ASRock Z77E-ITX: 1. Introduction

7

ASRock  Z77E-ITX  Motherboard

1.  Introduction

Thank you for purchasing ASRock 

Z77E-ITX 

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 

Z77E-ITX

 Motherboard 

(Mini-ITX Form Factor: 6.7-in x 6.7-in, 17.0 cm x 17.0 cm)

ASRock 

Z77E-ITX

 Quick Installation Guide

ASRock 

Z77E-ITX

 Support CD 

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

1 x ASRock WiFi 2.4GHz Antenna (Optional)

1 x DVI-to-D-Sub Converter (Optional)

1 x I/O Panel Shield

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.

ule

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ASRock  Z77E-ITX  Motherboard

English

1.2  Specifications

 Platform

 - 

Mini-ITX Form Factor: 6.7-in x 6.7-in, 17.0 cm x 17.0 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

- 6 + 2 Power Phase Design

- Supports Intel

®

 Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology

- Supports Intel

®

 K-Series unlocked CPU

- Supports Hyper-Threading Technology (see 

CAUTION 1

)

- Supports Intel

®

 Rapid Start Technology and Smart Connect 

  Technology with Intel

®

 Ivy Bridge CPU

 Chipset 

- Intel

®

 Z77

 Memory 

- Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Technology (see 

CAUTION 2

)    

- 2 x DDR3 DIMM slots  

- Supports DDR3 2800+(OC)/2400(OC)/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/

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

- Max. capacity of system memory: 16GB (see 

CAUTION 3

)

- Supports Intel

®

 Extreme Memory Pro

fi

 le (XMP)1.3/1.2

 Expansion Slot 

- 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot (PCIE1: x16 mode)

  (see 

CAUTION 4

)

  * PCIE 3.0 is only supported with Intel

®

 Ivy Bridge CPU. With 

    Intel

®

 Sandy Bridge CPU, it only supports PCIE 2.0.

- 1 x mini-PCI Express slot: For WiFi module

 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 (see 

CAUTION 5

)

- Multi VGA Output options: DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort and 

  D-Sub with the bundled DVI-to-D-Sub Converter 

  (see 

CAUTION 6

)

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

  1920x1200 @ 60Hz

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ASRock  Z77E-ITX  Motherboard

English

- Supports DVI with max. resolution up to 1920x1200 @ 60Hz

- Supports DisplayPort with max. resolution up to 2560x1600 

  @ 60Hz

- Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 2048x1536 @ 

  75Hz

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

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

  monitor is required) (see 

CAUTION 7

)

- Supports HDCP function with DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort 

  ports 

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

  with DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort ports 

Audio 

- 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection 

  (Realtek ALC898 Audio Codec)

- Premium Blu-ray audio support

- Supports THX TruStudio

TM

 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 PXE

Wireless LAN

 WiFi-802.11n 

module 

- 300Mbps IEEE 802.11n / 54Mbps IEEE 802.11g / 

  11Mbps IEEE 802.11b

- Supports Station mode (Infrastructure mode and Ad-hoc    

  mode)

 Rear Panel I/O 

I/O Panel

- 2 x Antenna Ports

- 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port

- 1 x DVI-I Port

- 1 x HDMI Port

- 1 x DisplayPort

- 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port

- 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports

- 1 x eSATA2 Connector

- 4 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 (see 

CAUTION 8

)

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ASRock  Z77E-ITX  Motherboard

English

 SATA3

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

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

  Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug 

  functions 

 USB3.0

- 2 x Rear USB 3.0 ports by 

Intel

®

 Z77

, support USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 

  up to 5Gb/s

- 2 x Rear USB 3.0 ports by 

ASMedia ASM1042

, support USB 

  1.0/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s

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

Intel

®

 Z77

, supports USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s

Connector

- 2 x SATA2 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, 

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

  Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug 

  functions

- 1 x mSATA 3.0 Gb/s connector (Solid-State Drive 

  connector), supports RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 

  10, Intel Rapid Storage and Intel Smart Response 

  Technology), NCQ, AHCI functions and Full-size mini-PCI 

  Express modules

- 2 x SATA3 6.0Gb/s connectors

- 1 x CIR header

- CPU/Chassis FAN connector

- 24 pin ATX power connector

- 8 pin 12V power connector

- Front panel audio connector

- 2 x USB 2.0 headers (support 4 USB 2.0 ports) 

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

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, VCCSA Voltage Multi-adjustment

 Support CD 

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

  CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 Trial, ASRock MAGIX 

  Multimedia Suite - OEM

 Unique Feature

- ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU) (see 

CAUTION 9

)

- ASRock Instant Boot

- ASRock Instant Flash (see 

CAUTION 10

) 

- ASRock APP Charger (see 

CAUTION 11

) 

- ASRock SmartView (see 

CAUTION 12

)

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ASRock  Z77E-ITX  Motherboard

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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.

- ASRock XFast USB (see 

CAUTION 13

)  

- ASRock XFast LAN (see 

CAUTION 14

)

- ASRock XFast RAM (see 

CAUTION 15

)

- ASRock Crashless BIOS (see 

CAUTION 16

)

- ASRock OMG (Online Management Guard)

  (see 

CAUTION 17

)

- ASRock Internet Flash (see 

CAUTION 18

)

- Lucid Virtu Universal MVP (see 

CAUTION 19

)

  * Lucid Virtu Universal MVP can be supported only with 

    processors which are GPU integrated.

