ASROCK H97M-ITX/ac User manual

H97M-ITX/acH97M-ITX/ac
H97M Pro4H97M Pro4

Version 1.1
Published May 2014
Copyright©2014 ASRock INC. All rights reserved.
Copyright Notice:
No part of this documentation 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 documentation may or may not
be registered trademarks or copyrights of their respective companies, and are used
only for identication or explanation and to the owners’ benet, without intent to
infringe.
Disclaimer:
Specications and information contained in this documentation 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 documentation.
With respect to the contents of this documentation, 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 tness for a particular
purpose.
In no event shall ASRock, its directors, ocers, employees, or agents be liable for
any indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages (including damages for
loss of prots, 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 documentation or product.
is 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
e 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

e terms HDMI™ and HDMI High-Denition Multimedia Interface, and the HDMI
logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of HDMI Licensing LLC in the United
States and other countries.
Manufactured under license under U.S. Patent Nos: 5,956,674; 5,974,380; 6,487,535;
7,003,467 & other U.S. and worldwide patents issued & pending. DTS, the Symbol, &
DTS and the Symbol together is a registered trademark & DTS Connect, DTS Interactive,
DTS Neo:PC are trademarks of DTS, Inc. Product includes soware.
© DTS, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Package Contents 1
1.2 Specications 2
1.3 Motherboard Layout 6
1.4 I/O Panel 8
1.5 WiFi-802.11ac Module and ASRock WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antenna 10
Chapter 2 Installation 15
2.1 Installing the CPU 16
2.2 Installing the CPU Fan and Heatsink 19
2.3 Installing Memory Modules (DIMM) 20
2.4 Expansion Slots (PCI Express Slots) 22
2.5 Jumpers Setup 23
2.6 Onboard Headers and Connectors 24
Chapter 3 Software and Utilities Operation 28
3.1 Installing Drivers 28
3.2 A-Tuning 29
3.3 Intel® Rapid Start Technology 35
3.4 Intel® Smart Connect Technology 40
3.5 ASRock APP Shop 44
3.5.1 UI Overview 44
3.5.2 Apps 45
3.5.3 BIOS & Drivers 48

3.5.4 Setting 49
3.6 Start8 50
Chapter 4 UEFI SETUP UTILITY 53
4.1 Introduction 53
4.1.1 UEFI Menu Bar 53
4.1.2 Navigation Keys 54
4.2 Main Screen 55
4.3 OC Tweaker Screen 56
4.4 Advanced Screen 64
4.4.1 CPU Conguration 65
4.4.2 Chipset Conguration 67
4.4.3 Storage Conguration 69
4.4.4 Intel® Rapid Start Technology 71
4.4.5 Intel® Smart Connect Technology 72
4.4.6 Super IO Conguration 73
4.4.7 ACPI Conguration 74
4.4.8 USB Conguration 76
4.4.9 Trusted Computing 78
4.5 Tools 79
4.6 Hardware Health Event Monitoring Screen 82
4.7 Boot Screen 83
4.8 Security Screen 86
4.9 Exit Screen 87

H97M-ITX/ac
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Chapter 1 Introduction
ank you for purchasing ASRock H97M-ITX/ac 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 contains the introduction of the motherboard
and step-by-step installation guides. Chapter 3 contains the operation guide of the
soware and utilities. Chapter 4 contains the conguration guide of the BIOS setup.
1.1 Package Contents
•ASRock H97M-ITX/ac Motherboard (Mini-ITX Form Factor)
•ASRock H97M-ITX/ac Quick Installation Guide
•ASRock H97M-ITX/ac Support CD
•2 x Serial ATA (SATA) Data Cables (Optional)
•1 x I/O Panel Shield
•1 x WiFi-802.11ac Module
•2 x SMA WiFi Antenna Cables
•2 x ASRock WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antennas
•1 x WiFi Module Bracket
•2 x Screws for WiFi Module
Because the motherboard specications and the BIOS soware might be updated, the
content of this manual will be subject to change without notice. In case any modica-
tions of this manual occur, the updated version will be available on ASRock’s website
without further notice. If you require technical support related to this motherboard,
please visit our website for specic information about the model you are using. You
may nd the latest VGA cards and CPU support list on ASRock’s website as well.
ASRock website http://www.asrock.com.

