960GM/U3S3 FX User Manual Version 1.1 Published May 2013 Copyright©2013 ASRock INC. All rights reserved.
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 registered trademarks or copyrights of their respective companies, and are used only for identification or explanation and to the owners’ benefit, without intent to infringe.
Contents 1 . Introduction ........................................................... 5 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Package Contents ..................................................................... Specifications ........................................................................... Motherboard Layout ................................................................... I/O Panel .................................................................................... 5 6 12 13 2 . Installation ..................
3 . BIOS SSETUP ETUP UTILITY .................................................. 37 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Introduction ................................................................................ 3.1.1 BIOS Menu Bar ............................................................... 3.1.2 Navigation Keys .............................................................. Main Screen .............................................................................. OC Tweaker Screen ......................
1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX 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. In this manual, chapter 1 and 2 contain introduction of the motherboard and step-bystep guide to the hardware installation. Chapter 3 and 4 contain the configuration guide to BIOS setup and information of the Support CD.
1.2 Specifications Platform CPU Chipset Memory Expansion Slot Graphics Audio LAN - Micro ATX Form Factor: 9.6-in x 7.8-in, 24.4 cm x 19.
Rear Panel I/O SATA3 USB3 Connector BIOS Feature Support CD - Supports LAN Cable Detection - Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az - Supports PXE I/O Panel - 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port - 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port - 1 x D-Sub Port - 1 x DVI-D Port - 4 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports - 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 3.0 Ports - 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED) - HD Audio Jack: Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone - 2 x SATA3 6.
Unique Feature Hardware Monitor OS Certifications - ASRock OC Tuner (see CAUTION 7) - ASRock Intelligent Energy Saver (see CAUTION 8) - ASRock Instant Boot - ASRock Instant Flash (see CAUTION 9) - ASRock OC DNA (see CAUTION 10) - ASRock APP Charger (see CAUTION 11) - ASRock SmartView (see CAUTION 12) - ASRock XFast USB (see CAUTION 13) - ASRock XFast LAN (see CAUTION 14) - ASRock XFast RAM (see CAUTION 15) - Hybrid Booster: - CPU Frequency Stepless Control (see CAUTION 16) - ASRock U-COP (see CAUTION 17)
CAUTION! 1. This motherboard supports Untied Overclocking Technology. Please read “Untied Overclocking Technology” on page 36 for details. 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 16 for proper installation. 3. Whether 1866/1600MHz memory speed is supported depends on the AM3/AM3+ CPU you adopt.
9. ASRock Instant Flash is a BIOS flash utility embedded in Flash ROM. This convenient BIOS update tool allows you to update system BIOS without entering operating systems first like MS-DOS or Windows ® . With this utility, you can press key during the POST or press key to BIOS setup menu to access ASRock Instant Flash.
14. ASRock XFast LAN provides a faster internet access, which includes below benefits. LAN Application Prioritization: You can configure your application priority ideally and/or add new programs. Lower Latency in Game: After setting online game priority higher, it can lower the latency in game. Traffic Shaping: You can watch Youtube HD video and download files simultaneously. Real-Time Analysis of Your Data: With the status window, you can easily recognize which data streams you are currently transferring.
1.3 Motherboard Layout 3 2 1 5 4 19.8cm (7.8-in) ErP/EuP Ready Support 8-Core CPU AM3+ CPU_FAN1 Fast LAN Fast USB X X USB 3.0 T: USB4 B: USB5 USB 3.
1.4 I/O PPanel anel 1 3 2 4 5 6 11 1 2 *3 4 5 6 8 9 10 PS/2 Mouse Port (Green) USB 2.0 Ports (USB23) RJ-45 Port Line In (Light Blue) Line Out (Lime) Microphone (Pink) 7 8 9 10 11 7 USB 2.0 Ports (USB01) USB 3.0 Ports (USB45) DVI-D Port D-Sub Port PS/2 Keyboard Port (Purple) * There are two LED next to the LAN port. Please refer to the table below for the LAN port LED indications.
