ASROCK X79 Extreme3 User Manual
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ASROCK X79 Extreme3 User Manual

ASROCK X79 Extreme3 User Manual

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X79 Extreme3

User Manual

Version 1.0
Published October 2011
Copyright©2011 ASRock INC. All rights reserved.
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Summary of Contents for ASROCK X79 Extreme3

  • Page 1: User Manual

    X79 Extreme3 User Manual Version 1.0 Published October 2011 Copyright©2011 ASRock INC. All rights reserved.

  • Page 2: Copyright Notice

    fi tness for a particular purpose. In no event shall ASRock, its directors, offi cers, employees, or agents be liable for any indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages (including damages for loss of profi...

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    , 3-Way CrossFireX and Quad CrossFireX Operation Guide ........27 2.9 Surround Display Features ..........31 2.10 ASRock Smart Remote Installation Guide ..... 32 2.11 ASRock XFast Charger Operation Guide....... 33 2.12 Jumpers Setup ............34 2.13 Onboard Headers and Connectors ......
  • Page 4 3 UEFI SETUP UTILITY ..........48 3.1 Introduction ..............48 3.1.1 UEFI Menu Bar ............ 48 3.1.2 Navigation Keys ........... 49 3.2 Main Screen ..............49 3.3 OC Tweaker Screen ............50 3.4 Advanced Screen ............54 3.4.1 CPU Confi guration ..........55 3.4.2 North Bridge Confi...

  • Page 5: Introduction

    In case any modifi cations of this manual occur, the updated version will be available on ASRock website without further notice. You may fi nd the latest VGA cards and CPU support lists on ASRock website as well.

  • Page 6: Specifi Cations

    1.2 Specifications Platform - ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.8-in, 30.5 cm x 22.4 cm - Premium Gold Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high- quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors) ® - Supports Intel Core i7 processor family for the LGA 2011 Socket - Digi Power Design - Advanced 5 + 1 Power Phase Design ®...
  • Page 7 - 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port - 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port - 6 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports - 1 x eSATA3 Connector - 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 3.0 Ports - 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED) - 1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED - HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker/Rear Speaker/Central/Bass/...
  • Page 8 / Vista 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit compliant (see CAUTION 18) Certifi cations - FCC, CE, WHQL - ErP/EuP Ready (ErP/EuP ready power supply is required) (see CAUTION 19) * For detailed product information, please visit our website: http://www.asrock.com...
  • Page 9 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows ® Vista / XP. For Windows OS with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limita- tion. You can use ASRock XFast RAM to utilize the memory that Win- ® dows cannot use. ®...
  • Page 10 Apple devices, it is also capable of Charging the BC 1.1 standard smart devices. Please refer to page 33 for details. 13. ASRock XFast RAM is a new function that is included into ASRock Ex- treme Tuning Utility (AXTU). It fully utilizes the memory space that cannot ®...
  • Page 11 SSDs or HDDs in order to extend their lifes- pan. 14. ASRock X-FAN will be automatically activated only when the system rises to a certain temperature under heavy-loading or overclocking. Normally, ASRock X-FAN will remain deactivated to give users the quietest comput- ing experience.

  • Page 12: Motherboard Layout

    1.3 Motherboard Layout ATX 12V Power Connector (ATX12V1) Clear CMOS Jumper (CLRCMOS1) 2 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN3) (DDR3_A1, DDR3_B1, Black) Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN1) 2011-Pin CPU Socket USB 2.0 Header (USB_10_11, Black) CPU Fan Connector (CPU_FAN2) USB 2.0 Header (USB_8_9, Black) 2 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots USB 2.0 Header (USB_6_7, Black)

  • Page 13: I/O Panel

    1.4 I/O Panel PS/2 Mouse Port (Green) Microphone (Pink) Coaxial SPDIF Out Port USB 2.0 Ports (USB45) USB 2.0 Ports (USB01) USB 3.0 Ports (USB3_0_1) LAN RJ-45 Port USB 2.0 Ports (USB23) Side Speaker (Gray) *** 14 eSATA3 Connector Rear Speaker (Black) Optical SPDIF Out Port Central / Bass (Orange) Clear CMOS Switch (CLRCBTN)
  • Page 14 To 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 ToolBox” , click “Enable playback multi-streaming”, and click “ok”.

