Asrock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 manual

1 Z68 Pro3 Gen3 User Manual V ersion 1.0 Published August 201 1 Copyright©201 1 ASRock INC. All rights reserved.[...]

2 Copyright Notice: No part of this manual may be reproduced, transcribed, transmitted, or translated in any language, in any form or by any means, except duplication of documentation by the purchaser for backup purpose, without written consent of ASRock Inc. Products and corporate names appearing in this manual may or may not be regis- tered trade[...]

3 Contents 1 Introduction ......................................................... 5 1.1 Package Contents ......................................................... 5 1.2 Speci cations ................................................................. 6 1.3 Motherboard Layout ....................................................... 13 1.4 I/O Panel .[...]

4 3 UEFI SETUP UTILITY ................................................. 39 3.1 Introduction .................................................................... 39 3.1.1 UEFI Menu Bar .................................................... 39 3.1.2 Navigation Keys ................................................... 40 3.2 Main Screen ................[...]

5 Chapter 1: Introduction Thank you for purchasing ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 motherboard, a reliable moth- erboard produced under ASRock’s consistently stringent quality control. It delivers excellent performance with robust design conforming to ASRock’s commitment to quality and endurance. In this manual, chapter 1 and 2 contain introduction of the[...]

6 1.2 Specifications Platform - A TX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 7.5-in, 30.5 cm x 19.1 cm - Premium Gold Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors) CPU - Supports 2nd Generation Intel ® Core TM i7 / i5 / i3 in LGA1 155 Package - 4 + 2 Power Phase Design - Supports Intel ® T urbo Boost 2.0 T echnology - Supports K-Se[...]

7 - 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 T ruStudio TM LAN - PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s - Realtek RTL81 1 1E - Supports W ake-On-LAN - Supports LAN Cable Detection - Supports [...]

8 - 24 pin A TX power connector - 8 pin 12V power connector - Front panel audio connector - 3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 6 USB 2.0 ports) BIOS Feature - 64Mb AMI BIOS - AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with GUI support - Supports “Plug and Play” - ACPI 1.1 Compliance W ake Up Events - Supports jumperfree - SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support - CPU Core, IGPU, DRAM, PCH, C[...]

9 W ARNING Please realize that there is a certain risk involved with overclocking, including adjusting the setting in the BIOS, applying Untied Overclocking T echnology , or using the third-party overclocking tools. Overclocking may affect your system stability , or even cause damage to the components and devices of your system. It should be done a[...]

10 CAUTION! 1. About the setting of “Hyper Threading T echnology”, please check page 46. 2. This motherboard supports Dual Channel Memory T echnology . Before you implement Dual Channel Memory T echnology , make sure to read the installation guide of memory modules on page 20 for proper installation. 3. DDR3 frequency options may depend on the [...]

11 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 prepar- ing an additional oppy diskette or other complicated ash utility . Please be noted that the USB ash drive or hard drive must use F A T32/[...]

12 17. Although this motherboard of fers stepless control, it is not recommended to perform over-clocking. Frequencies other than the recommended CPU bus frequencies may cause the instability of the system or damage the CPU. 18. While CPU overheat is detected, the system will automatically shutdown. Before you resume the system, please check if the[...]

13 1.3 Motherboard Layout 1 CPU Fan Connector (CPU_F AN1) 19 Power LED Header (PLED1) 2 1 155-Pin CPU Socket 20 USB 2.0 Header (USB6_7, Black) 3 A TX 12V Power Connector (ATX12V1) 21 USB 2.0 Header (USB8_9, Black) 4 Power Fan Connector (PWR_F AN1) 22 USB 2.0 Header (USB10_1 1, Black) 5 2 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots 23 Consumer Infrared Module Header [...]

14 1.4 I/O P anel ** If you use 2-channel speaker , please connect the speaker ’ s plug into “Front Speaker Jack”. See the table below for connection details in accordance with the type of speaker you use. T ABLE for Audio Output Connection Audio Output Channels Front Speaker Rear Speaker Central / Bass Line In or (No. 8) (No. 5) (No. 4) Side[...]

15 T o 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 nd “Mixer” tool on your system. Please select “Mixer T oolBox” , click “Enable playback multi-streaming”, and click “ok”. Choose “2CH”, “4CH”, “6CH”, or “8CH?[...]

16 Chapter 2: Installation This is an A TX form factor (12.0" x 7.5", 30.5 x 19.1 cm) motherboard. Before you install the motherboard, study the con guration of your chassis to ensure that the motherboard ts into it. Make sure to unplug the power cord before installing or removing the motherboard. Failure to do so may cause physical injur[...]

