ASRock 970 extreme3 r2.0: 1. Introduction

1. Introduction: ASRock 970 extreme3 r2.0

1. Introduction

Thank you for purchasing ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 motherboard, a reliable

motherboard produced under ASRock’s consistently stringent quality control. It

delivers excellent performance with robust design conforming to ASRock’s commit-

ment to quality and endurance.

This Quick Installation Guide contains introduction of the motherboard and step-by-

step installation guide. More detailed information of the motherboard can be found

in the user manual presented in the Support CD.

Because the motherboard specications and the BIOS software might

be updated, the content of this manual will be subject to change without

notice. In case any modications of this manual occur, the updated ver-

sion will be available on ASRock website without further notice. You may

nd the latest VGA cards and CPU support lists on ASRock website as

well. ASRock website http://www.asrock.com

If you require technical support related to this motherboard, please visit

our website for specic information about the model you are using.

www.asrock.com/support/index.asp

1.1 Package Contents

ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Motherboard (ATX Form Factor)

ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Quick Installation Guide

ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Support CD

2 x Serial ATA (SATA) Data Cables (Optional)

1 x I/O Panel Shield

ASRock Reminds You...

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To get better performance in Windows

8 / 8 64-bit / 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista

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/ Vista

64-bit, it is recommended to set the BIOS option in Storage

Conguration to AHCI mode. For the BIOS setup, please refer to the “User

Manual” in our support CD for details.

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ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Motherboard

1.2 Specications

Platform - ATX Form Factor

- ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time) (100%

Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors)

CPU - Support for Socket AM3+ processors

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- Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenom

II X6 /

X4 / X3 / X2 (except 920 / 940) / Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 /

Sempron processors

- Supports 8-Core CPU

- Supports UCC feature (Unlock CPU Core) (see CAUTION 1)

- Digi Power Design

- 4 + 1 Power Phase Design

- Supports CPU up to 140W

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- Supports AMD’s Cool ‘n’ Quiet

Technology

- FSB 2400 MHz (4.8 GT/s)

- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology

- Supports Hyper-Transport 3.0 (HT 3.0) Technology

Chipset - Northbridge: AMD 970

- Southbridge: AMD SB950

Memory - Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Technology

- 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots

- Support DDR3 2100+(OC)/1866(OC)/1800(OC)/1600(OC)/

1333/1066/800 non-ECC, un-buffered memory

(see CAUTION 2)

- Max. capacity of system memory: 32GB (see CAUTION 3)

Expansion Slot - 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots

(PCIE2 @ x16 mode; PCIE4 @ x4 mode)

- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots

- 2 x PCI slots

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- Supports AMD

Quad CrossFireX

and CrossFireX

Audio - 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection

(Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec)

- Premium Blu-ray audio support

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LAN - PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s

- Realtek RTL8111E

- Supports Wake-On-LAN

- Supports LAN Cable Detection

- Supports Energy Efcient Ethernet 802.3az

- Supports PXE

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ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Motherboard

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 eSATA3 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/Front Speaker/Microphone

SATA3 - 5 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0,

RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug"

functions

USB 3.0 - 2 x Rear USB 3.0 ports by Etron EJ188H, support USB

1.1/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s

- 1 x Front USB 3.0 header (supports 2 USB 3.0 ports) by

Etron EJ188H, supports USB 1.1/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s

Connector - 5 x SATA3 6.0Gb/s connectors

- 1 x IR header

- 1 x CIR header

- 1 x COM port header

- 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header

- 1 x Power LED header

- 2 x CPU Fan connectors (1 x 4-pin, 1 x 3-pin)

- 3 x Chassis Fan connectors (1 x 4-pin, 2 x 3-pin)

- 1 x Power Fan connector (3-pin)

- 24 pin ATX power connector

- 8 pin 12V power connector

- Front panel audio connector

- 3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 6 USB 2.0 ports)

- 1 x USB 3.0 header (supports 2 USB 3.0 ports)

BIOS Feature - 32Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with GUI support

- Supports “Plug and Play”

- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events

- Supports jumperfree

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- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support

- CPU, VCCM, NB, SB Voltage Multi-adjustment

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ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Motherboard