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1.2 Specications
Platform •Mini-ITX Form Factor
•Solid Capacitor design
•High Density Glass Fabric PCB
CPU •Supports 5th Generation, New 4th and 4th Generation Intel®
Core™ i7/i5/i3/Pentium®/Celeron® Processors (Socket 1150)
•4 Power Phase design
•Supports Intel® Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology
Chipset •Intel® H97
Memory •Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Technology
•2 x DDR3 DIMM Slots
•Supports DDR3 1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buered
memory
•Max. capacity of system memory: 16GB (see CAUTION)
•Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Prole (XMP) 1.3 / 1.2
Expansion
Slot
•1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slot (PCIE1: x16 mode)
•1 x Vertical Half Mini-PCI Express Slot: For WiFi + BT
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 with AVC, MVC (S3D) and MPEG-2 Full
HW Encode1, Intel® InTruTM 3D, Intel® Clear Video HD
Technology, Intel® InsiderTM, Intel® HD Graphics 4400/4600
•Pixel Shader 5.0, DirectX 11.1
•Max. shared memory 1792MB
•ree graphics output options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI
•Supports Triple Monitor
•Supports HDMI with max. resolution up to 1920x1200 @
60Hz

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•Supports DVI-D with max. resolution up to 1920x1200 @
60Hz
•Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 1920x1200 @
60Hz
•Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color (12bpc), xvYCC and
HBR (High Bit Rate Audio) with HDMI Port (Compliant
HDMI monitor is required)
•Supports HDCP with DVI-D and HDMI Ports
•Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) playback with DVI-D
and HDMI Ports
Audio •7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892
Audio Codec)
•Premium Blu-ray Audio support
•Supports Surge Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection)
•ELNA Audio Caps
LAN •PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
•Qualcomm® Atheros® AR8171
•Supports Qualcomm® Atheros® Security Wake On Internet
Technolog y
•Supports Wake-On-LAN
•Supports Lightning/ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike
Protection)
•Supports Energy Ecient Ethernet 802.3az
•Supports PXE
Wireless
LAN
•Supports IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
•Supports Dual-Band (2.4/5 GHz)
•Supports High speed wireless connection up to 433Mbps
•Supports Bluetooth 4.0 / 3.0 + High speed class II
Rear Panel
I/O
•1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
•1 x D-Sub Port
•1 x DVI-D Port
•1 x HDMI Port
•1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port

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•2 x USB 2.0 Ports (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full
Spike Protection))
•4 x USB 3.0 Ports (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full
Spike Protection))
•1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED
LED)
•HD Audio Jacks: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in /
Front Speaker / Microphone
Storage •5 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors, support RAID (RAID 0,
RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel Rapid Storage Technology
13 and Intel Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and
Hot Plug
Connector •1 x Chassis Intrusion Header
•1 x TPM Header
•1 x CPU Fan Connector (4-pin)
•1 x Chassis Fan Connector (4-pin)
•1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector
•1 x 4 pin 12V Power Connector
•1 x Front Panel Audio Connector
•1 x USB 2.0 Header (Supports 2 USB 2.0 ports) (Supports ESD
Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
•1 x USB 3.0 Header (Supports 2 USB 3.0 ports) (Supports ESD
Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
BIOS
Feature
•64Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with multilingual GUI support
•ACPI 1.1 Compliant wake up events
•SMBIOS 2.3.1 support
•CPU, DRAM, PCH 1.05V, PCH 1.5V Voltage multi-adjust-
ment
Hardware
Monitor
•CPU/Chassis temperature sensing
•CPU/Chassis Tachometer
•CPU/Chassis Quiet Fan (Auto adjust chassis fan speed by
CPU temperature)
•CPU/Chassis Fan multi-speed control