  • Page 15: Installation

    Chapter 2: Installation This is an ATX form factor (12.0" x 8.8", 30.5 x 22.4 cm) motherboard. Before you install the motherboard, study the confi guration of your chassis to ensure that the motherboard fi ts into it. Make sure to unplug the power cord before installing or removing the motherboard.

  • Page 16: Cpu Installation

    2.3 CPU Installation For the installation of Intel 2011-Pin CPU, please follow the steps below. 2011-Pin Socket Overview Before you insert the 2011-Pin CPU into the socket, please check if the CPU surface is unclean or if there are any bent pins in the socket. Do not force to insert the CPU into the socket if above situation is found.
  • Page 17 Step 2-2. Locate Pin1 and the two orientation key notches. orientation key notch alignment key Pin1 orientation key notch alignment key 2011-Pin CPU 2011-Pin Socket For proper inserting, please ensure to match the four orientation key notches of the CPU with the four alignment keys of the socket. Step 2-3.

  • Page 18: Installation Of Cpu Fan And Heatsink

    2.4 Installation of CPU Fan and Heatsink This motherboard is equipped with 2011-Pin socket that supports Intel 2011-Pin CPU. Please adopt the type of heatsink and cooling fan compliant with Intel 2011- Pin CPU to dissipate heat. Before you installed the heatsink, you need to spray thermal interface material between the CPU and the heatsink to improve heat dis- sipation.

  • Page 19: Installation Of Memory Modules (Dimm)

    2.5 Installation of Memory Modules (DIMM) This motherboard provides four 240-pin DDR3 (Double Data Rate 3) DIMM slots, and supports Quad Channel Memory Technology. For quad channel con- fi guration, you always need to install identical (the same brand, speed, size and chip-type) DDR3 DIMM in the slots: You have to install identical DDR3 DIMM in DDR3_A1, DDR3_B1, DDR3_D1 and DDR3_C1 (Black slots;...

  • Page 20: Expansion Slots (Pci And Pci Express Slots)

    2.6 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 3.0 x16 slots) are used for PCI Express x16 lane width graphics cards, or used to install PCI Express graphics cards to support CrossFireX or SLI...

  • Page 21: Sli Tm , 3-Way Sli Tm And Quad Sli

    2.7 SLI , 3-Way SLI and Quad SLI Operation Guide ® This motherboard supports NVIDIA , 3-Way SLI and Quad SLI (Scalable Link Interface) technology that allows you to install up to three identical PCI Express ® ® x16 graphics cards. Currently, NVIDIA technology supports Windows XP / ®...
  • Page 22 Step3. Align and insert the ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card to the goldfi ngers on each graphics card. Make sure the ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card is fi rmly in place. ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card Step4. Connect a VGA cable or a DVI cable to the monitor connector or the DVI...
  • Page 23 Repeat this step on the three graphics cards. Step3. Align and insert ASRock 3-Way SLI-2S1S Bridge Card to the goldfi ngers on each graphics card. Make sure ASRock 3-Way SLI-2S1S Bridge Card is fi rmly in place.

  • Page 24: Driver Installation And Setup

    2.7.2 Driver Installation and Setup Install the graphics card drivers to your system. After that, you can enable the Multi- ® Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) feature in the NVIDIA nView system tray utility. Please follow the below procedures to enable the multi-GPU feature. ®...
  • Page 25 ® For Windows Vista / Vista 64-bit / 7 / 7 64-bit OS: (For SLI and Quad SLI mode) A. Click the Start icon on your Windows taskbar. B. From the pop-up menu, select All Programs, and then click NVIDIA Corporation.
  • Page 26 ® For Windows Vista / Vista 64-bit / 7 / 7 64-bit OS: (For 3-Way SLI mode) A. Follow steps A to D on page 25. B. From the pop-up menu, select Set SLI and PhysX confi guration. In Select a hardware acceleration setting for PhysX item, please select Enabled.

