ASRock Z77 WS: 1. Introduction

5

ASRock  Z77 WS  Motherboard

1.  Introduction

Thank you for purchasing ASRock 

Z77 WS 

motherboard, a reliable motherboard 

produced under ASRock’s consistently stringent quality control. It delivers excellent 

performance with robust design conforming to ASRock’s commitment 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 

Z77 WS

 Motherboard 

(ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm)

ASRock 

Z77 WS

 Quick Installation Guide

ASRock 

Z77 WS

 Support CD 

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

1 x Serial ATA (SATA) HDD Power Cable (Optional)

1 x I/O Panel Shield 

2 x ASRock SLI_Bridge Cards

1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_3S Card 

1 x ASRock 3-Way SLI Bridge Card

English

ASRock Reminds You...

To get better performance in Windows

® 

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.

6

ASRock  Z77 WS  Motherboard

English

1.2  Speci

fi

 cations

 Platform

 - 

ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm

- Premium Gold Capacitor design (100% Japan-made 

  high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors)

 CPU

- Supports 3

rd

 and 2

nd

 Generation Intel

®

 Core

TM

 i7 / i5 / i3 in 

  LGA1155 Package

- Digi Power Design

- 8 + 4 Power Phase Design

- Supports Intel

®

 Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology

- Supports Intel

®

 K-Series unlocked CPU

 Chipset 

- Intel

®

 Z77

- Supports Intel

®

 Rapid Start Technology and Smart Connect 

Technology 

 Memory 

- Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Technology     

- 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots  

- Supports DDR3 3000+(OC)/2400(OC)/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/

  1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory

- Max. capacity of system memory: 32GB 

(see 

CAUTION 1

)

- Supports Intel

®

 Extreme Memory Pro

fi

 le (XMP)1.3/1.2

 Expansion Slot 

- 5 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (PCIE2: x16 mode OR PCIE1/

  PCIE3/PCIE5/PCIE7: x16/0/16/0 or x8/8/8/8 mode) 

  * PCIE 3.0 is only supported with Intel

®

 Ivy Bridge CPU. With 

    Intel

®

 Sandy Bridge CPU, it only supports PCIE 2.0.

- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (PCIE4: x4 mode)

- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x 1 slot

- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX

TM

, 4-Way CrossFireX

TM

, 

  3-Way CrossFireX

TM

 and CrossFireX

TM

- Supports NVIDIA

®

 Quad SLI

TM

, 4-Way SLI

TM

, 3-Way SLI

TM

  and SLI

TM

 Graphics 

 * 

Intel

®

 HD Graphics Built-in Visuals and the VGA outputs can 

  be supported only with processors which are GPU 

  integrated.

- Supports Intel

®

 HD Graphics Built-in Visuals: Intel

®

 Quick 

  Sync Video 2.0, Intel

®

 InTru

TM

 3D, Intel

®

 Clear Video HD 

  Technology, Intel

®

 Insider

TM

, Intel

®

 HD Graphics 2500/4000

- Pixel Shader 5.0, DirectX 11 with Intel

®

 Ivy Bridge CPU.

  Pixel Shader 4.1, DirectX 10.1 with Intel

®

 Sandy Bridge 

  CPU.

- Max. shared memory 1760MB

7

ASRock  Z77 WS  Motherboard

English

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

  1920x1200 @ 60Hz

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

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

  monitor is required) (see 

CAUTION 2

)

- Supports HDCP function with HDMI port 

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

  with HDMI port

Audio 

- 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection 

  (Realtek ALC898 Audio Codec)

- Premium Blu-ray audio support

 LAN 

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

- Broadcom BCM57781

- Supports Wake-On-LAN

- Supports Energy Ef

fi

 cient Ethernet 802.3az

- Supports Dual LAN with Teaming function

- Supports PXE

 Storage

- 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors by 

Intel

®

 Z77

, support RAID 

  (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel Rapid Storage and 

  Intel Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot 

  Plug functions 

- 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors by ASMedia ASM1061, 

  support NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug” functions (SATA3_A4 

  connector is shared with eSATA3 port)