17 2.3 CPU Installation For the installation of Intel 1 155-Pin CPU, please follow the steps below . Before you insert the 1 155-Pin CPU into the socket, please check if the CPU surface is unclean or if there is any bent pin on the socket. Do not force to insert the CPU into the socket if above situation is found. Other- wise, the CPU will be serio[...]

18 Pin1 alignment key alignment key Pin1 1 155-Pin CPU 1 155-Pin Socket Step 3. Insert the 1 155-Pin CPU: Step 3-1. Hold the CPU by the edge where is marked with black line. Step 3-2. Orient the CPU with IHS (Integrated Heat Sink) up. Locate Pin1 and the two orientation key notches. For proper inserting, please ensure to match the two orientation k[...]

19 2.4 Installation of CPU F an and Heatsink This motherboard is equipped with 1 155-Pin socket that supports Intel 1 155-Pin CPU. Please adopt the type of heatsink and cooling fan compliant with Intel 1 155- Pin CPU to dissipate heat. Before you installed the heatsink, you need to spray thermal interface material between the CPU and the heatsink t[...]

20 2.5 Installation of Memor y Modules (DIMM) This motherboard provides four 240-pin DDR3 (Double Data Rate 3) DIMM slots, and supports Dual Channel Memory T echnology . For dual channel con g- uration, you always need to install identical (the same brand, speed, size and chip-type) DDR3 DIMM pair in the slots: Y ou have to install identical DDR3 D[...]

21 notch break notch break Installing a DIMM Please make sure to disconnect power supply before adding or removing DIMMs or the system components. Step 1. Unlock a DIMM slot by pressing the retaining clips outward. Step 2. Align a DIMM on the slot such that the notch on the DIMM matches the break on the slot. The DIMM only ts in one correct orienta[...]

22 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 / PCIE2 / PCIE4 (PCIE 2.0 x1 slot) is used for PCI Express cards with x1 lane width cards, such as Gigabit LAN card, SA T[...]

23 2. If you have installed onboard VGA driver from our support CD to your system already , you can freely enjoy the bene ts of dual monitor function after your system boots. If you haven’t installed onboard VGA driver yet, please install onboard VGA driver from our support CD to your system and restart your computer . 2.7 Dual Monitor and Surrou[...]

24 Surround Display Feature This motherboard supports surround display upgrade. With the internal VGA output support (DVI-D, D-Sub and HDMI) and external add-on PCI Express VGA cards, you can easily enjoy the bene ts of surround display feature. Please refer to the following steps to set up a surround display environment: 1. Install the PCI Express[...]

25 For Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit OS: Right click the desktop, choose “Personalize”, and select the “Display Settings” tab so that you can adjust the parameters of the multi-monitor according to the steps below . A. Click the number ”2” icon. B. Click the items “This is my main monitor” and “Extend the de[...]

26 * 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 USB 2.0 header (9-pin, black) CIR header (4-pin, gray) 2.8 ASRock Smart Remote Installation Guide ASRock Smart Remote is only used for ASRock motherboard with CIR header . Please refer to[...]

27 2.9 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” when jumper cap is placed on these 2 pins. Jumper Setting Description Clear CMOS [...]

28 2.10 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 A T AII Connectors These four Serial A T AII (SA T A2_2: see p.13, No. 12) (SA T AII) connectors[...]

29 Infrared Module Header This header supports an (5-pin IR1) optional wireless transmitting (see p.13 No. 24) and receiving infrared module. 1 IRTX +5VSB DUMMY IRRX GND J_SENSE OUT2_L 1 MIC_RET PRESENCE# GND OUT2_R MIC2_R MIC2_L OUT_RET Front Panel Audio Header This is an interface for front (9-pin HD_AUDIO1) panel audio cable that allows (see p.1[...]

30 Chassis Speaker Header Please connect the chassis (4-pin SPEAKER 1) speaker to this header . (see p.13 No. 17) Power LED Header Please connect the chassis (3-pin PLED1) power LED to this header to (see p.13 No. 19) indicate system power status. The LED is on when the system is operating. The LED keeps blinking in S1 state. The LED is off in S3/S[...]

31 CPU Fan Connectors Please connect the CPU fan (4-pin CPU_F AN1) cable to the connector and (see p.13 No. 1) match the black wire to the ground pin. Though this motherboard provides 4-Pin CPU fan (Quiet Fan) support, the 3-Pin CPU fan still can work successfully even without the fan speed control function. If you plan to connect the 3-Pin CPU fan[...]