  • Page 27: Tm , 3-Way Crossfirex Tm And Quad

    2.8 CrossFireX , 3-Way CrossFireX and Quad CrossFireX Operation Guide This motherboard supports CrossFireX , 3-way CrossFireX and Quad CrossFireX feature. CrossFireX 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 intelligent software design and an innovative interconnect mechanism, CrossFireX enables the highest possible level of performance and image quality in any 3D ®...
  • Page 28 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 Step 3.
  • Page 29 2.8.1.2 Installing Three CrossFireX -Ready Graphics Cards Step 1. Install the identical 3-Way CrossFireX -ready graphics cards that are ® certified because different types of graphics cards will not work together properly. (Even the GPU chips version shall be the same.) Insert one graphics card into PCIE1 slot, another graphics card to PCIE3 slot, and the other graphics card to PCIE4 slot.
  • Page 30 2.8.2 Driver Installation and Setup Step 1. Power on your computer and boot into OS. Step 2. Remove the AMD driver if you have any VGA driver installed in your system. The Catalyst Uninstaller is an optional download. We recommend using this utility to uninstall any previously installed Catalyst drivers prior to installation.

  • Page 31: Surround Display Features

    Although you have selected the option “Enable CrossFire ”, the CrossFireX function may not work actually. Your computer will automatically reboot. After restarting your computer, please confi rm whether the option “Enable CrossFire ” in “ATI Catalyst Control Center” is selected or not; if not, please select it again, and then you are able to enjoy the benefi...

  • Page 32: Asrock Smart Remote Installation Guide

    The Multi-Angle CIR Receiver does not support Hot-Plug function. Please install it before you boot the system. * 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...

  • Page 33: Asrock Xfast Charger Operation Guide

    1. USB 2.0 port (USB0) on the I/O panel see p.13 No. 3 2. USB 2.0 port (USB6) header see p.12 No. 26 With ASRock XFast Charger feature, you can freely enjoy the quick charging convenience by installing the USB cable on these two ports.

  • Page 34: Jumpers Setup

    2.12 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”...

  • Page 35: Onboard Headers And Connectors

    2.13 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 ATA2 Connectors These four Serial ATA2 (SATA2) connectors support (SATA2_0_1: see p.12, No.
  • Page 36 USB_PWR (9-pin USB_10_11) P-11 P+11 (see p.12 No. 24) DUMMY P+10 P-10 USB_PWR USB 3.0 Header Besides two default USB 3.0 IntA_P2_D+ ports on the I/O panel, there is (19-pin USB3_2_3) IntA_P3_D+ IntA_P2_D- IntA_P3_D- one USB 3.0 header on this (see p.12 No.
  • Page 37 E. To activate the front mic. ® For Windows XP / XP 64-bit OS: Select “Mixer”. Select “Recorder”. Then click “FrontMic”. ® For Windows 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit OS: Go to the "FrontMic" Tab in the Realtek Control panel. Adjust “Recording Volume”.
  • Page 38 Power LED Header Please connect the chassis power LED to this header to (3-pin PLED1) indicate system power status. (see p.12 No. 20) The LED is on when the system is operating. The LED keeps blinking in S1 state. The LED is off in S3/S4 state or S5 state (power off).
  • Page 39 ATX Power Connector Please connect an ATX power supply to this connector. (24-pin ATXPWR1) (see p.12 No. 8) Though this motherboard provides 24-pin ATX power connector, it can still work if you adopt a traditional 20-pin ATX power supply. To use the 20-pin ATX power supply, please plug your power supply along with Pin 1 and Pin 13.

  • Page 40: Smart Switches

    HDMI_SPDIF Header HDMI_SPDIF header, providing SPDIF audio output to HDMI (2-pin HDMI_SPDIF1) VGA card, allows the system to (see p.12 No. 30) connect HDMI Digital TV/ projector/LCD devices. Please connect the HDMI_SPDIF connector of HDMI VGA card to this header. 2.14 Smart Switches The motherboard has a smart switch: Clear CMOS switch.

  • Page 41: Serial Ata (Sata) / Serial Ata2 (Sata2) Hard Disks Installation

    2.15 Serial ATA (SATA) / Serial ATA2 (SATA2) Hard Disks Installation ® This motherboard adopts Intel X79 chipset that supports Serial ATA (SATA) / Serial ATA2 (SATA2) hard disks and RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10 and Intel Rapid Storage3.0) functions.

