Asrock Z97 OC Formula User Manual

Version 1.1

Published October 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 ww w.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 7

1.4 I/O Panel 10

Chapter 2 Installation 12

2.1 Installing the CPU 13

2.2 Installing the CPU Fan and Heatsink 16

2.3 Installing Memory Modules (DIMM) 17

2.4 Expansion Slots (PCI Express Slots) 19

2.5 Jumpers Setup 20

2.6 Onboard Headers and Connectors 21

2.7 Smart Switches 28

2.8 Dr. Debug 31

2.9 SLITM and Quad SLITM Operation Guide 33

2.9.1 Installing Two SLITM-Ready Graphics Cards 33

2.9.2 Driver Installation and Setup 35

2.10 CrossFireXTM, 3-Way CrossFireXTM, 4-Way CrossFireXTM and
Quad CrossFireXTM Operation Guide 36

2.10.1 Installing Two CrossFireXTM-Ready Graphics Cards 36

2.10.2 Installing Three CrossFireXTM-Ready Graphics Cards 37

2.10.3 Installing Four CrossFireXTM-Ready Graphics Cards 38

2.10.4 Driver Installation and Setup 39

2.11 M.2_SSD (NGFF) Module Installation Guide 40

2.12 HDD Saver Cable Installation Guide 43

Chapter 3 Software and Utilities Operation 44

3.1 Installing Drivers 44

3.2 Formula Drive 45

3.2.1 Installing Formula Drive 45

3.2.2 Using Formula Drive 45

3.3 Killer Network Manager 51

3.3.1 Installing Killer Network Manager 51

3.3.2 Using Killer Network Manager 51

3.4 Intel® Rapid Start Technology 54

3.4.1 System Requirements 54

3.4.2 Setup Guide 55

3.5 Intel® Smart Connect Technology 59

3.5.1 System Requirements 59

3.5.2 Setup Guide 60

3.6 ASRock APP Shop 64

3.6.1 UI Overview 64

3.6.2 Apps 65

3.6.3 BIOS & Drivers 68

3.6.4 Setting 69

3.7 Start8 70

3.7.1 Installing Start8 70

3.7.2 Conguring Start8 70

3.8 Rapid OC 73

3.9 Timing Congurator 75

Chapter 4 UEFI SETUP UTILITY 76

4.1 Introduction 76

4.1.1 UEFI Menu Bar 76

4.1.2 Navigation Keys 77

4.2 Main Screen 78

4.3 OC Tweaker Screen 79

4.4 Advanced Screen 90

4.4.1 CPU Conguration 91

4.4.2 Chipset Conguration 93

4.4.3 Storage Conguration 96

4.4.4 Intel® Rapid Start Technology 98

4.4.5 Intel® Smart Connect Technology 99

4.4.6 Intel® Thunderbolt 100

4.4.7 Super IO Conguration 101

4.4.8 ACPI Conguration 102

4.4.9 USB Conguration 104

4.4.10 Trusted Computing 106

4.5 Tools 107

4.6 Hardware Health Event Monitoring Screen 111

4.7 Boot Screen 113

4.8 Security Screen 116

4.9 Exit Screen 117

Z97 OC Formula

Chapter 1 Introduction

ank you for purchasing ASRock Z97 OC Formula 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 documentation, 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.

Becau se the motherboard specications and the BIOS soware might be updated, the
content of this documentation will be subject to change without notice. In case any modi­cations of this documentation occur, the updated version will be available on ASRock’s
website w ithout further notice. If you require technical support relate d to this mother­board, please visit our website for specic information about the model you are using. You
may nd the l atest VGA cards and CPU support list on ASRock ’s website a s well. ASRock
website http://www.asrock.com.

1.1 Package Contents

• ASRock Z97 OC Formula Motherboard (ATX Form Factor)

• ASRock Z97 OC Formula Quick Installation Guide

• ASRock Z97 OC Formula Support CD

• 1 x I/O Shield

• 4 x Serial ATA (SATA) Data Cables (Optional)

• 1 x ASRock Flexible SLI Bridge Connector Cable

• 1 x HDD Saver Cable

• 1 x Screw for M.2 _SSD (NGFF) Socket 3

English

1.2 Specications

Platform

CPU

Chipset

Memory

Expansion
Slot

• ATX Form Factor

• High Density Glass Fabric PCB

• Supports 5th Generation, New 4th and 4th Generation Intel®

Core™ i7/i5/i3/Pentium®/Celeron® Processors (Socket 1150)

• Digi Power design

• 12 Power Phase design

• Supports Intel® Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology

• Supports Intel® K-Series unlocked CPUs

• Supports ASRock BCLK Full-range Overclocking

• Intel® Z97

• Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Technology

• 4 x DDR3 DIMM Slots

• Supports DDR3 3400+(OC)/2933(OC)/2800(OC)/2400(OC)