- 4 x SATA2 3.0 Gb/s connectors by 

Intel

®

 Z77

, support RAID 

  (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel Rapid Storage and 

  Intel Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot 

  Plug functions

 Rear Panel I/O 

I/O Panel

- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Port

- 1 x HDMI Port

- 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port

- 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports

- 1 x eSATA3 Connector

- 8 x Ready-to-Use USB 3.0 Ports

- 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED 

  LED)

- 1 x IEEE 1394 Port

- 1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED

- HD Audio Jack: Rear Speaker/Central/Bass/Line in/Front 

  Speaker/Microphone

8

ASRock  Z77 WS  Motherboard

English

 USB3.0

- 4 x Rear USB 3.0 ports by Intel

®

 Z77, support USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 

  up to 5Gb/s

- 4 x Rear USB 3.0 ports by Etron EJ188, support 

  USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s

- 2 x Front USB 3.0 headers by Etron EJ188 (support 4 

  USB 3.0 ports), support USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s

Connector

- 1 x IR header

- 1 x CIR header

- 1 x COM port header

- 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header

- 1 x IEEE 1394 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

- SLI/XFire power connector

- Front panel audio connector

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

- 2 x USB 3.0 headers (support 4 USB 3.0 ports)

- 1 x Dr. Debug with LED

- 1 x Power Switch with LED

- 1 x Reset Switch with LED

- 1 x Clear CMOS 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

- CPU Core, IGPU, DRAM, 1.8V PLL, VTT, VCCSA Voltage 

  Multi-adjustment

 Support CD 

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

  CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 Trial, ASRock MAGIX 

  Multimedia Suite - OEM

Hardware 

- CPU Temperature Sensing

Monitor

- Chassis Temperature Sensing

- CPU/Chassis/Power Fan Tachometer

- CPU/Chassis Quiet Fan (Allows Chassis Fan Speed Auto-

  Adjust by CPU Temperature)

- CPU/Chassis Fan Multi-Speed Control

9

ASRock  Z77 WS  Motherboard

English

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

 OS

 - 

Microsoft

®

 Windows

®

 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista

TM

 / Vista

TM

 64-bit / 

  XP / XP 64-bit compliant (see 

CAUTION 3

)

 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

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

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

under Windows

®

 7 / Vista

TM

 / XP. For Windows

®

 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.

2.  xvYCC and Deep Color are only supported under Windows

®

 7 

64-bit / 7. Deep Color mode will be enabled only if the display 

supports 12bpc in EDID. HBR is supported under Windows

®

 7 

64-bit / 7 / Vista

TM

 64-bit / Vista

TM

.

3.  ASRock XFast RAM is not supported by Microsoft

® 

Windows

®

XP / XP 64-bit. Intel

®

 Smart Connect Technology and Intel

®

 USB 

3.0 ports are not supported by Microsoft

® 

Windows

®

  Vista

TM

 / 

Vista

TM

 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit.

10

ASRock  Z77 WS  Motherboard

English

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. 

11

ASRock  Z77 WS  Motherboard

English

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 SmartView 

ASRock SmartView, a new function for internet browsers, is 

the smart start page for IE that combines your most visited web 

sites, your history, your Facebook friends and your real-time 

newsfeed into an enhanced view for a more personal Internet 

experience. ASRock motherboards are exclusively equipped 

with the ASRock SmartView utility that helps you keep in touch 

with friends on-the-go. To use ASRock SmartView feature, 

please make sure your OS version is Windows

®

 7 / 7 64 bit / 

Vista

TM

 / Vista

TM

 64 bit, and your browser version is IE8.

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.

12

ASRock  Z77 WS  Motherboard

English

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.

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 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 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.