ASRock FM2A85X Extreme4: 1. Introduction

5

ASRock  FM2A85X Extreme4  Motherboard

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1. Introduction

Thank you for purchasing ASRock 

FM2A85X Extreme4 

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

fi

 cations and the BIOS software might be 

updated, the content of this manual will be subject to change without no-

tice. In case any modi

fi

 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.  

ASRock website    http://www.asrock.com

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

our website for speci

fi

 c information about the model you are using.

www.asrock.com/support/index.asp

1.1 Package Contents

ASRock 

FM2A85X Extreme4

 Motherboard (ATX Form Factor)

ASRock 

FM2A85X Extreme4

 Quick Installation Guide

ASRock 

FM2A85X Extreme4 

Support CD

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

1 x I/O Panel Shield

ASRock Reminds You...

To get better performance in Windows

® 

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

TM 

/ 

Vista

TM

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

fi

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

Manual” in our support CD for details.

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1.2  Speci

fi

 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 FM2 100W processors 

- 4 + 2 Power Phase Design

- Supports AMD’s Cool ‘n’ Quiet

TM

 Technology 

- UMI-Link GEN2

 Chipset 

- AMD A85X (Hudson-D4)

 Memory 

- Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Technology 

- 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots

- Support DDR3 2600+(OC)/2400(OC)/2133(OC)/1866/1600/

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

  (see 

CAUTION 1

) 

  * 2600+ is only supported with two DIMMs

- Max. capacity of system memory: 64GB (see 

CAUTION 2

) 

- Supports Intel

®

 Extreme Memory Pro

fi

 le (XMP) 1.3 / 1.2 

- Supports AMD Memory Pro

fi

 le (AMP) 

 Expansion Slot 

- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots 

  (PCIE2 @ x16 mode; PCIE4 @ x4 mode)

- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots

- 3 x PCI slots

- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX

TM

, CrossFireX

TM

 and Dual 

  Graphics

 Graphics  

- AMD Radeon HD 7000 graphics

- DirectX 11, Pixel Shader 5.0

- Max. shared memory 2GB 

- Three VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI 

- Supports HDMI 1.4a Technology with max. resolution up to 

  1920x1200 @ 60Hz 

- Supports Dual-link DVI with max. resolution up to 

  2560x1600 @ 75Hz

- Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 1920x1600 @ 

  60Hz

- Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color (12bpc), xvYCC and 

  HBR (High Bit Rate Audio) with HDMI (Compliant HDMI 

  monitor is required) (see 

CAUTION 3

)

- Supports Blu-ray Stereoscopic 3D with HDMI 1.4a

- Supports AMD Steady Video

TM

 2.0: New video post 

  processing capability for automatic jutter reduction on home/

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ASRock  FM2A85X Extreme4  Motherboard

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  online video

- Supports HDCP function with DVI and HDMI ports

- Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback 

  with DVI and HDMI ports

 Audio 

- 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection 

  (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec)  

- Premium Blu-ray audio support

- Supports THX TruStudio

TM

 LAN 

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

- Realtek RTL8111E

- Supports Wake-On-LAN

- Supports LAN Cable Detection

- Supports Energy Ef

fi

 cient Ethernet 802.3az

- Supports PXE

 Rear Panel I/O 

I/O Panel

- 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port

- 1 x D-Sub Port

- 1 x DVI-D Port

- 1 x HDMI Port

- 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port

- 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports

- 1 x eSATA3 Connector

- 6 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: Rear Speaker/Central/Bass/Line in/Front 

  Speaker/Microphone 

 SATA3

- 7 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 AMD A85X (Hudson-D4), support 

  USB 1.1/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s

- 4 x Rear USB 3.0 ports by Etron EJ188, 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    

  AMD A85X (Hudson-D4), supports USB 1.1/2.0/3.0 up to 

  5Gb/s

Connector

- 7 x SATA3 6.0Gb/s connectors

- 1 x IR header

- 1 x CIR header

- 1 x COM port header

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ASRock  FM2A85X Extreme4  Motherboard

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- 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)

- 1 x Dr. Debug (7-Segment Debug LED) 

- 1 x Power Switch with LED

- 1 x Reset Switch with LED

 BIOS Feature

- 64Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with GUI support

- Supports “Plug and Play”

- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events

- Supports jumperfree

- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support

- DRAM, APU PCIE VDDP, CPU and CPU NB/GFX Voltage 

  Multi-adjustment

 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 Quiet Fan

- CPU/Chassis Fan Multi-Speed Control

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

 OS

 - 

Microsoft

® 

Windows

®

 8 / 8 64-bit / 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista

TM 

/ 

  Vista

TM

 64-bit compliant

 Certi

fi

 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

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 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.

