ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX User Manual

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 identifi ca-
tion or explanation and to the owners’ benefi t, without intent to infringe.

Disclaimer:

Specifi cations 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 fi tness for a particular purpose. In no event shall ASRock, its
directors, offi cers, employees, or agents be liable for any indirect, special, incidental, or
consequential damages (including damages for loss of profi 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 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 November 2012

Copyright©2012 ASRock INC. All rights reserved.

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

English

1

Motherboard Layout

AMD

760G

Chipset

PCIE1

PCI1

3

RoHS

SOCKET AM3b

AMD

SB710

Chipset

Fast RAM

X

DDR3 1866

DDR3_A1 (64bit, 240-pin module)

SATAII_2(PORT2)

4

CPU_FAN1

FSB800

DDR3_B1 (64bit, 240-pin module)

SATAII_3(PORT5)

SATAII_1(PORT1)

ATXPWR1

SATAII_4(PORT6)

CHA_FAN1

PLEDPWRBTN

HDLED RESET

1

PANEL1

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

1

Keyboard

Mouse

PS2

PS2

Top:
RJ-45

LAN

HD_AUDIO1

1

Top:

LINE IN

Center:

FRONT

AUDIO
CODEC

Super

I/O

XFast USB

ATX12V1

Fast LAN

X

Support 8-CoreCPU

CMOS

BATTERY

CI1

1

1

1

CLRCMOS1

USB6_7

ErP/EuP Ready

USB 2.0
T: U SB 0
B: USB1

USB 2.0
T: U SB 2
B: USB3

VGA1

22

Bottom:

MIC IN

21

20

19
18
17

16

2

8Mb

BIOS

USB8_9

1

English

2

15

13

14

1 ATX 12V Power Connector (ATX12V1) 12 SATA2 Connector (SATAII_2 (PORT 2))
2 CPU Heatsink Retention Module 13 SATA2 Connector (SATAII_1 (PORT 1))
3 AM3+ CPU Socket 14 Southbridge Controller
4 2 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots 15 PCI Slot (PCI1)
(Dual Channel: DDR3_A1, DDR3_B1) 16 USB 2.0 Header (USB8_9)
5 CPU Fan Connector (CPU_FAN1) 17 USB 2.0 Header (USB6_7)
6 ATX Power Connector (ATXPWR1) 18 Clear CMOS Jumper (CLRCMOS1)
7 SATA2 Connector (SATAII_4 (PORT 6)) 19 Chassis Intrusion Header (CI1)
8 Northbridge Controller 20 SPI Flash Memory (8Mb)
9 Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN1) 21 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slot (PCIE1)
10 SATA2 Connector (SATAII_3 (PORT 5)) 22 Front Panel Audio Header (HD_AUDIO1)
11 System Panel Header (PANEL1)

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

I/O Panel

1

2

3

4

5

9

1 PS/2 Mouse Port (Green) 6 VGA Port (VGA1)
* 2 LAN RJ-45 Port 7 USB 2.0 Port (USB23)
3 Line In (Light Blue) 8 USB 2.0 Ports (USB01)
** 4 Front Speaker (Lime) 9 PS/2 Keyboard Port (Purple)
5 Microphone (Pink)

* There are two LED next to the LAN port. Please refer to the table below for the LAN port LED
indications.

Activity/Link LED SPEED LED

Status Description Status Description

8

LAN Port LED Indications

7

6

ACT/LINK
LED

SPEED
LED

Off No Link 960GM-VGS3 FX:
Blinking Data Activity Off 10Mbps connection
On Link Orange 100Mbps connection
Green 1Gbps connection

LAN Port

960GM-VS3 FX:
Off 10Mbps connection

Orange 100Mbps connection

** To enable Multi-Streaming function, you need to connect a front panel audio cable to the front
panel audio header. Please refer to below steps for the software setting of Multi-Streaming.
For Windows
After restarting your computer, you will fi nd “Mixer” tool on your system. Please select “Mixer
ToolBox” , click “Enable playback multi-streaming”, and click “ok”. Choose “2CH” or

“4CH” and then you are allowed to select “Realtek HDA Primary output” to use Rear Speaker
and Front Speaker, or select “Realtek HDA Audio 2nd output” to use front panel audio. Then
reboot your system.
For Windows
After restarting your computer, please double-click “Realtek HD Audio Manager” on the
system tray. Set “Speaker Confi guration” to “Quadraphonic” or “Stereo”. Click “Device
advanced settings”, choose “Make front and rear output devices playbacks two different audio
streams simultaneously”, and click “ok”. Then reboot your system.

