Copyright Notice: No part of this installation guide 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 guide 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. Disclaimer: Specifications and information contained in this guide are furnished for informational use only and subject to change without notice, and should not be constructed as a commitment by ASRock. ASRock assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions that may appear in this guide. With respect to the contents of this guide, ASRock does not provide warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties or conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall ASRock, its directors, officers, employees, or agents be liable for any indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages (including damages for loss of profits, loss of business, loss of data, interruption of business and the like), even if ASRock has been advised of the possibility of such damages arising from any defect or error in the guide or product. This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. CALIFORNIA, USA ONLY The Lithium battery adopted on this motherboard contains Perchlorate, a toxic substance controlled in Perchlorate Best Management Practices (BMP) regulations passed by the California Legislature. When you discard the Lithium battery in California, USA, please follow the related regulations in advance. "Perchlorate Material-special handling may apply, see www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlorate" ASRock Website: http://www.asrock.com Published January 2010 Copyright©2010 ASRock INC. All rights reserved. 1 ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 Motherboard English Motherboard Layout 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ATX 12V Power Connector (ATX12V1) PS2_USB_PW1 Jumper CPU Fan Connector (CPU_FAN1) SLI / XFIRE Power Connector CPU Heatsink Retention Module AM3 941-Pin CPU Socket 2 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots (Dual Channel A: DDR3_A1, DDR3_B1; Blue) 2 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots (Dual Channel B: DDR3_A2, DDR3_B2; White) ATX Power Connector (ATXPWR1) North Bridge Fan Connector (NB_FAN1) Northbridge Controller Primary IDE Connector (IDE1, Blue) SLI/XFire Switch Card Retention Slot Southbridge Controller SPI Flash Memory (8Mb) System Panel Header (PANEL1, White) Primary SATAII Connector (SATAII_1, Blue) Secondary SATAII Connector (SATAII_2, Blue) Fourth SATAII Connector (SATAII_4, Blue) Third SATAII Connector (SATAII_3, Blue) Chassis Speaker Header (SPEAKER 1, White) Fifth SATAII Connector (SATAII_5, Blue) 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Sixth SATAII Connector (SATAII_6, Blue) Infrared Module Header (IR1) Clear CMOS Jumper (CLRCMOS1) Front Panel IEEE 1394 Header (FRONT_1394) USB 2.0 Header (USB10_11, Blue) USB 2.0 Header (USB6_7, Blue) USB 2.0 Header (USB8_9, Blue) Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN1) Floppy Connector (FLOPPY1) Serial Port Connector (COM1) Front Panel Audio Header (HD_AUDIO1, White) Internal Audio Connector: CD1 (Black) HDMI_SPDIF Header (HDMI_SPDIF1, White) PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slot (PCIE4; White) PCI Slots (PCI1- 2) PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slot (PCIE3; Blue) PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slot (PCIE2; Blue) PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot (PCIE1; White) Power Fan Connector (PWR_FAN1) eSATAII Connector (eSATAII_TOP) English 2 ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 Motherboard Panel I/O Panel 1 2 3 *4 5 6 7 8 ** 9 PS/2 Keyboard Port (Purple) VGA/D-Sub Port USB 2.0 Ports (USB23) LAN RJ-45 Port Side Speaker (Gray) Rear Speaker (Black) Central / Bass (Orange) Line In (Light Blue) Front Speaker (Lime) 10 11 12 13 14 *** 15 16 17 Microphone (Pink) USB 2.0 Ports (USB01) IEEE 1394 Port eSATAII Port Optical SPDIF Out Port HDMI Port VGA/DVI-D Port USB 2.0 Ports (USB45) * There are two LED next to the LAN port. Please refer to the table below for the LAN port LED indications. LAN Port LED Indications Activity/Link LED Status Description Status SPEED LED Description ACT/LINK SPEED LED LED Off No Activity Blinking Data Activity Off Orange Green 10Mbps connection 100Mbps connection 1Gbps connection LAN Port ** 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. TABLE for Audio Output Connection Audio Output Channels Front Speaker Rear Speaker (No. 9) (No. 6) 2 V -4 V -6 V -8 V V Central / Bass (No. 7) --V V Side Speaker (No. 5) -V V V *** To support AC3 or DTS audio format with HDMI Audio under VistaTM, please install the HDMI audio driver in XP support CD AAX790H-10. The driver is located under the path: ..\Drivers\NB Audio\REALTEK\XP64_XP(R1.68) And note for LPCM support up to stereo 2 channels only. 3 ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 Motherboard English 1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 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-by-step guide to the hardware installation. Chapter 3 and 4 contain the configuration guide to BIOS setup and information of the Support CD. Because the motherboard specifications and the BIOS software might be updated, the content of this manual will be subject to change without notice. In case any modifications of this manual occur, the updated version will be available on ASRock website without further notice. You may find 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 specific information about the model you are using. www.asrock.com/support/index.asp 1.1 Package Contents ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 Motherboard (ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.8-in, 30.5 cm x 22.4 cm) ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 Quick Installation Guide ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 Support CD 1 x Ultra ATA 66/100/133 IDE Ribbon Cable (80-conductor) 1 x Ribbon Cable for a 3.5-in Floppy Drive 4 x Serial ATA (SATA) Data Cables (Optional) 1 x Serial ATA (SATA) HDD Power Cable (Optional) 1 x I/O Panel Shield 1 x ASRock SLI/XFire Switch Card 1 x ASRock USB 3.0 Card (Optional) English 