CAUTION!

1.  Whether 2600/2400/2133/1866/1600MHz memory speed is 

supported depends on the CPU you adopt. If you want to adopt 

DDR3 2600/2400/2133/1866/1600 memory module on this 

motherboard, please refer to the memory support list on our 

website for the compatible memory modules. 

ASRock website    http://www.asrock.com

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

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

der Windows

®

 8 / 7 / Vista

TM

. For Windows

®

 64-bit OS with 64-

bit CPU, there is no such limitation. You can use ASRock XFast 

RAM to utilize the memory that Win

dows

®

 cannot use.

3.  xvYCC and Deep Color are only supported under Windows

®

 8 

64-bit / 8 / 7 64-bit / 7. Deep Color mode will be enabled only 

if the display supports 12bpc in EDID. HBR is supported under 

Windows

®

 8 64-bit / 8 / 7 64-bit / 7 / Vista

TM

 64-bit / Vista

TM

.

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ASRock  FM2A85X Extreme4  Motherboard

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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

fi

 le and share it with your friends. Your friends then can 

load the OC pro

fi

 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

fi

 ciency 

when the CPU cores are idle without sacri

fi

 cing computing per-

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

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

fi

 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 

enable the Sleep/Standby and Hibernation modes in Windows

®

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

fi

 c timing 

during the shutdown and startup process, Instant Boot allows 

you to enter your Windows

®

 desktop in a few seconds.  

ASRock Instant Flash

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 the <F6> key 

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 

fi

 le to your USB 

fl

 ash  drive, 

fl

 oppy disk or 

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

without preparing an additional 

fl

 oppy diskette or other compli-

cated 

fl

 ash utility. Please be noted that the USB 

fl

 ash drive or 

hard drive must use FAT32/16/12 

fi

 le system. 

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ASRock  FM2A85X Extreme4  Motherboard

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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 

includes the benefits listed below. LAN Application Prioritiza-

tion: You can con

fi

 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

fi

 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 

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 

frequency of accessing your SSDs or HDDs in order to extend 

their lifespan.

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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 

fi

 nish 

the BIOS update procedure after regaining power. Please note 

that BIOS 

fi

 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

fi

 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 

fl

 ash them without 

entering Windows

®

 OS. Please note that you must be running 

on a DHCP con

fi

 gured computer in order to enable this function.

ASRock UEFI System Browser

ASRock UEFI system browser is a useful tool included in 

graphical UEFI. It can detect the devices and configurations 

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

browser, you can easily examine the current system con

fi

 gura-

tion in UEFI setup.

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.

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ASRock Dehumidi

fi

 er Function

Users may prevent motherboard damages due to dampness by 

enabling “Dehumidi

fi

 er Function”. When enabling Dehumidi

fi

 er 

Function, the computer will power on automatically to dehumidi-

fy the system after entering S4/S5 state.

ASRock Easy RAID Installer

ASRock Easy RAID Installer can help you to copy the RAID 

driver from a support CD to your USB storage device. After 

copying the RAID driver to your USB storage device, please 

change “SATA Mode” to “RAID”, then you can start installing the 

OS in RAID mode.

ASRock Interactive UEFI

ASRock Interactive UEFI is a blend of system configuration 

tools, cool sound effects and stunning visuals. The unprec-

edented UEFI provides a more attractive interface and brings a 

lot more amusing.

ASRock Fast Boot

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

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

Brilliantly designed for combo overclocking, ASRock X-Boost 

Technology is able to unleash the hidden power of your CPUs. 

Simply press “X” when turning on the PC, X-Boost will automati-

cally overclock the relative components to get up to 15.77% 

performance boost! With the smart X-Boost, overclocking CPU 

can become a near one-button process.

ASRock Restart to UEFI

 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.

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ASRock  FM2A85X Extreme4  Motherboard

Lucid Virtu Universal MVP

VIRTU Universal MVP includes the base features of Virtu 

Universal technology, which virtualizes integrated GPU and 

discrete GPU for best of breed functionality. It also features Vir-

tual Vsync™ for no-compromise visual quality. With the added 

bene

fi

 ts of HyperFormance technology, VIRTU Universal MVP 

improves game performance by intelligently reducing redundant 

rendering tasks in the 

fl

 ow between the CPU, GPU and the dis-

play.

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