®

XP:

®

8 / 7 / VistaTM:

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

English

3

1. Introduction

Thank you for purchasing ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 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.
This Quick Installation Guide contains introduction of the motherboard and step-by­step installation guide. More detailed information of the motherboard can be found
in the user manual presented in the Support CD.

Because the motherboard specifi cations and the BIOS software might

be updated, the content of this manual will be subject to change without
notice. In case any modifi cations of this manual occur, the updated ver-
sion will be available on ASRock website without further notice. You may
fi nd 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 specifi c information about the model you are using.
www.asrock.com/support/index.asp

1.1 Package Contents

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard (Micro ATX Form Factor)
ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Quick Installation Guide
ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Support CD
2 x Serial ATA (SATA) Data Cables (Optional)
1 x I/O Panel Shield

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4

ASRock Reminds You...

To get better performance in Windows® 8 / 8 64-bit / 7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM
/ VistaTM 64-bit, it is recommended to set the BIOS option in Storage
Confi guration to AHCI mode. For the BIOS setup, please refer to the “User
Manual” in our support CD for details.

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

1.2 Specifi cations

Platform - Micro ATX Form Factor

- Solid Capacitor for CPU power
CPU - Support for Socket AM3+ processors

- Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenom
X4 / X3 / X2 (except 920 / 940) / Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 /
Sempron processors

- Supports 8-Core CPU

- 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

- Supports Hyper-Transport 3.0 (HT 3.0) Technology
Chipset - Northbridge: AMD 760G

- Southbridge: AMD SB710
Memory - Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Technology

- 2 x DDR3 DIMM slots

- Support DDR3 1866(OC)/1600(OC)/1333/1066 non-ECC,
un-buffered memory (see CAUTION 1)

- Max. capacity of system memory: 16GB (see CAUTION 2)
Expansion Slot - 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (PCIE1 @ x16 mode)

- 1 x PCI slot
Graphics - Integrated AMD Radeon 3000 graphics

- DX10 class iGPU, Pixel Shader 4.0

- Max. shared memory 512MB

- Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 2048x1536 @
60Hz

Audio - 5.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC662 Audio Codec)
LAN - 960GM-VGS3 FX

Atheros

®

PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN AR8151,

speed 10/100/1000 Mb/s

- 960GM-VS3 FX
Atheros

®

PCIE x1 LAN AR8152, speed 10/100 Mb/s

- Supports Wake-On-LAN

- Supports PXE
Rear Panel I/O I/O Panel

- 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port

- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port

TM

II X6 /

English

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

5

English

- 1 x VGA Port

- 4 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: Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
Connector - 4 x SATA2 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0,
RAID 1, RAID 10 and JBOD), NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug”
functions

- 1 x Chassis Intrusion header

- 1 x CPU Fan connector (4-pin)

- 1 x Chassis Fan connector (4-pin)

- 24 pin ATX power connector

- 4 pin 12V power connector

- Front panel audio connector

- 2 x USB 2.0 headers (support 4 USB 2.0 ports)
BIOS Feature - 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 Voltage Multi-adjustment
Support CD - Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version),
CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 Trial, Google Chrome
Browser and Toolbar
Hardware - CPU Temperature Sensing
Monitor - Chassis Temperature Sensing

- CPU Fan Tachometer

- Chassis Fan Tachometer

- CPU Quiet Fan

- CPU Fan Multi-Speed Control

- CASE OPEN detection

- Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, Vcore
OS - Microsoft

®

Windows® 8 / 8 64-bit / 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista

TM

/
VistaTM 64-bit / XP / XP Media Center / XP 64-bit compliant
Certifi cations - 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

6

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

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 third-party overclocking tools. Overclocking may
affect 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.

CAUTION!

1. Whether 1866/1600MHz memory speed is supported depends
on the AM3/AM3+ CPU you adopt. If you want to adopt DDR3
1866/1600 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

2. Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size
may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage un­der Windows
64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation.

®

8 / 7 / VistaTM / XP. For Windows® 64-bit OS with

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

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7

1.3 Pin Header Easy Installation Guide

ASRock motherboard is equipped with pin headers with obvious colors which indi­cate you to recognize the crucial headers more easily. Please refer to below illustra­tions for the pin defi nition of onboard headers. If you want to have more information
about the usage of these headers, please refer to “Jumpers Setup“ and “Onboard
Headers and Connectors“ for details.

