ASROCK 890GX Extreme3 User manual

AMD 890GX + SB850 Chipsets
890GX Extreme3
www.asrock.com
Detail Specification
Product Brief
CPU
Memory
Expansion Slot
Audio
Graphics
LAN
Rear Panel I/O
Connector
SATA3
eSATA3
USB 3.0
BIOS Feature
Smart Switch
Support CD
Accessories
Hardware Monitor
OS
Certifications
The specification is subject to change without notice. The brand and product names are trademarks of their
respective companies. Any configuration other than original product specification is not guaranteed.
Chipset
Platform
- Supports Exclusive ASRock UCC Chip - Unlock CPU
Core feature
- Six-Core CPU Ready
- ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time), 100%
Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer
Capacitors
- Advanced V8 + 2 Power Phase Design, supports
CPU up to 140W
- Supports Dual Channel DDR3 1800(OC)
- Supports ATI™ Quad CrossFireX™, 3-Way
CrossFireX™, CrossFireX™ and Hybrid CrossFireX™
- Integrated AMD Radeon HD 4290 graphics, DX10.1
Class iGPU, Shader Model 4.1, Max. shared memory
512MB
- Built-in 128MB DDR3 1333/1200MHz SidePort Memory
- Multi VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI
- 1 x eSATAIII Connector, 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connector,
2 x USB 3.0 Ports, 2 x IEEE1394 Ports
- ErP/EuP Ready, Dr. Debug
- Smart Swith Design : Power / Reset / Clear CMOS
Switch with LED
- Supports ASRock Instant Boot, Instant Flash,
OC DNA OC Tuner, IES, Multi-Speed Fan Control
- 7.1 CH HD Audio (VT2020 Audio Codec with QSound),
110dB & Premium Blu-ray audio support
- Free Bundle: CyberLink DVD Suite - OEM and Trial;
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB - Trial
- ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 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
- Six-Core CPU Ready
- Supports UCC feature (Unlock CPU Core)
- Advanced V8 + 2 Power Phase Design
- Supports CPU up to 140W
- Supports AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet Technology
- FSB 2600 MHz (5.2 GT/s)
- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
- Supports Hyper-Transport 3.0 (HT 3.0) Technology
- Northbridge: AMD 890GX
- Southbridge: AMD SB850
- Dual Channel DDR3 memory technology
- 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots
- Supports DDR3 1800(OC)/1600(OC)/1333/1066/800 non-ECC,
un-buffered memory
- Max. capacity of system memory: 16GB
- 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
- 3 x PCI slots
- Supports ATITM Quad CrossFireXTM, 3-Way CrossFireXTM,
CrossFireXTM and Hybrid CrossFireXTM
- Integrated AMD Radeon HD 4290 graphics
- DX10.1 class iGPU, Shader Model 4.1
- Max. shared memory 512MB
- Built-in 128MB DDR3 1333/1200MHz SidePort Memory
- Multi 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 @ 85Hz
- Supports HDCP function with DVI and HDMI ports
- Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback with DVI
and HDMI ports
- 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection
- DAC with 110dB dynamic range (VIA®VT2020 Audio Codec)
- Premium Blu-ray audio support
- PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
- Realtek RTL8111E
- Supports Wake-On-LAN
- Supports LAN Cable Detection
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
- 4 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports
- 1 x eSATA2 Connector
- 1 x eSATA3 Connector through the Bundled eSATA3 Bracket
- 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 3.0 Ports
- 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port 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
- 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors
- 1 x IR header
- 1 x COM port header
- 1 x IEEE 1394 header
- 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header
- 1 x Power LED header
- CPU/Chassis/Power FAN connector
- 24 pin ATX power connector
- 8 pin 12V power connector
- Front panel audio connector
- 4 x USB 2.0 headers (support 8 USB 2.0 ports)
- 1 x Dr. Debug (7-Segment Debug LED)
- 8Mb AMI Legal BIOS
- Supports "Plug and Play"
- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
- Supports jumperfree
- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support
- CPU, VCCM, NB, SB Voltage Multi-adjustment
- 1 x Power Switch with LED
- 1 x Reset Switch with LED
- 1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED
- 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1,
RAID 0+1 and RAID 5), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions
- 1 x eSATA3 6.0 Gb/s connector through the bundled eSATA3
bracket, supports NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions
- 2 x USB 3.0 ports by NEC MPD720200, support USB 1.0/2.0/3.0
up to 5Gb/s
- 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)
- CPU Temperature Sensing
- Chassis Temperature Sensing
- CPU/Chassis/Power Fan Tachometer
- CPU Quiet Fan
- CPU/Chassis Fan Multi-Speed Control
- 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, WHQL
- ErP/EuP Ready (ErP/EuP ready power supply is required)
- Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield
- 4 x SATA data cables (optional)
- 1 x SATA 1 to 1 power cable (optional)
- 1 x eSATA3 bracket (optional)
Unique Feature
- ASRock OC Tuner
- Intelligent Energy Saver
- Instant Boot
- ASRock Instant Flash
- ASRock OC DNA
- Hybrid Booster:
- CPU Frequency Stepless Control
- ASRock U-COP
- Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)
- Turbo 25 / Turbo 30 Technology