Support CD - Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version),

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 Trial, Google Chrome

Browser and Toolbar

Hardware - CPU Temperature Sensing

Monitor - Chassis Temperature Sensing

- CPU/Chassis/Power Fan Tachometer

- CPU/Chassis Quiet Fan

- CPU/Chassis Fan Multi-Speed Control

- Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, Vcore

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OS - Microsoft

Windows

8 / 8 64-bit / 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista

/

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Vista

64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit compliant (see CAUTION 4)

Certications - FCC, CE, WHQL

- ErP/EuP Ready (ErP/EuP ready power supply is required)

* For detailed product information, please visit our website: http://www.asrock.com

WARNING

Please realize that there is a certain risk involved with overclocking,

including adjusting the setting in the BIOS, applying Untied Overclocking

Technology, or using third-party overclocking tools. Overclocking may

affect your system’s stability, or even cause damage to the components

and devices of your system. It should be done at your own risk and

expense. We are not responsible for possible damage caused by

overclocking.

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ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Motherboard

CAUTION!

1. ASRock UCC (Unlock CPU Core) feature simplies AMD CPU

activation. As long as a simple switch of the UEFI option “AS-

Rock 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-core CPU, can also increase L3

cache size up to 6MB, which means you can enjoy the upgrade

CPU performance with a better price. Please be noted that UCC

feature is supported with AM3/AM3+ CPU only, and in addition,

not every AM3/AM3+ CPU can support this function because

some CPU’s hidden core may be malfunctioned.

2. Whether 2100/1866/1800/1600MHz memory speed is sup-

ported depends on the AM3/AM3+ CPU you adopt. If you want

to adopt DDR3 2100/1866/1800/1600 memory module on this

motherboard, please refer to the memory support list on our

website for the compatible memory modules. Non OC mode’s

DDR3 1866 is supported by AM3+ CPU.

ASRock website: http://www.asrock.com

3. Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size

may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage un-

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der Windows

8 / 7 / Vista

/ XP. For Windows

64-bit OS with

64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation.

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4. ASRock XFast RAM is not supported by Microsoft

Windows

XP / XP 64-bit.

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ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Motherboard

1.3 Unique Features

ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU)

ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU) is an all-in-one tool to

ne-tune different system functions in a user-friendly interface,

which includes Hardware Monitor, Fan Control, Overclocking,

OC DNA, IES and XFast RAM. In Hardware Monitor, it shows

the major readings of your system. In Fan Control, it shows the

fan speed and temperature for you to adjust. In Overclocking,

you are allowed to overclock CPU frequency for optimal system

performance. In OC DNA, you can save your OC settings as

a prole and share it with your friends. Your friends then can

load the OC prole to their own system to get the same OC set-

tings. In IES (Intelligent Energy Saver), the voltage regulator

can reduce the number of output phases to improve efciency

when the CPU cores are idle without sacricing computing per-

formance. In XFast RAM, it fully utilizes the memory space that

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cannot be used under Windows

OS 32-bit CPU.

ASRock Instant Boot

ASRock Instant Boot allows you to turn on your PC in just a few

seconds, provides a much more efcient way to save energy,

time, money, and improves system running speed for your sys-

tem. It leverages the S3 and S4 ACPI features which normally

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enable the Sleep/Standby and Hibernation modes in Windows

to shorten boot up time. By calling S3 and S4 at specic timing

during the shutdown and startup process, Instant Boot allows

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you to enter your Windows

desktop in a few seconds.

ASRock Instant Flash

ASRock Instant Flash is a BIOS ash utility embedded in Flash

ROM. This convenient BIOS update tool allows you to update

system BIOS without entering operating systems rst like MS-

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DOS or Windows

. With this utility, you can press the <F6> key

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during the POST or the <F2> key to enter into the BIOS setup

menu to access ASRock Instant Flash. Just launch this tool and

save the new BIOS le to your USB ash drive, oppy disk or

hard drive, then you can update your BIOS only in a few clicks

without preparing an additional oppy diskette or other compli-

cated ash utility. Please be noted that the USB ash drive or

hard drive must use FAT32/16/12 le system.

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ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Motherboard

ASRock APP Charger

If you desire a faster, less restricted way of charging your

Apple devices, such as iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, ASRock has

prepared a wonderful solution for you - ASRock APP Charger.

Simply install the APP Charger driver, it makes your iPhone

charge much quickly from your computer and up to 40% faster

than before. ASRock APP Charger allows you to quickly charge

many Apple devices simultaneously and even supports continu-

ous charging when your PC enters into Standby mode (S1),

Suspend to RAM (S3), hibernation mode (S4) or power off (S5).