  • Page 42: Hot Plug And Hot Swap Functions For Sata / Sata2 Hdds

    2.17 Hot Plug and Hot Swap Functions for SATA / SATA2 HDDs This motherboard supports Hot Plug and Hot Swap functions for SATA / SATA2 in ® RAID / AHCI mode. Intel X79 chipset provides hardware support for Advanced Host controller Interface (AHCI), a new programming interface for SATA host controllers developed through a joint industry effort.

  • Page 43: Sata / Sata2 / Sata3 Hdd Hot Plug Feature And Operation Guide

    SATA / SATA2 / SATA3 Hot Plug support information of our motherboard is indicated in the product spec on our website: www.asrock.com 2. Make sure your SATA / SATA2 / SATA3 HDD can support Hot Plug function from your dealer or HDD user manual.
  • Page 44 How to Hot Plug a SATA / SATA2 / SATA3 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 SATA / SATA2 / SATA3 HDD damage and data loss. Step 1 Step 2 Please connect SATA power cable 1x4-...

  • Page 45: Driver Installation Guide

    2.20 Driver Installation Guide To 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.

  • Page 46: Xp / Xp 64-Bit Without Raid Functions

    ® After the installation of Windows 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit OS, if you want to manage RAID functions, you are allowed to use both “RAID Installation Guide” and “Intel Rapid Storage Information” for RAID confi guration. Please refer to the document in the Support CD, “Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation and RAID Confi...

  • Page 47: Untied Overclocking Technology

    2.22.2 Installing Windows 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit ® Without RAID Functions ® If you want to install Windows 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit OS on your SATA / SATA2 / SATA3 HDDs without RAID functions, please follow below steps. Using SATA / SATA2 / SATA3 HDDs with NCQ function STEP 1: Set Up UEFI.

  • Page 48: Uefi Setup Utility

    Chapter 3: UEFI SETUP UTILITY 3.1 Introduction This section explains how to use the UEFI SETUP UTILITY to confi gure your system. The UEFI chip on the motherboard stores the UEFI SETUP UTILITY. You may run the UEFI SETUP UTILITY when you start up the computer. Please press <F2>...

  • Page 49: Navigation Keys

    3.1.2 Navigation Keys 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 + / - To change option for the selected items <Enter>...

  • Page 50: Oc Tweaker Screen

    3.3 OC Tweaker Screen In the OC Tweaker screen, you can set up overclocking features. Load CPU EZ OC Setting You can use this option to load CPU EZ overclocking settings. Please note that overclocking may cause damage to your CPU and motherboard. It should be done at your own risk and expense.
  • Page 51 Turbo Boost Power Limit Use this item to adjust Turbo Boost power limit. Confi guration options: [Auto] and [Manual]. The default value is [Auto]. Core Current Limit Use this item to add voltage when CPU is in Turbo mode. Additional Turbo Voltage Use this item to add voltage when CPU is in Turbo mode.
  • Page 52 The default is [Auto]. DRAM tRP Use this item to change Row Precharge Time (tRP) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. DRAM tRAS Use this item to change RAS# Active Time (tRAS) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. DRAM tRFC Use this item to change Refresh Cyle Time (tRFC) Auto/Manual setting.
  • Page 53 ODT WR (CH B) Use this item to change ODT WR (CH B) setting. The default is [Auto]. ODT NOM (CH B) Use this item to change ODT NOM (CH B) setting. The default is [Auto]. ODT WR (CH C) Use this item to change ODT WR (CH C) setting.

  • Page 54: Advanced Screen

    3.4 Advanced Screen In this section, you may set the confi gurations for the following items: CPU Confi gu- ration, North Bridge Confi guration, South Bridge Confi guration, Storage Confi gura- tion, Super IO Confi guration, ACPI Confi guration, USB Confi guration and ME Sub- system.

  • Page 55: Cpu Confi Guration

    3.4.1 CPU Configuration CPU Ratio Setting Use this item to change the ratio value of this motherboard. Intel Hyper Threading Technology To enable this feature, a computer system with an Intel processor that sup- ports Hyper-Threading technology and an operating system that includes ®...
  • Page 56 CPU Power Management Confi guration Intel SpeedStep Technology Intel SpeedStep technology is Intel’s new power saving technology. Pro- cessors can switch between multiple frequencies and voltage points to en- able power saving. The default value is [Enabled]. Confi guration options: ®...