AMD 890GX + SB850 Chipsets
890GX Extreme3
www.asrock.com
USB3.0, the world's best-known computer peripheral interface once
again receives a major revamp to stay current with today’s most
demands for connectivity bandwidth. Delivering data transfer rates up
to ten times faster than USB 2.0 with the optimized power efficiency,
USB 3.0 promises a major leap forward in transfer speeds and
capability.
SATA3, the world’s fastest interface, enables to maximum
your hard disk drive performance. With the new SATA
Revision 3.0 technology, ASRock ensures you the incredible
data transfer rate up to 6Gb/s speed over SATA2.
eSATA3, the much-anticipated interface, can not only provide
the faster transfer speed up to 6 Gb/s but also the hassle-free
computing environment.
The above rear I/O layout is just an example and it may be different from
the actual layout.
ASRock True 333 series motherboards
can run the PCI-E for VGA card, SATA3
and USB 3.0 at full speed together at the
same time. However, other 333 series
motherboards can only run one of them
at full speed at one time.
Stunning Data Transfer Speed
ASRock True 333
Stunning Data Transfer Speed
ASRock True 333

AMD 890GX + SB850 Chipsets
890GX Extreme3
www.asrock.com
World's First AMD 890GX Chipset Motherboard
Supports Unlock CPU Core
ASRock UCC
Before -
UCC not enabled, Cores: 3
After -
UCC enabled, Cores: 4
Simply enables UCC
function in BIOS
Step 1 Step 2
Step 3 Step 4
Step 5 Step 6
Press “F2 or DEL” to enter the BIOS.
CPU Information Under OS Before and After UCC
“ASRock UCC” set to Enabled.
Press “F10” to save change and exit.
Choose the “OC Tweaker” page and
“ASRock UCC” option!
Press “F2 or DEL” to enter the BIOS.
Processor Type unlock to “AMD Phenom II X4 05e”
under “Main” page.
AMD Phenom II X4 705e X3 core X4 core
880GM Pro3
(Unlock CPU Core)
With ASRock unique UCC chip onboard, one simple click in BIOS can unlock CPU core to enjoy an instant performance boost.

AMD 890GX + SB850 Chipsets
890GX Extreme3
www.asrock.com
Smart Switch DesignSmart Switch Design
Clear CMOS Switch Power Switch Reset Switch
Supports ATI™ Quad CrossFireX™,
3-Way CrossFireX™, CrossFireX™
and Hybrid CrossFireX™
Heatpipe design for
CPU power Mosfet
Six-Core CPU Ready
Dr. DebugDr. Debug
Dr. Debug helps you
to diagnose the BIOS
POST status of your
system.

AMD 890GX + SB850 Chipsets
890GX Extreme3
www.asrock.com
ATI Radeon®HD4290
DirectX 10.1 Onboard Graphics
Features DirectX®10 DirectX®10.1
Shader Model 4 4.1
Separate per-MRT
blend modes
Pixel Coverage
Masks
Sample Pattern
Selection
Cube Map Arrays
Gather4
VS Inputs 16 32
Blending INT8, FP16/32 INT8/16, FP16/32
Filtering FP16 FP32
No Yes
No Yes
No Yes
No Yes
No Yes
Key features of DirectX 10.1 include an updated shader model, improved anti-aliasing support,
more flexible data access, and tighter specifications for better applicationcompatibility.
DirectX 10.1 Anti-Aliasing
DirectX 10 –Standard
MSAA:Foliage edges do
not get anti-aliased
–causes shimmering and
crawling when they move
DirectX 10.1 –Alpha Test
MSAA:Foliage edges are
smoothed and anti-aliased
–offers significant image
quality improvement
Side port memory 128MB:
Boost performance up to 8.13% which is rarely seen on other 890GX boards
side port memroy 128MB
ASRock 890GX MB with
Side Port Memory 128MB
Up to 8.13%
Performance Boost
Without side
port memory
With side
port memory
3D Mark Vantage(Entry)
E3370
E3644
GPU=1000MHz, Sideport runs at DDR3 1333, at performance setting
8.13%8.13%
Performance
Boost