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•CASE OPEN detection
•Voltage monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Input Voltage,
CPU Internal Voltages
OS •Microso® Windows® 8.1 32-bit / 8.1 64-bit / 8 32-bit / 8 64-
bit / 7 32-bit / 7 64-bit
Certica-
tions
•FCC, CE, WHQL
•ErP/EuP ready (ErP/EuP ready power supply is required)
* For detailed product information, please visit our website: http://www.asrock.com
Please realize that there is a certain risk involved with overclocking, including adjust-
ing the setting in the BIOS, applying Untied Overclocking Technology, or using third-
party overclocking tools. Overclocking may aect 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.
Due to limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation
for system usage under Windows® 32-bit operating systems. Windows® 64-bit operat-
ing systems do not have such limitations. You can use ASRock XFast RAM to utilize
the memory that Windows® cannot use.

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1.3 Motherboard Layout
Intel
H97
PCIE1
DDR3_A1 (64 bit, 240-pin module)
DDR3_B1 (64 bit, 240-pin module)
HDL ED R ES ET
PLE D PW RB TN
PANEL1
1
1
HD_AUDIO1
CPU_FAN1
USB 2.0
T: USB1
B: USB2
HDMI 1
USB 3.0
T: USB1
B: USB2
Top:
RJ-45
USB 3.0
T: USB3
B: USB4
Top:
CTR BASS
Center:
REAR SPK
Bottom:
Optical
SPDIF
Top:
LINE IN
Center:
FRONT
Bottom:
MIC IN
4
ATXPWR1
7
RoHS
H97M-ITX/ac
ATX12V1
12
CMOS
Battery
USB3_5_6
1
TPMS1
CLRMOS1
USB_3_4
9
8
12
14 11
17
10
1
CI1
PS2
Keyboard
/Mouse
15
16 13
VGA1
DVI1
PCI Express 3.0
1
1
SATA3_1
SATA3_0
SATA3_4
SATA3_3 SATA3_2
MPCIE1
64Mb
BIOS
CHA_FAN1
AUDIO
CODEC
3
5
6
Front USB 3.0

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10
No. Description
1 CPU Fan Connector (CPU_FAN1)
2 ATX 12V Power Connector (ATX12V1)
3 Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN1)
4 2 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots (DDR3_A1, DDR3_B1)
5 Clear CMOS Jumper (CLRCMOS1)
6 Chassis Intrusion Header (CI1)
7 ATX Power Connector (ATXPWR1)
8 USB 3.0 Header (USB3_5_6)
9 USB 2.0 Header (USB_3_4)
10 System Panel Header (PANEL1)
11 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_0)
12 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_1)
13 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_2)
14 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_3)
15 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_4)
16 TPM Header (TPMS1)
17 Front Panel Audio Header (HD_AUDIO1)

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1.4 I/O Panel
No. Description No. Description
1 USB 2.0 Ports (USB_1_2) 8 Microphone (Pink)
2D-Sub Port 9 Optical SPDIF Out Port
3 LAN RJ-45 Port* 10 USB 3.0 Ports (USB3_3_4)
4 Central / Bass (Orange) 11 USB 3.0 Ports (USB3_1_2)
5 Rear Speaker (Black) 12 HDMI Port
6 Line In (Light Blue) 13 DVI-D Port
7 Front Speaker (Lime)** 14 PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
14 101112
1 3
13
25
89
4
7
6