32 HDMI_SPDIF Header HDMI_SPDIF header , providing (2-pin HDMI_SPDIF1) SPDIF audio output to HDMI (see p.13 No. 27) VGA card, allows the system to connect HDMI Digital TV/ projector/LCD devices. Please connect the HDMI_SPDIF connector of HDMI VGA card to this header . SPDIFOUT GND 1 Serial port Header This COM1 header supports a (9-pin COM1) serial[...]

33 2.12 Serial A T A3 (SA T A3) Hard Disks Installation This motherboard adopts Intel ® Z68 chipset that supports Serial A T A3 (SA T A3) hard disks and RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5, Intel Rapid Storage and Intel Smart Response T echnology) functions. Y ou may install SA T A3 hard disks on this motherboard for internal storage devices. Th[...]

34 2.13 Hot Plug and Hot Swap F unctions for SA T A / SA T AII HDDs This motherboard supports Hot Plug and Hot Swap functions for SA T A / SA T AII in RAID / AHCI mode. Intel ® Z68 chipset provides hardware support for Advanced Host controller Interface (AHCI), a new programming interface for SA T A host controllers developed thru a joint industry[...]

35 Caution 1. Without SA T A 15-pin power connector interface, the SA T A / SA T AII / SA T A3 Hot Plug cannot be processed. 2. Even some SA T A / SA T AII / SA T A3 HDDs provide both SA T A 15-pin power connector and IDE 1x4-pin conventional power connector interfaces, the IDE 1x4-pin conventional power connector interface is de nitely not able to[...]

36 How to Hot Plug a SA T A / SA T AII / SA T A3 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 SA T A / SA T AII / SA T A3 HDD damage and data loss. Connect SA T A data cable to the motherboard’s SA T AII / SA T A3 connector. Connec[...]

37 2.16 Driver Installation Guide T o install the drivers to your system, please insert the support CD to your optical drive 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. Therefore, the drivers you inst[...]

38 2.18 Installing Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit Without RAID Functions If you want to install Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit / XP / XP 64- bit OS on your SA T A / SA T AII / SA T A3 HDDs without RAID functions, please follow below procedures according to the OS you install. 2.18.1 Insta[...]

39 Chapter 3: UEFI SETUP UTILITY 3.1 Introduction This section explains how to use the UEFI SETUP UTILITY to con gure your system. The UEFI chip on the motherboard stores the UEFI SETUP UTILITY . Y ou may run the UEFI SETUP UTILITY when you start up the computer . Please press <F2> or <Del> during the Power-On-Self-T est (POST) to enter[...]

40 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 + / - T o change option for the selected items <Enter> T o bring up the selected screen <F1> T o d[...]

41 3.3 OC T weak er Screen In the OC T weaker screen, you can set up overclocking features. Advanced T urbo 50 Y ou can use this option to increase your system performance. This option appears only when your CPU supports this function. Load Optimized CPU OC Setting Y ou can use this option to load optimized CPU overclocking setting. Please note tha[...]

42 Intel T urbo Boost T echnology Use this item to enable or disable Intel T urbo Boost T echnology . Turbo Boost allows processor cores to run faster than marked frequency in speci c condition. The default value is [Enabled]. T urbo Boost Power Limit Use this item to adjust T urbo Boost power limit. Con guration options: [Auto] and [Manual]. The d[...]

43 CAS# Latency (tCL) Use this item to change CAS# Latency (tCL) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD) Use this item to change RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. Row Precharge Time (tRP) Use this item to change Row Precharge T ime (tRP) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. RA[...]

44 ODT NOM (CHA) Use this item to change ODT NOM (CHA) Auto/Manual setting. The de- fault is [Auto]. ODT WR (CHB) Use this item to change ODT WR (CHB) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. ODT NOM (CHB) Use this item to change ODT NOM (CHB) Auto/Manual setting. The de- fault is [Auto]. V oltage Control Power Saving Mode Use this to enable or [...]

45 Setting wrong values in this section may cause the system to malfunction. 3.4 Advanced Screen In this section, you may set the con gurations for the following items: CPU Con gu- ration, North Bridge Con guration, South Bridge Con guration, Storage Con gura- tion, Super IO Con guration, ACPI Con guration and USB Con guration. Instant Flash Instan[...]

46 3.4.1 CPU Configuration Intel Hyper Threading T echnology T o enable this feature, it requires a computer system with an Intel processor that supports Hyper-Threading technology and an operating system that includes optimization for this technology , such as Microsoft ® Windows ® XP / V ista TM / 7. Set to [Enabled] if using Microsoft ® Windo[...]

47 CPU Thermal Throttling Y ou may select [Enabled] to enable CPU internal thermal control mechanism to keep the CPU from overheated. Intel Virtualization T echnology When this option is set to [Enabled], a VMM (Virtual Machine Architecture) can utilize the additional hardware capabilities provided by V anderpool T echnology . This option will be h[...]