- Hybrid Booster:

    - CPU Frequency Stepless Control (see 

CAUTION 20

) 

    - ASRock U-COP (see 

CAUTION 21

)

    - Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)

- Good Night LED

Hardware 

- CPU Temperature Sensing

Monitor

- Chassis Temperature Sensing

- CPU Fan Tachometer

- Chassis Fan Tachometer

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

  Adjust by CPU Temperature)

- CPU/Chassis Fan Multi-Speed Control

- 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 22

)

 Certi

fi

 cations

- FCC, CE, WHQL

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

  (see 

CAUTION 23

)

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

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ASRock  Z77E-ITX  Motherboard

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CAUTION!

1.  About the settings of “Hyper Threading Technology”, please check page 

47 of the “User Manual” in the support CD.

2.  This motherboard supports Dual Channel Memory Technology. Before 

you implement Dual Channel Memory Technology, make sure to read the 

installation guide of memory modules on page 19 for proper installation.

3.  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 limita-

tion. You can use ASRock XFast RAM to utilize the memory that Win-

dows

®

 cannot use.

4.  Only PCIE1 slot supports Gen 3 speed. To run the PCI Express in Gen 

3 speed, please install an Ivy Bridge CPU. If you install a Sandy Bridge 

CPU, the PCI Express will run only at PCI Express Gen 2 speed.

5.  The maximum shared memory size is de

fi

 ned by the chipset vendor and 

is subject to change. Please check Intel

®

 website for the latest informa-

tion.

6.  You can choose to use two of the three monitors only. DVI, HDMI and 

DisplayPort monitors cannot be enabled at the same time. Besides, with 

the DVI-to-HDMI adapter, the DVI port can support the same features as 

HDMI port.

7.  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

.

8.  For microphone input, this motherboard supports both stereo and mono 

modes. For audio output, this motherboard supports 2-channel, 4-chan-

nel, 6-channel, and 8-channel modes. Please check the table on page 4 

for proper connection.

9.  ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU) is an all-in-one tool to ne-tune dif-

ferent system functions in a user-friendly interface, which includes Hard-

ware Monitor, Fan Control, Overclocking, OC DNA and IES. 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 per-

formance. 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 settings. 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 performance. Please visit our website for the operation proce-

dures of ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU).

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

10.  ASRock Instant Flash is a BIOS 

fl

 ash utility embedded in Flash ROM. 

This convenient BIOS update tool allows you to update system BIOS

13

ASRock  Z77E-ITX  Motherboard

English

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 complicated 

fl

 ash utility. Please be noted that the USB 

fl

 ash drive or hard drive must 

use FAT32/16/12 

fi

 le system. 

11.  If you desire a faster, less restricted way of charging your Apple devices,  

such as iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, ASRock has prepared a wonderful so-

lution 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 

continuous charging when your PC enters into Standby mode (S1), Sus-

pend to RAM (S3), hibernation mode (S4) or power off (S5). With APP 

Charger driver installed, you can easily enjoy the marvelous charging 

experience.

ASRock website: http://www.asrock.com/Feature/AppCharger/index.asp

12.  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 website: http://www.asrock.com/Feature/SmartView/index.asp

13.  ASRock XFast USB can boost USB storage device performance. The 

performance may depend on the properties of the device.

14.  ASRock XFast LAN provides a faster internet access, which includes 

the bene

fi

 ts listed below. LAN Application Prioritization: You can con

fi

 g-

ure 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 simultaneously. Real-Time Analysis of Your Data: With 

the status window, you can easily recognize which data streams you are 

transferring currently.

15.  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 

be used under Windows

®

 OS 32-bit CPU. ASRock XFast RAM shortens 

the loading time of previously visited websites, making web sur

fi

 ng faster 

than ever. And it also boosts the speed of Adobe Photoshop 5 times 

faster. Another advantage of ASRock XFast RAM is that it reduces the

frequency of accessing your SSDs or HDDs in order to extend their lifes-

pan.

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ASRock  Z77E-ITX  Motherboard

English

16.  ASRock Crashless BIOS allows users to update their BIOS without fear 

of failing. If power loss occurs during the BIOS update 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.

17.  Administrators are able to establish an internet curfew or restrict internet 

access at speci

fi

 ed times via OMG. You may choose from [Everyday], [Day 

of the week] or [Weekdays and weekends], then 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 required.

18.  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.

19. 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 Virtual Vsync™ for no-compromise 

visual quality. With the added benefits of HyperFormance technology, 

VIRTU Universal MVP improves game performance by intelligently reduc-

ing redundant rendering tasks in the 

fl

 ow between the CPU, GPU and the 

display.

20.  Although this motherboard offers stepless control, it is not recommended 

to perform over-clocking. Frequencies other than the recommended CPU 

bus frequencies may cause instability of the system or damage the CPU.

21.  While CPU overheat is detected, the system will automatically shutdown.

Before you resume the system, please check if the CPU fan on the moth-

erboard functions properly and unplug the power cord, then plug it back 

again. To improve heat dissipation, remember to spray thermal grease 

between the CPU and the heatsink when you install the PC system.

22.  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.

23.  EuP stands for Energy Using Product, was a provision regulated by the 

European Union to define the power consumption for the completed 

system. According to EuP, the total AC power of the completed system 

should be under 1.00W in off mode condition. To meet EuP standards, 

an EuP ready motherboard and an EuP ready power supply are required. 

According to Intel’s suggestion, the EuP ready power supply must meet 

the standard of 5v, and the standby power ef

fi

 ciency should be higher 

than 50% under 100 mA current consumption. For EuP ready power sup-

ply selection, we recommend you to check with the power supply manu-

facturer for more details.