/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buered

memory

• Max. capacity of system memory: 32GB

• Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Prole (XMP) 1.3 / 1.2

• 3 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE1/PCIE2/PCIE4: single

at x16 (PCIE1); dual at x8 (PCIE1) / x8 (PCIE4); triple at x8

(PCIE1) / x4 (PCIE2) / x4 (PCIE4))

• 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slot (PCIE6: x4 mode)

• 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slots

• Supports AMD Quad CrossFireXTM, 4-Way CrossFireXTM,

3-Way CrossFireXTM and CrossFireXTM

• Supports NVIDIA® Quad SLITM and SLI

TM

English

2 3

Z97 OC Formula

Graphics

Audio

• 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

• Supports HDMI with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K

(4096x2304) @ 24Hz

• 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 HDMI Port

• Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) playback with HDMI

Port

• 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC1150

Audio Codec)

• Premium Blu-ray Audio support

• Supports Surge Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection)

• Supports Purity SoundTM 2

- Nichicon Fine Gold Series Audio Caps

- 115dB SNR DAC with Dierential Amplier

- TI® NE5532 Premium Headset Amplier (Supports up to

600 Ohm headsets)

- Direct Drive Technology

- EMI Shielding Cover

- PCB Isolate Shielding

• Supports DTS Connect

LAN

• PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s

• Qualcomm® Atheros® KillerTM E2200 Series

• Supports Qualcomm® Atheros® Security Wake On Internet

Tech nolo gy

• Supports Wake-On-LAN

• Supports Lightning/ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike

Protection)

• Supports Energy Ecient Ethernet 802.3az

• Supports PXE

English

Rear Panel
I/O

• 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port

• 1 x HDMI Port

• 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port

• 4 x USB 2.0 Ports

• 4 x USB 3.0 Ports (ASMedia ASM1074 hub) (Supports ESD

Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))

• 2 x USB 3.0 Ports (Intel® Z97) (Supports ESD Protection

(ASRock Full Spike Protection))

• 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED

LED)

• 1 x Clear CMOS Switch

• HD Audio Jacks: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in /

Front Speaker / Microphone

English

Storage

• 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors by Intel® Z97, support RAID

(RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel Rapid Storage

Technology 13 and Intel Smart Response Technology), NCQ,

AHCI, Hot Plug and ASRock HDD Saver Technology

• 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors by ASMedia ASM1061, sup-

port NCQ, AHCI, Hot Plug and ASRock HDD Saver Technol-

ogy

• 1 x SATA Express Connector (shared with SATA3_4,

SATA3_5 and M.2 Socket)

* Support to be announced

• 1 x M.2_ SSD (NGFF) Socket 3, supports M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s

module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen2 x2 (10 Gb/s)

4 5

Z97 OC Formula

Connector

• 1 x COM Port Header

• 1 x TPM Header

• 1 x Power LED header

• 2 x CPU Fan Connectors (1 x 4-pin, 1 x 3-pin)

• 4 x Chassis Fan Connectors (1 x 4-pin, 3 x 3-pin)

• 1 x Power Fan Connector (3-pin)

• 1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector

• 2 x 8 pin 12V Power Connectors (Hi-Density Power

Connec tor)

• 1 x HDD Saver Connector

• 1 x PCIe Power Connector

• 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector

• 1 x underbolt AIC 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))

• 1 x Power Switch with LED

• 1 x Reset Switch with LED

• V-ProbeTM: 2 x 7-set of onboard voltage measurement points

laid

• Rapid OC Buttons: +/- buttons to adjust OC frequency

• 1 x Menu Button

• 1 x PCIe ON/OFF Switch

• 1 x Post Status Checker (PSC)

• 1 x Slow Mode Switch

• 1 x LN2 Mode Switch

• 1 x BIOS Selection Switch

BIOS
Feature

• 2 x 64Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with multilingual GUI sup-

port (1 x Main BIOS and 1 x Backup BIOS)

• Supports Secure Backup UEFI Technology

• ACPI 1.1 Compliant wake up events

• SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support

• CPU, DRAM, PCH 1.05V, PCH 1.5V Voltage Multi-adjust-

ment

English

Hardware

• CPU/Chassis temperature sensing

• CPU/Chassis/Power Fan Tachometer

• CPU/Chassis Quiet Fan (Auto adjust chassis fan speed by

CPU temperature)

• CPU/Chassis Fan multi-speed control

• Multi ermal Sensor

• Voltage monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Input Voltage,

CPU Internal Voltages

OS

• Microso® Windows® 10 64-bit / 8.1 32-bit / 8.1 64-bit / 8 32-

bit / 8 64-bit / 7 32-bit / 7 64-bit

Certica­tions

* For detailed product information, please visit our website: http://www.asrock .com

Please realize that the re is a certain r isk involved with overclo cking, including adju sting
the setting in the BIOS, applying Untied Overclocking Technolog y, or using third-party
overclocking to ols. O verclocking 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 ow n risk and expense.
We are not responsibl e for possible damage caused by overclo cking.