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* ere are two LEDs on each LAN port. Please refer to the table below for the LAN port LED indications.
Activity / Link LED Speed LED
Status Description Status Description
O No Link O 10Mbps connection
Blinking Data Activity Orange 100Mbps connection
On Link Green 1Gbps connection
** If you use a 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.
Audio Output
Channels
Front Speaker
(No. 7)
Rear Speaker
(No. 5)
Central / Bass
(No. 4)
Line In
(No. 6)
2V -- -- --
4V V -- --
6V V V --
8V V V V
ACT/LINK LED
SPEED LED
LAN Port
To enable Multi-Streaming, you need to connect a front panel audio cable to the front
panel audio header. Aer restarting your computer, you will nd the “Mixer” tool
on your system. Please select “Mixer ToolBox” , click “Enable playback multi-
streaming”, and click “ok”. Choose “2CH”, “4CH”, “6CH”, or “8CH” and then you are
allowed to select “Realtek HDA Primary output” to use the Rear Speaker, Central/
Bass, and Front Speaker, or select “Realtek HDA Audio 2nd output” to use the front
panel audio.

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1.5 WiFi-802.11ac Module and ASRock WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antenna
WiFi-802.11ac + BT Module
is motherboard comes with an exclusive WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac + BT v4.0
module that oers support for WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac connectivity standards and
Bluetooth v4.0. WiFi + BT module is an easy-to-use wireless local area network
(WLAN) adapter to support WiFi + BT. Bluetooth v4.0 standard features Smart
Ready technology that adds a whole new class of functionality into the mobile
devices. BT 4.0 also includes Low Energy Technology and ensures extraordinary
low power consumption for PCs.
* e transmission speed may vary according to the environment.
* e WiFi + BT module is supported under Windows® 8.1 / 8.1 64-bit / 8 / 8 64-bit /
7 / 7 64-bit only.
ASRock WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antennas
(included in the package)
WiFi + BT Module
(included in the package)

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WiFi Module and WiFi Antennas Installation Guide
Step 1
Prepare the WiFi Module, WiFi Module Bracket,
and the two screws (M2*3) that come with the
package. Prepare a Phillips #0 screwdriver.
Step 2
Attach the WiFi Module Bracket to the WiFi
card, aligning the screw hole on the WiFi card
with the screw hole on the bracket. Use the screw
to attach the bracket and the WiFi card, but do
not tighten the screw.
Step 3
Insert the WiFi Module Card into the vertical
mini PCI Express slot (MPCIE1).
Step 4
Tighten the screw that holds the card in place.

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Step 5
Tighten the screw that attaches the WiFi
Module Bracket to the WiFi card (installed
in Step 2).
Step 6
Prepare the SMA Wi-Fi Antenna Cables
and WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antennas that come
with the package.
Step 7
Attach the SMA Wi-Fi Antenna Cables to
the WiFi Module.

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Step 8
Insert the RP-SMA Wi-Fi Antenna Con-
nectors to the antenna ports on the I/O
shield
Step 9
Fasten the screw nuts to secure the
antenna connectors.
Step 10
Connect the two WiFi 2.4/5 GHz
Antennas to the antenna connectors. Turn
the antenna clockwise until it is securely
connected.

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Step 11
Set the WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antenna at 90-de-
gree angle.
*You may need to adjust the direction of
the antenna for a stronger signal.

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is is a Mini-ITX form factor motherboard. Before you install the motherboard,
study the conguration of your chassis to ensure that the motherboard ts into it.
Pre-installation Precautions
Take note of the following precautions before you install motherboard components
or change any motherboard settings.
•Make sure to unplug the power cord before installing or removing the motherboard
components. Failure to do so may cause physical injuries and damages to motherboard
components.
•In order to avoid damage from static electricity to the motherboard’s components,
NEVER place your motherboard directly on a carpet. Also remember to use a grounded
wrist strap or touch a safety grounded object before you handle the components.
•Hold components by the edges and do not touch the ICs.
•Whenever you uninstall any components, place them on a grounded anti-static pad or
in the bag that comes with the components.
•When placing screws to secure the motherboard to the chassis, please do not over-
tighten the screws! Doing so may damage the motherboard.
Chapter 2 Installation