GND

PRESENCE#

MIC_RET

OUT_RET

1

OUT2_L

J_SENSE

OUT2_R

MIC2_R

MIC2_L

Front Panel Audio Header

English

8

USB_PWR

P-

P+

GND

DUMMY

1

GND

P+

P-

USB_PWR

USB 2.0 Header

GND

PWRBTN#

PLED-

PLED+

System Panel Header

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

1

DUMMY

REST#

GND

HDLED-

HDLED+

1.4 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 Jumper

(CLRCMOS1)
(see p.2, No. 18)

Note: CLRCMOS1 allows you to clear the data in CMOS. To clear and reset the
system parameters to default setup, please turn off the computer and unplug

the power cord from the power supply. After waiting for 15 seconds, use a
jumper cap to short pin2 and pin3 on CLRCMOS1 for 5 seconds. However,
please do not clear the CMOS right after you update the BIOS. If you need
to clear the CMOS when you just fi nish updating the BIOS, you must boot
up the system fi rst, and then shut it down before you do the clear-CMOS ac-
tion. Please be noted that the password, date, time, user default profi le, 1394
GUID and MAC address will be cleared only if the CMOS battery is removed.

Clear CMOSDefault

If you clear the CMOS, the case open may be detected. Please adjust

the BIOS option “Clear Status” to clear the record of previous chassis
intrusion status.

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

English

9

1.5 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 ATA2 Connectors These four Serial ATA2 (SA TA2)

(SATAII_1 (PORT 1): see p.2, No. 13)
(SATAII_2 (PORT 2): see p.2, No. 12)
(SATAII_3 (PORT 5): see p.2, No. 10)
(SATAII_4 (PORT 6): see p.2, No. 7)

data transfer rate.

connectors support SATA data
cables for internal storage
devices. The current SATA2

interface allows up to 3.0 Gb/s

SATAII_4 (PORT 6)

English

SATAII_2 (PORT 2)

SATAII_1 (PORT 1)

SATAII_3 (PORT 5)

Serial ATA (SATA) Either end of the SATA data
Data Cable cable can be connected to the

(Optional)

SATA2 hard disk or the SATA2

connector on this motherboard.

USB 2.0 Headers Besides four default USB 2.0

(9-pin USB6_7)
(see p.2 No. 17)

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

USB_PWR

P-9

P-8

USB_PWR

P+9

P+8

GND

GND

DUMMY

(9-pin USB8_9)
(see p.2 No. 16)

10

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

Front Panel Audio Header This is an interface for the front

(9-pin HD_AUDIO1)

(see p.2 No. 22)

panel audio cable that allows

convenient connection and

control of audio devices.

1

GND

PRESENCE#

MIC2_R

MIC2_L

MIC_RET

J_SENSE

OUT2_R

OUT_RET

OUT2_L

1. High Defi nition 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. You don’t

need to connect them for AC’97 audio panel.

E. To activate the front mic.
For Windows
Select “Mixer”. Select “Recorder”. Then click “FrontMic”.
For Windows

®

XP / XP 64-bit OS:

®

8 / 8 64-bit / 7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit OS:

Go to the "FrontMic" Tab in the Realtek Control panel. Adjust

“Recording Volume”.

System Panel Header This header accommodates

(9-pin PANEL1)

(see p.2 No. 11)

several system front panel

functions.

Connect the power switch, reset switch and system status indicator
on the chassis to this header according to the pin assignments below.
Note the positive and negative pins before connecting the cables.

PWRBTN (Power Switch):

Connect to the power switch on the chassis front panel. You may con­fi gure the way to turn off your system using the power switch.

RESET (Reset Switch):

Connect to the reset switch on the chassis front panel. Press the reset
switch to restart the computer if the computer freezes and fails to per­form a normal restart.

PLED (System Power LED):

Connect to the power status indicator on the chassis front panel. The

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard

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11

LED is on when the system is operating. The LED keeps blinking
when the sys-tem is in S1 sleep state. The LED is off when the system
is in S3/S4 sleep state or powered off (S5).

HDLED (Hard Drive Activity LED):

Connect to the hard drive activity LED on the chassis front panel. The
LED is on when the hard drive is reading or writing data.

The front panel design may differ by chassis. A front panel module
mainly consists of power switch, reset switch, power LED, hard drive
activity LED, speaker and etc. When connecting your chassis front
panel module to this header, make sure the wire assignments and the
pin assign-ments are matched correctly.

Chassis Fan Connector Please connect the fan cable

(4-pin CHA_FAN1)

(see p.2 No. 9)

to the fan connector and

match the black wire to the

ground pin.

English

12

CPU Fan Connector Please connect the CPU fan

(4-pin CPU_FAN1)

(see p.2 No. 5)

cable to the connector and

match the black wire to the

GND
+12V
CPU_FAN_SPEED
FAN_SPEED_CONTROL

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 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 Please connect an ATX power

(24-pin ATXPWR1)

(see p.2 No. 6)

supply to this connector.

12 124

13

ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX / 960GM-VS3 FX Motherboard