Blu-ray video + Blu-ray audioBlu-ray video + Blu-ray audio
True Blu-rayTrue Blu-ray
Supporting Blu-ray Full HD 1080p
playback and Premium Blu-ray audio
with 24-bit / 192KHz sampling rate in
7.1 channel
(Integrated AMD Radeon HD 4290
graphics, supports DX10.1)
AMD 890GX + SB850 Chipsets
890GX Extreme3
www.asrock.com
Premium Blu-ray Audio
Premium Blu-ray Audio, an outstanding technology developed on ASRock motherboard, provides the excellent
audio output of 24-bit/192 kHz with its respective Blu-ray DRM compatible driver/software. With Content
Protection-Support and High SNR DAC, the Blu-ray entertainments can be played in a high quality of
24-bit/192KHz. In other words, if you are using a device without the Blu-ray Audio support, the audio quality will
be downgraded to 16-bit/48kHz like a regular CD quality. To deliver the best possible sound solution for today’s
most demanding users, ASRock Premium Blu-ray Audio motherboard is the best choice for users who are
particularly desired to enjoy the pure HD audio. ASRock users are able to take full advantages of our Blu-ray
Audio motherboards. Choose ASRock, choose Pure HD audio!
Why ASRock?
* SNR: Signal-to-Noise Ratio.
ErP/EuP Ready Motherboard ErP/EuP Ready Power Supply ErP/EuP System
What is ErP/EuP?
ErP/EuP, stands for Energy Using Product, was a provision regulated by European Union to define the power consumption for
the completed system. With the great quantity and the popularly using of the electrical products nowadays and the continuously
increasing of the electrical products categories in the following 20 to 30 years, European Union decided to establish an effective
strategy to solve the energy consumption problem. That is, according to ErP/EuP, the total AC power of the completed system
shall be under 1.00W in off mode condition.

AMD 890GX + SB850 Chipsets
890GX Extreme3
www.asrock.com
OC DNA
Save your OC settings as a profile and share with
friends. Try OC DNA now!
OC DNA Instruction
Step 1 Step 2
Step 3 Step 4
Save your BIOS OC settings as User Default in BIOS OC
Tweaker menu. (For example: we name this User Default setting
as “CPU_OC3.8GHz”)
Press “Save” button to save the “CPU_OC3.8GHz” OC settings as
a profile.
Execute ASRock OC DNA under OS, you will find
“CPU_OC3.8GHz” as User Profile 1.
Send the “CPU_OC3.8GHz” profile to other friends.
Step 5 Step 6
When the friend receives your “CPU_OC3.8GHz” profile, he can
press “Load” to load the “CPU_OC3.8GHz” profile in OC DNA.
After that, the friend can enter into BIOS OC Tweaker menu to
load the “CPU_OC3.8GHz” profile as his BIOS OC settings.
Now, you have successfully share your OC setting profile with your friends.
890GX Extreme3
890GX Extreme3
890GX Extreme3
*The OC DNA works only when users use the same motherboard and BIOS version.

AMD 890GX + SB850 Chipsets
890GX Extreme3
www.asrock.com
ASRock Instant Flash is an exclusive and the most user-
friendly BIOS flash utility developed by ASRock. It is embed-
ded in Flash ROM which is used to update the system BIOS
without having to enter operating systems like MS-DOS or
Windows.
Once executing ASRock Instant Flash, the utility will automatically detect all devices such as USB, hard
disk or even floppy drive to find the exact BIOS for your system. Instead of giving you all BIOS in your
devices, the Instant Flash just list BIOS versions that apply to your motherboard model only. For
example, if you have many different BIOS of different motherboards saved in your devices, but you just
need to flash your P45 motherboard, the Instant Flash will just list the P45 BIOS versions for you. This
unique function allows you to easily select the suitable BIOS version instead of browsing through all data.
Features
ASRock Instant Flash
Instant Flash just list
BIOS versions that
apply to your
motherboard model.
Click and start
Flashing!
Simple!Simple! Quick!Quick!
ASRock Instant Boot
ASRock Instant Boot is a new feature invented exclusively by ASRock.
It can boot up system in an amazing speed,
which is 10 times faster than traditional boot up. For home users or office
PC users, ASRock Instant Boot can also
guarantee a clean Windows OS, and consumed less power! For details:
http://www.asrock.com/feature/InstantBoot/index.asp
10 Times Faster, Only 4 Secs to Boot Up to Windows!
ASRock YouTube
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=BucIjXZVxXo
* This function is applicable ONLY to single user that does not secure ID and Password to their
systems.
* The boot up time depends on the hardware configuration.

AMD 890GX + SB850 Chipsets
890GX Extreme3
www.asrock.com
CyberLink Power2Go 6.1 LE OEM
Power2Go 6 lets you burn and backup videos, photos, music and data onto Blu-ray
Discs and DVDs.
CyberLink MediaShow 4.1 SE OEM
Photo and video management software MediaShow edits videos and photos
instantly, creates slideshow, and allows publishing directly to YouTube and Flickr.
CyberLink PowerDVD 8.0 DTS Trial
World-renowned PowerDVD 8 DTS delivers outstanding DVD movie playback quality
on your PC.
CyberLink PowerDirector 8.0 Trial
PowerDirector - Video Editing software – edits high-definition videos including
AVCHD, allows output to PSP iPod and Blu-ray Disc.
CyberLink PowerBackup 2.5 Trial
PowerBackup backups valuable data on your PC.
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB Trial
The Sound Blaster X-Fi MB solution provides premium audio quality, effects and
features for PC systems equipped with onboard audio.
For gamers, the EAX®ADVANCED HD 4.0, with its state-of-the-art Multi-Environment
rendering and reverb modelling, delivers a much more realistic and immersive 3D
gaming experience than your motherboard audio ever will.