[...]

58 Installing OS on a HDD Larger Than 2TB in AHCI Mode This motherboard is adopting UEFI BIOS that allows Windows ® OS to be installed on a large size HDD (>2TB). Please follow below procedure to install the operating system. 1. Please make sure to use Windows ® Vista TM 64-bit (with SP1 or above) or Windows ® 7 64-bit . 2. Press <F2> o[...]

59 Installing OS on a HDD Larger Than 2TB in RAID Mode This motherboard is adopting UEFI BIOS that allows Windows ® OS to be installed on a large size HDD (>2TB). Please follow below procedure to install the operating system. 1. Please make sure to use Windows ® Vista TM 64-bit (with SP1 or above) or Windows ® 7 64-bit . 2. Press <F2> o[...]

60 7. And then key in drvcfg –s [Drv number] [Ctrl number] to enter Raid Utility . For example: key in drvcfg –s 4E B5 . 8. Choose Logical Drive Main Menu to set up Raid Drive. 9. Choose Logical Drive Create Menu to create a Raid Drive. 10. Choose Usable Physical Drive List to select Raid HDD.[...]

61 1 1. Press Space on keyboard to toggle checkbox. 12. Choose Ld Size setting , and key in the Raid size. 13. After set up Raid size, please click Start to Create . 14. Press <F10> to exit Utility . 15. During reboot, please press <F1 1> to enter Boot Manual. Choose UEFI: SCSI CD/DVD Drive . * This option only shows on Windows ® 7 64-[...]

62 16. Follow Windows ® Installation Guide to install OS. If you install Windows ® 7 64-bit / Vista TM 64-bit in a large hard disk (ex. Disk volume > 2TB), it may take more time to boot into Windows ® or install driver/ utilities. If you encounter this problem, you will need to following instructions to fi x this problem. Windows ® Vista TM[...]

63 B. Disable “V olume Shadow Copy” service. a. T ype “computer management” in the Start Menu, then press “Enter”. b. Go to “Services and Applications>Services”; Then double click “V olume Shadow Copy”. c. Set “Startup type” to “Disable” then Click “OK”.[...]

64 17. Finish. C. Reboot your system. D. After reboot, please start to install motherboard drivers and utilities. Windows ® 7 64-bit: A. Please request the hot fi x KB2505454 thru this link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2505454/ B. After installing Windows ® 7 64-bit, install the hot fi x kb2505454. (This may take long time; >30 mins.) C.[...]