4 ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 Motherboard 1.2 Specifications - ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.8-in, 30.5 cm x 22.4 cm - All Solid Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors) - Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD PhenomTM II X4 / X3 / X2 (except 920 / 940) / Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 / Sempron processors - Supports CPU up to 140W - Supports AMD OverDriveTM with ACC feature (Advanced Clock Calibration) - AMD LIVE!TM Ready - Supports AMD's Cool `n' QuietTM Technology - FSB 2600 MHz (5.2 GT/s) - Supports Untied Overclocking Technology (see CAUTION 1) - Supports Hyper-Transport 3.0 (HT 3.0) Technology - Northbridge: AMD 790GX - Southbridge: AMD SB750 - Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Technology (see CAUTION 2) - 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots - Support DDR3 1600(OC)/1333/1066/800 non-ECC, un-buffered memory (see CAUTION 3) - Max. capacity of system memory: 16GB (see CAUTION 4) - 3 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (blue: single at x16 or dual at x8/x8 mode; white: x4 mode) - 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot - 2 x PCI slots - Supports ATITM Quad CrossFireXTM, 3-Way CrossFireXTM, CrossFireXTM and Hybrid CrossFireXTM (see CAUTION 5) - Integrated AMD Radeon HD 3300 graphics - DX10 class iGPU, Pixel Shader 4.0 - Max. shared memory 512MB (see CAUTION 6) - Built-in 128MB DDR3 1333(OC)/1200MHz SidePort Memory - Three VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI - Supports HDMI Technology with max. resolution up to 1920x1200 (1080P) - Supports Dual-link DVI with max. resolution up to 2560x1600 @ 75Hz - Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 2048x1536 @ 60Hz - Supports HDCP function Platform CPU Chipset Memory Expansion Slot Graphics 5 ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 Motherboard English Audio LAN Rear Panel I/O Connector BIOS Feature - Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback - 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection - DAC with 110dB dynamic range (ALC890 Audio Codec) - DTS (Digital Theater Systems) support (see CAUTION 7) - Premium Blu-ray audio support - PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s - Realtek RTL8111DL - Supports Wake-On-LAN I/O Panel - 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port - 1 x VGA/D-Sub Port - 1 x VGA/DVI-D Port - 1 x HDMI Port - 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port - 1 x IEEE 1394 Port - 1 x eSATAII Port - 6 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports - 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED) - HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker/Rear Speaker/Central/Bass/ Line in/Front Speaker/Microphone (see CAUTION 8) - 6 x Serial ATAII 3.0Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10 and JBOD), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions (see CAUTION 9) - 1 x eSATAII 3.0Gb/s connector (shared with 1 SATAII connector) (see CAUTION 10) - 1 x ATA133 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices) - 1 x Floppy connector - 1 x IR header - 1 x COM port header - 1 x IEEE 1394 header - 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header - CPU/Chassis/NB/Power FAN connector - 24 pin ATX power connector - 8 pin 12V power connector - SLI/XFIRE power connector - CD in header - Front panel audio connector - 3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 6 USB 2.0 ports) (see CAUTION 11) - 8Mb AMI BIOS - AMI Legal BIOS English English English 6 ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 Motherboard Support CD Unique Feature Hardware Monitor OS Certifications - Supports "Plug and Play" - ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events - Supports jumperfree - SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support - CPU, DRAM, NB Voltage Multi-adjustment - Supports Smart BIOS - Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version), AMD OverDriveTM Utility, AMD Live! Explorer, AMD Fusion, ASRock Software Suite (CyberLink DVD Suite - OEM and Trial; Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB - Trial) - ASRock OC Tuner (see CAUTION 12) - Intelligent Energy Saver (see CAUTION 13) - Instant Boot - ASRock Instant Flash (see CAUTION 14) - ASRock OC DNA (see CAUTION 15) - Hybrid Booster: - CPU Frequency Stepless Control (see CAUTION 16) - ASRock U-COP (see CAUTION 17) - Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.) - CPU Temperature Sensing - Chassis Temperature Sensing - CPU/Chassis/NB/Power Fan Tachometer - CPU Quiet Fan - Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, Vcore - Microsoft® Windows® 7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit / XP / XP Media Center / XP 64-bit compliant - FCC, CE, Microsoft® WHQL Certificated - EuP Ready (EuP ready power supply is required) (see CAUTION 18) * For detailed product information, please visit our website: http://www.asrock.com overclocking. 7 ASRock M3A790GXH/USB3 Motherboard English 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 the thirdparty overclocking tools. Overclocking may affect your system 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 CAUTION! 1. 2. This motherboard supports Untied Overclocking Technology. Please read "Untied Overclocking Technology" on page 41 for details. 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 13 for proper installation. Whether 1600MHz memory speed is supported depends on the AM3 CPU you adopt. If you want to adopt DDR3 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 Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows® 7 / VistaTM / XP. For Windows® OS with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation. If you want to use CrossFireXTM function, please follow the instructions on page 20 and 21 to reverse the direction of ASRock SLI/XFire Switch Card in advance. The maximum shared memory size is defined by the chipset vendor and is subject to change. Please check AMD website for the latest information. DTS (Digital Theater Systems) is a multi-channel digital surround sound format. T ...