2. Installation This is a Micro ATX form factor (9.6-in x 7.8-in, 24.4 cm x 19.8 cm) motherboard. Before you install the motherboard, study the configuration of your chassis to ensure that the motherboard fits into it. Pre-installation Precautions Take note of the following precautions before you install motherboard components or change any motherboard settings. Before you install or remove any component, ensure that the power is switched off or the power cord is detached from the power supply.
2.1 CPU Installation Step 1. Step 2. Step 3. o Unlock the socket by lifting the lever up to a 90 angle. Position the CPU directly above the socket such that the CPU corner with the golden triangle matches the socket corner with a small triangle. Carefully insert the CPU into the socket until it fits in place. The CPU fits only in one correct orientation. DO NOT force the CPU into the socket to avoid bending of the pins. Step 4.
2.3 Installation of Memor y Modules (DIMM) 960GM/U3S3 FX motherboard provides two 240-pin DDR3 (Double Data Rate 3) DIMM slots, and supports Dual Channel Memory Technology. For dual channel configuration, you always need to install two identical (the same brand, speed, size and chip-type) memory modules in the DDR3 DIMM slots to activate Dual Channel Memory Technology. Otherwise, it will operate at single channel mode. 1. It is not allowed to install a DDR or DDR2 memory module into 2.
2.4 Expansion Slots (PCI and PCI Express Slots) There is 1 PCI slot and 2 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 (PCIE x1 slot; White) is used for PCI Express cards with x1 lane width cards, such as Gigabit LAN card, SATA2 card, etc. PCIE2 (PCIE x16 slot; Blue) is used for PCI Express cards with x16 lane width graphics cards. Installing an expansion card Step 1. Step 2. Step 3. Step 4.
2.5 Dual Monitor and Surround Display Features Dual Monitor Feature This motherboard supports dual monitor feature. With the internal dual VGA output support (DVI-D and D-Sub), you can easily enjoy the benefits of dual monitor feature without installing any add-on VGA card to this motherboard. This motherboard also provides independent display controllers for DVI-D and D-Sub to support dual VGA output so that DVI-D and D-sub can drive same or different display contents.
3. Boot your system. Press or to enter BIOS setup. Enter “Share Memory” option to adjust the memory capability to [32MB], [64MB], [128MB] [256MB] or [512MB] to enable the function of D-sub. Please make sure that the value you select is less than the total capability of the system memory. If you do not adjust the BIOS setup, the default value of “Share Memory”, [Auto], will disable D-Sub function when the add-on VGA card is inserted to this motherboard. 4.
HDCP Function HDCP function is supported on this motherboard. To use HDCP function with this motherboard, you need to adopt the monitor that supports HDCP function as well. Therefore, you can enjoy the superior display quality with high-definition HDCP encryption contents. Please refer to below instruction for more details about HDCP function.
2.6 ASRock Smart Remote Installation Guide ASRock Smart Remote is only used for ASRock motherboard with CIR header. Please refer to below procedures for the quick installation and usage of ASRock Smart Remote. Step1. Find the CIR header located next to the USB 2.0 header on ASRock motherboard. USB 2.0 header (9-pin, blue) CIR header (4-pin, white) Step2. Connect the front USB cable to the USB 2.0 header (as below, pin 1-5) and the CIR header.
2.7 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 Clear CMOS Jumper (CLRCMOS1) (see p.12, No. 24) Setting 1_2 Default 2_3 Clear CMOS Note: CLRCMOS1 allows you to clear the data in CMOS.
2.8 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! • Primary IDE connector (Blue) (39-pin IDE1, see p.12 No.
USB 2.0 Headers USB_PWR P-7 P+7 GND DUMMY (9-pin USB6_7) (see p.12 No. 21) 1 GND P+6 P-6 USB_PWR USB_PWR P-9 P+9 GND DUMMY (9-pin USB8_9) (see p.12 No. 20) Besides four default USB 2.0 ports on the I/O panel, there are two USB 2.0 headers on this motherboard. Each USB 2.0 header can support two USB 2.0 ports. 1 GND P+8 P-8 USB_PWR Infrared Module Header IRTX +5V DUMMY (5-pin IR1) (see p.12 No. 23) 1 GND IRRX Consumer Infrared Module Header (4-pin CIR1) 1 GND IRTX IRRX ATX+5VSB (see p.12 No.