With APP Charger driver installed, you can easily enjoy the mar-

velous charging experience.

ASRock XFast USB

ASRock XFast USB can boost USB storage device perfor-

mance. The performance may depend on the properties of the

device.

ASRock XFast LAN

ASRock XFast LAN provides a faster internet access, which in-

cludes the benets listed below. LAN Application Prioritization:

You can congure your application’s priority ideally and/or add

new programs. Lower Latency in Game: After setting online

game’s priority higher, it can lower the latency in games. Trafc

Shaping: You can watch Youtube HD videos and download si-

multaneously. Real-Time Analysis of Your Data: With the status

window, you can easily recognize which data streams you are

transferring currently.

ASRock XFast RAM

ASRock XFast RAM is a new function that is included into AS-

Rock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU). It fully utilizes the memory

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space that cannot be used under Windows

OS 32-bit CPU.

ASRock XFast RAM shortens the loading time of previously

visited websites, making web surfing faster than ever. And it

also boosts the speed of Adobe Photoshop 5 times faster. An-

other advantage of ASRock XFast RAM is that it reduces the

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frequency of accessing your SSDs or HDDs in order to extend

their lifespan.

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ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Motherboard

ASRock Crashless BIOS

ASRock Crashless BIOS allows users to update their BIOS

without fear of failing. If power loss occurs during the BIOS up-

date process, ASRock Crashless BIOS will automatically nish

the BIOS update procedure after regaining power. Please note

that BIOS les need to be placed in the root directory of your

USB disk. Only USB2.0 ports support this feature.

ASRock OMG (Online Management Guard)

Administrators are able to establish an internet curfew or restrict

internet access at specied times via OMG. You may schedule

the starting and ending hours of internet access granted to other

users. In order to prevent users from bypassing OMG, guest

accounts without permission to modify the system time are re-

quired.

ASRock Internet Flash

ASRock Internet Flash searches for available UEFI firmware

updates from our servers. In other words, the system can auto-

detect the latest UEFI from our servers and ash them without

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entering Windows

OS. Please note that you must be running

on a DHCP congured computer in order to enable this function.

ASRock On/Off Play Technology

ASRock On/Off Play Technology allows users to enjoy the great

audio experience from the portable audio devices, such like

MP3 player or mobile phone to your PC, even when the PC is

turned off (or in ACPI S5 mode)! This motherboard also provides

a free 3.5mm audio cable (optional) that ensures users the most

convenient computing environment.

ASRock UEFI System Browser

ASRock UEFI system browser is a useful tool included in

graphical UEFI. It can detect the devices and configurations

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that users are currently using in their PC. With the UEFI system

browser, you can easily examine the current system congura-

tion in UEFI setup.

ASRock Dehumidier Function

Users may prevent motherboard damages due to dampness by

enabling “Dehumidier Function”. When enabling Dehumidier

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ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Motherboard

Function, the computer will power on automatically to dehumidi-

fy the system after entering S4/S5 state.

ASRock Fast Boot

With ASRock’s exclusive Fast Boot technology, it takes less

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than 1.5 seconds to logon to Windows

8 from a cold boot. No

more waiting! The speedy boot will completely change your user

experience and behavior.

ASRock X-Boost

ASRocks X-Boost Technology is a smart auto-overclocking

function and is brilliantly designed to unlock the hidden power of

your CPUs. Simply press “X” when turning on the PC, X-Boost

will automatically overclock the relative components to get up to

15.77% performance boost! With the smart X-Boost, overclock-

ing CPU can become a near one-button process.

* The functionality of “Unlock CPU Cores” feature might vary by

different processors.

ASRock Restart to UEFI

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Windows

8 brings the ultimate boot up experience. The light-

ning boot up speed makes it hard to access the UEFI setup. AS-

Rock Restart to UEFI technology is designed for those requiring

frequent UEFI access. It allows users to easily enter the UEFI

automatically when turning on the PC next time. Just simply

enable this function; the PC will be assured to access the UEFI

directly in the very beginning.

ASRock Good Night LED

ASRock Good Night LED technology can offer you a better en-

vironment by extinguishing the unessential LED. By enabling

Good Night LED in BIOS, the Power / HDD / LAN LED will be

switched off when system is on. Not only this, Good night LED

will automatically switch off Power and Keyboard LED when the

system enters into Standby / Hibernation mode as well.

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ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 Motherboard