48 3.4.2 North Bridge Configuration Low MMIO Align Low MMIO resources align at 64MB/1024MB. The default value is [1024M]. VT -d Use this to enable or disable Intel ® VT -d technology (Intel ® Virtualization T echnology for Directed I/O). The default value of this feature is [Disabled]. Primary Graphics Adapter This allows you to select [Onboard],[...]

49 DVMT Mode Select U se this option to adjust DVMT mode. The default value is [DVMT Mode]. DVMT (Dynamic V ideo Memory T echnology) is an architecture that offers breakthrough performance for the motherboard through ef cient memory utilization. In DVMT mode, the graphics driver allocates memory as needed for running graphics applications and is co[...]

50 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 of f when the power recovers. If [Power On] is selected, the AC/power resumes and the system starts to boot up when the power recovers. Deep Sx Mobile platforms suppo[...]

51 PCI Legacy Mode This allows you to enable or disable PCI Legacy Mode. The default value is [Enabled]. Good Night LED Enable this option to turn of f Power LED and Port80 LED when the system is power on. The keyboard LED will also be turned of f in S1, S3 and S4 state. The default value is [Auto].[...]

52 3.4.4 Storage Configuration SA T A Mode Use this to select SA T A mode. Con guration options: [IDE Mode], [AHCI Mode], [RAID Mode] and [Disabled]. The default value is [IDE Mode]. AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) supports NCQ and other new features that will improve SA T A disk perfor- mance but IDE mode does not have these advantages. [...]

53 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. Con guration options: [3F8 / IRQ4] and [3E8 / IRQ4]. Infrared Port Use this item to enable or disable the onboard infrared port. Infrared Port Address Use this item[...]

54 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 tur[...]

55 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 con guration options: [Enabled], [Auto], [Disabled] and [UE[...]

56 3.5 Hardware Health Event Monitoring Screen In this section, it allows you to monitor the status of the hardware on your system, including the parameters of the CPU temperature, motherboard temperature, CPU fan speed, chassis fan speed, and the critical voltage. CPU Fan 1 & 2 Setting This allows you to set the CPU fan 1 & 2 speed. Con gu[...]

57 3.6 Boot Screen In this section, it will display the available devices on your system for you to con 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 inde nite waiting. Bootup Num-Lock If this item is set to [On], it will automatically ac[...]

58 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.[...]

59 3.8 Exit Screen Save Changes and Exit When you select this option, it will pop-out the following message, “Save con guration changes and exit setup?” Select [OK] to save the changes and exit the UEFI SETUP UTILITY . Discard Changes and Exit When you select this option, it will pop-out the following message, “Discard changes and exit setup?[...]

60 Chapter 4: Sof tware Support 4.1 Install Operating System This motherboard supports various Microsoft ® Windows ® operating systems: 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit. Because motherboard settings and hardware options vary , use the setup procedures in this chapter for general refer- ence only . Refer to your OS docume[...]

61 Installing OS on a HDD Larger Than 2TB in AHCI Mode This motherboard is adopting UEFI BIOS that allows Windows ® OS to be installed on a large size HDD (>2TB). Please follow below procedure to install the operating system. 1. Please make sure to use Windows ® Vista TM 64-bit (with SP1 or above) or Windows ® 7 64-bit . 2. Press <F2> o[...]

62 Installing OS on a HDD Larger Than 2TB in RAID Mode If you want to install Windows ® Vista TM 64-bit (with SP1 or above) / 7 64-bit on a RAID disk larger than 2TB, please follow below instructions to install your OS: 1. Copy Intel ® RAID drivers into a USB fl ash disk. Y ou can download the driver from ASRock website. (http://download.asrock.[...]

63 d. Plug the USB fl ash disk into your USB port; select “Browse” to fi nd the RAID driver . Then choose the directory (xxAMD64) you have copied in the fi rst step. If you install Windows ® 7 64-bit / Vista TM 64-bit in a large hard disk (ex. Disk volume > 2TB), it may take more time to boot into Windows ® or install driver/ utilitie[...]

64 b. De-select Local Disks for System Restore. Then Click “T urn System Restore Off” to con fi rm. Then Press “Ok”. B. Disable “V olume Shadow Copy” service. a. T ype “computer management” in the Start Menu, then press “Enter”.[...]

65 b. Go to “Services and Applications>Services”; Then double click “V olume Shadow Copy”. 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 hot fi x KB2505454 thru this link: http:/[...]

66 5. Finish.[...]