1. High Definition Audio supports Jack Sensing, but the panel wire on the chassis must support HDA to function correctly. Please follow the instruction in our manual and chassis manual to install your system. 2. If you use AC’97 audio panel, please install it to the front panel audio header as below: A. Connect Mic_IN (MIC) to MIC2_L. B. Connect Audio_R (RIN) to OUT2_R and Audio_L (LIN) to OUT2_L. C. Connect Ground (GND) to Ground (GND). D. MIC_RET and OUT_RET are for HD audio panel only.
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 to the CPU fan connector on this motherboard, please connect it to Pin 1-3. Pin 1-3 Connected 3-Pin Fan Installation ATX Power Connector 12 24 1 13 (24-pin ATXPWR1) Please connect an ATX power supply to this connector. (see p.12 No.
2.9 SA SATTAII Hard Disk Setup Guide Before installing SATAII hard disk to your computer, please carefully read below SATAII hard disk setup guide. Some default setting of SATAII hard disks may not be at SATAII mode, which operate with the best performance. In order to enable SATAII function, please follow the below instruction with different vendors to correctly adjust your SATAII hard disk to SATAII mode in advance; otherwise, your SATAII hard disk may fail to run at SATAII mode.
2 . 1 0 Serial A ATTA (SA (SATTA) / Serial A ATTAII (SA (SATTAII) Hard Disks Installation This motherboard adopts AMD SB710 south bridge chipset that supports Serial ATA (SATA) / Serial ATAII (SATAII) hard disks and RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10 and JBOD) functions. You may install SATA / SATAII hard disks on this motherboard for internal storage devices. This section will guide you to install the SATA / SATAII hard disks. STEP 1: Install the SATA / SATAII hard disks into the drive bays of your chassis.
2.12 Hot Plug and Hot Swap FFunctions unctions for SA SATTA / SA SATTAII HDDs This motherboard supports Hot Plug and Hot Swap functions for SATA / SATAII Devices in RAID / AHCI mode. AMD SB710 south bridge chipset provides hardware support for Advanced Host controller Interface (AHCI), a new programming interface for SATA host controllers developed thru a joint industry effort. AHCI also provides usability enhancements such as Hot Plug.
2.14 SA eature and SATTA / SA SATTAII / SA SATTA3 HDD Hot Plug FFeature Operation Guide This motherboard supports Hot Plug feature for SATA / SATAII / SATA3 HDD in RAID / AHCI mode. Please read below operation guide of Hot Plug feature carefully. Before you process the SATA / SATAII / SATA3 HDD Hot Plug, please check below cable accessories from the motherboard gift box pack. A. 7-pin SATA data cable B. SATA power cable with SATA 15-pin power connector interface A. SATA data cable (Red) B.
How to Hot Plug a SATA / SATAII / SATA3 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 SATA / SATAII / SATA3 HDD damage and data loss. Step 1 Please connect SATA power cable 1x4-pin end Step 2 Connect SATA data cable to the motherboard’s SATAII / SATA3 connector. (White) to the power supply 1x4-pin cable.
2.15 Driver Installation Guide To install the drivers to your system, please insert the support CD to your optical drive first. 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 install can work properly. 2 .
STEP 3: Use “RAID Installation Guide” to set RAID configuration. Before you start to configure RAID function, you need to check the RAID installation guide in the Support CD for proper configuration. Please refer to the BIOS RAID installation guide part of the document in the following path in the Support CD: .. \ RAID Installation Guide STEP 4: Install Windows® XP / XP 64-bit OS on your system. After step 1, 2, 3, you can start to install Windows® XP / XP 64-bit OS on your system.
NOTE1. If you install Windows® 7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit on IDE HDDs and want to manage (create, convert, delete, or rebuild) RAID functions on SATA / SATA2 HDDs, you still need to set up “SATA Operation Mode” to [RAID] in BIOS first. Then, please set the RAID configuration by using the Windows RAID installation guide in the following path in the Support CD: .. \ RAID Installation Guide NOTE2.