  • Page 57: North Bridge Confi Guration

    3.4.2 North Bridge Configuration Primary Graphics Adapter This allows you to select [PCI] or [PCI Express] as the boot graphic adapt- er priority. The default value is [PCI Express]. PCIE 1 Link Speed This allows you to select PCIE 1 Link Speed. The default value is [GEN2]. PCIE 3 Link Speed This allows you to select PCIE 3 Link Speed.

  • Page 58: South Bridge Confi Guration

    3.4.3 South Bridge Configuration Restore on AC/Power Loss This allows you to set the power state after an unexpected AC/power loss. If [Power Off] is selected, the AC/power remains off when the power recovers. If [Power On] is selected, the AC/power resumes and the system starts to boot up when the power recovers.

  • Page 59: Storage Confi Guration

    3.4.4 Storage Configuration SATA Mode This item is for SATA3_0, SATA3_1 and SATA2_0 to SATA2_3 ports. Use this to select SATA mode. Confi guration options: [IDE Mode], [AHCI Mode], [RAID Mode] and [Disabled]. The default value is [AHCI Mode]. AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) supports NCQ and other new features that will improve SATA disk performance but IDE mode does not have these advantages.

  • Page 60: Super Io Confi Guration

    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. Confi guration options: [3F8h / IRQ4] and [3E8h / IRQ4]. Infrared Port Use this item to enable or disable the onboard infrared port.

  • Page 61: Acpi Confi Guration

    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. PS/2 Keyboard Power On Use this item to enable or disable PS/2 keyboard to turn on the system from the power-soft-off mode.

  • Page 62: Usb Confi Guration

    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 confi...

  • Page 63: Me Subsystem

    3.4.8 ME Subsystem Intel ME Subsystem Confi guration ME Version...

  • Page 64: Hardware Health Event Monitoring Screen

    This allows you to set SB fan 1’s speed. Confi guration options: [Full On] and [Automatic mode]. The default value is [Automatic mode]. Target SB Temperature This allows you to set the target temperature to activate ASRock X-FAN. The default value is [50 C/122 Target Fan Speed This allows you to set target fan’s speed.

  • Page 65: Boot Screen

    3.6 Boot Screen In this section, it will display the available devices on your system for you to confi 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 indefi...

  • Page 66: Security Screen

    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.

  • Page 67: Exit Screen

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

  • Page 68: Software Support

    Click on a specifi c item then follow the installation wizard to install it. 4.2.4 Contact Information If you need to contact ASRock or want to know more about ASRock, welcome to visit ASRock’s website at http://www.asrock.com; or you may contact your...
  • Page 69 Installing OS on a HDD Larger Than 2TB in AHCI Mode ® This motherboard adopts UEFI BIOS that allows Windows OS to be installed on a large size HDD (>2TB). Please follow the procedures below to install the operating system. ®...

  • Page 70: Installing Os On A Hdd Larger Than 2Tb In Raid Mode

    RAID drivers into a USB fl ash disk. You can download the driver from ASRock's website and unzip the fi le into a USB fl ash disk OR copy the fi le from ASRock motherboard support CD. (please copy the fi les under following directory: 32 bit: ..\i386\Win7_Vista_Intel_v3.0.0.1112...
  • Page 71 E. Please keep the USB fl ash disk installed until the system's fi rst reboot. ® F. Continue to install OS by following the Windows instructions. ® 5. Follow Windows Installation Guide to install OS. ® If you install Windows 7 64-bit / Vista 64-bit on a large hard disk (ex.
  • Page 72 B. Disable “Volume Shadow Copy” service. a. Type “computer management” in the Start Menu, then press “Enter”. b. Go to “Services and Applications>Services”; Then double click “Volume Shadow Copy”.
  • Page 73 c. Set “Startup type” to “Disable” then Click “OK”. C. Reboot your system. D. After reboot, please start to install motherboard drivers and utilities. ® Windows 7 64-bit: A. Please request the hotfi x KB2505454 through this link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2505454/ ® B.

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