Using SATA / SATA2 / SATA3 HDDs without NCQ and Hot Plug functions (IDE mode) STEP 1: Set up BIOS. A. Enter BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced screen Storage Configuration. B. Set the “SATA Operation Mode” option to [IDE] for SATAII_1 to SATAII_4 ports. Set the “Onboard SATA3 Operation Mode” option to [IDE] for SATA3_1 and SATA3_2 ports. STEP 2: Install Windows® XP / XP 64-bit OS on your system. 2.17.
2 . 1 8 Untied Overclocking TTechnology echnology This motherboard supports Untied Overclocking Technology, which means during overclocking, FSB enjoys better margin due to fixed PCI / PCIE buses. Before you enable Untied Overclocking function, please enter “Overclock Mode” option of BIOS setup to set the selection from [Auto] to [Manual]. Therefore, CPU FSB is untied during overclocking, but PCI / PCIE buses are in the fixed mode so that FSB can operate under a more stable overclocking environment.
3. BIOS SETUP UTILITY 3.1 Introduction This section explains how to use the BIOS SETUP UTILITY to configure your system. The SPI Memory on the motherboard stores the BIOS SETUP UTILITY. You may run the BIOS SETUP UTILITY when you start up the computer. Please press or during the Power-On-Self-Test (POST) to enter the BIOS SETUP UTILITY, otherwise, POST will continue with its test routines.
3.1.2 Navigation Keys Please check the following table for the function description of each navigation key. Navigation Key(s) / / + / 3.
3 . 3 OC TTweak weak er Screen weaker In the OC Tweaker screen, you can set up overclocking features.
AMD Turbo Core Technology This item appears only when the processor you adopt supports this feature. Use this to select enable or disable AMD Turbo Core Technology. Confi guration options: [Auto] and [Disabled]. The default value is [Auto]. AMD IO C-State Support This allows you to enable or disable AMD IO C-State Support. The default value is [Enabled].
NB Frequency Multiplier For safety and system stability, it is not recommended to adjust the value of this item. CPU NB Voltage It allows you to adjust the value of CPU NB voltage. However, for safety and system stability, it is not recommended to adjust the value of this item. HT Bus Speed This feature allows you selecting Hyper-Transport bus speed. Configuration options: [Auto], [x1 200MHz] to [x11 2200MHz]. HT Bus Width This feature allows you selecting Hyper-Transport bus width.
CAS Latency (CL) Use this item to adjust the means of memory accessing. The default value is [Auto]. TRCD Use this to adjust TRCD values. The default value is [Auto]. TRP Use this to adjust TRP values. The default value is [Auto]. TRAS Use this to adjust TRAS values. The default value is [Auto]. Command Rate Use this item to change Command Rate Auto/Manual setting. Min: 1N. Max: 2N. The default is [Auto]. TRC Use this to adjust TRC values. The default value is [Auto]. TWR Use this to adjust TWR values.
3.4 Advanced Screen In this section, you may set the configurations for the following items: CPU Configuration, Chipset Configuration, ACPI Configuration, Storage Configuration, PCIPnP Configuration, SuperIO Configuration, and USB Configuration. Main BIOS SETUP UTILITY Boot OC Tweaker Advanced H/W Monitor Advanced Settings Security Exit Options for CPU WARNING : Setting wrong values in below sections may cause system to malfunction.
3.4.1 CPU Configuration BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced CPU Configuration Cool' n' Quiet Secure Virtual Machine Enhanced Halt State(C1E) CPU Thermal Throttle [Enabled] [Enabled] [Disabled] [Auto] +F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change Option General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.54 (C) Copyright 1985-2003, American Megatrends, Inc. Cool ‘n’ Quiet Use this item to enable or disable AMD’s Cool ‘n’ QuietTM technology. The default value is [Enabled].
3.4.2 Chipset Configuration BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced Chipset Settings Onboard HD Audio Front Panel Onboard Lan Primary Graphics Adapter [Disabled] [Auto] [Enabled] [PCI] Internal Graphics Mode Share Memory Onboard HDMI HD Audio Surround View [UMA] [Auto] [Enabled] [Auto] +F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change Option General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.54 (C) Copyright 1985-2003, American Megatrends, Inc.
3.4.3 ACPI Configuration BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced ACPI Settings Suspend To RAM Check Ready Bit Away Mode Support [Auto] [Auto] [Disabled] Restore on AC / Power Loss Ring-In Power On PCI Devices Power On PS / 2 Keyboard Power On RTC Alarm Power On [Power Off] [Disabled] [Disabled] [Disabled] [By OS] ACPI HPET Table [Enabled] Select auto-detect or disable the STR feature. +F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change Option General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.
3.4.4 Storage Configuration BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced Configure onboard serial ATA controller. Storage Configuration [Enabled] Onboard SATA Controller [IDE] SATA Operation Mode Onboard SATA3 Operation Mode [IDE Mode] [Hard Disk] [Not Detected] [Not Detected] [Not Detected] [Not Detected] [Not Detected] IDE1 Master IDE1 Slave SATAII_1 SATAII_2 SATAII_3 SATAII_4 +F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change Option General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.
TYPE Use this item to configure the type of the IDE device that you specify. Configuration options: [Not Installed], [Auto], [CD/DVD], and [ARMD]. [Not Installed]: Select [Not Installed] to disable the use of IDE device. [Auto]: Select [Auto] to automatically detect the hard disk drive. After selecting the hard disk information into BIOS, use a disk utility, such as FDISK, to partition and format the new IDE hard disk drives. This is necessary so that you can write or read data from the hard disk.
3.4.5 PCIPnP Configuration BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced Value in units of PCI clocks for PCI device latency timer register. Advanced PCI / PnP Settings PCI Latency Timer PCI IDE BusMaster [32] [Enabled] +F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change Option General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.54 (C) Copyright 1985-2003, American Megatrends, Inc. Setting wrong values in this section may cause the system to malfunction. PCI Latency Timer The default value is 32.
3 . 4 . 6 Super IO Configuration BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced Configure Super IO Chipset Serial Port Address Infrared Port Address Parallel Port Address Parallel Port Mode EPP Version ECP Mode DMA Channel Parallel Port IRQ [3F8 / IRQ4] [Disabled] [378] [ECP + EPP] [1.9] [DMA3] [IRQ7] +F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change Option General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.54 (C) Copyright 1985-2003, American Megatrends, Inc.
3 . 4 . 7 USB Configuration BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced USB Configuration USB Controller USB 2.0 Support Legacy USB Support USB 3.0 Controller [Enabled] [Enabled] [Enabled] [Enabled] USB Keyboard/Remote Power On USB Mouse Power On [Disabled] [Disabled] To enable or disable the onboard USB controllers. +F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change Option General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.54 (C) Copyright 1985-2005, American Megatrends, Inc.
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. Main OC Tweaker BIOS SETUP UTILITY Boot Advanced H/W Monitor Security Exit Enable/Disable CPU Quiet Fan Function.
3.6 Boot Screen In this section, it will display the available devices on your system for you to configure the boot settings and the boot priority. Main OC Tweaker BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced H/W Monitor Boot Boot Settings Exit Configure Settings during System Boot.
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. Main OC Tweaker BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced H/W Monitor Boot Security Settings Supervisor Password User Password Security Exit Install or Change the password. : Not Installed : Not Installed Change Supervisor Password Change User Password Enter F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.
3.8 Exit Screen Main OC Tweaker BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced H/W Monitor Boot Exit Options Security Exit Exit system setup after saving the changes. Save Changes and Exit Discard Changes and Exit Discard Changes F10 key can be used for this operation. Load BIOS Defaults Load Performance Setup Default Load Power Saving Setup Default Enter F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Go to Sub Screen General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.54 (C) Copyright 1985-2005, American Megatrends, Inc.
Software Supportt 4. Sof tware Suppor 4.1 Install Operating System This motherboard supports various Microsoft® Windows® operating systems: 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / VistaTM 64-bit / XP / XP Media Center / XP 64-bit. Because motherboard settings and hardware options vary, use the setup procedures in this chapter for general reference only. Refer to your OS documentation for more information. 4.