Due to limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for sys­tem usage under Windows® 32-bit ope rating systems. Windows® 64-bit operating systems
do not have s uch limitation s. You can use ASRock XFast RAM to utilize the memory that
Windows® cannot use.

• FCC, CE, WHQL

• ErP/EuP ready (ErP/EuP ready power supply is required)

English

6 7

Intel

Z97

DDR 3_A1 (6 4 bit, 24 0-pin m odule )

DDR 3_A2 (6 4 bit, 24 0-pin m odule )

DDR 3_B1 (6 4 bit, 24 0-pin m odule )

DDR 3_B2 (6 4 bit, 24 0-pin m odule )

ATXP WR1

Reset

Power

Supe r

I/O

PANEL1

HDLED RESET

PLED PWRBTN

1

SPEAKER1

1

PLED1

1

CHA_FAN2

CHA_FAN1

CPU_FAN2

CHA_FAN4

8-La yer PCB

Top:

Central/B ass

Top:

LINE IN

USB 2.0
T: USB2
B: USB3

Clr

CMOS

USB 3.0
T: USB0
B: USB1

Top:
RJ-45

USB 3.0
T: USB2
B: USB3

USB 3.0
T: USB4
B: USB5

Center:

REAR SPK

Center:

FRONT

Bottom:

Optical

SPDIF

Bottom:

MIC IN

+

CPU_FAN1

5

6

-

10

12

18

USB 2.0

T: USB0

B: USB1

HDMI1

ON

1 2 3 4

ON

OFF

USB3_6_7

24

USB4_5

1

CLRMOS1

1

BIOS_SEL 1

AB

BIOS_B_LED

64Mb
BIOS

BIOS_B

64Mb
BIOS

BIOS_A

BIOS_A_LED

PS2

Keybo ard

/Mous e

MENU

ON

OFF

ATX12V1

ATX12V3

SATAE_1

SATA3_A1

SATA3_A2

SATA3_1

SATA3_4

SATA3_0

SATA3_3

SATA3_2

SATA3_5

PWR_FAN1

COM1

1

PCIE_PWR1

1

TPMS1

1

HD_AUDIO1

Purity

Sound 2

TM

T B1

1

Dr.

Debug

SATA_PWR_1

1

Killer

E2200

PCIE3

PCIE2

PCIE4

Z97 OC Formula

CMOS

Battery

PCIE6

NUT1

NUT2NUT3NUT4

M2

RoHS

PCIE1

PCIE5

NUT5

LN2MODE

SLOWMODE

PCIE_SWITCH

CHA_FAN3

2

1

3

4

8

7

9

11

13

14
15

16
17

25

27

28

30

32

36

37

38

39

40

41

19

20

21

22

26

29

3133

34

35

42

43

44

23

CPU

DRAM

VGA

BOOT

1.3 Motherboard Layout

Z97 OC Formula

English

English

No. Description

1 ATX 12V Power Connector (ATX12V3)

2 ATX 12V Power Connector (ATX12V1)

3 CPU Fan Connector (CPU_FAN1)

4 CPU Fan Connector (CPU_FAN2)

5 2 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots (DDR3_A1, DDR3_B1)

6 2 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots (DDR3_A2, DDR3_B2)

7 V-ProbeTM (VOL _CON1, VOL _CON2)

8 ATX Power Connector (ATXPWR1)

9 USB 3.0 Header (USB3_6_7)

10 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_A1)

11 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_A2)

12 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_0)

13 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_3)

14 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_1)

15 SATA3 Connec tor (SATA3_4)

16 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_2)

17 SATA3 Connector (SATA3_5)

18 SATA Express Connector (SATAE_1)

19 Slow Mode Switch (SLOWMODE)

20 BIOS Selection Switch (BIOS_SEL1)

21 System Panel Header (PANEL1)

22 Chassis Speaker Header (SPEAKER1)

23 Post Status Checker (PSC)

24 Power Switch (PWR)

25 Reset Switch (RST)

26 Power LED Header (PLED1)

27 Rapid OC Button (+) (PLUS)

28 Rapid OC Button (–) (MINUS)

29 HDD Saver Connector (SATA_PWR_1)

30 Menu Button (MENU)

31 LN2 Mode Switch (LN2MODE)

32 Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN2)

33 PCIe ON/OFF Switch (PCIE_SWITCH)

8 9

No. Description

34 underbolt AIC Connector (TB1)

35 USB 2.0 Header (USB4_ 5)

36 Power Fan Connector (PWR_FAN1)

37 Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN1)

38 TPM Header (TPMS1)

39 COM Port Header (COM1)

40 PCIe Power Connector (PCIE_PWR1)

41 Front Panel Audio Header (HD_AUDIO1)

42 Clear CMOS Jumper (CLRMOS1)

43 Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN3)

44 Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN4)

Z97 OC Formula

English

1.4 I/O Panel

8

10

1 2 3

15

No. Description No. Description

1 USB 2.0 Ports (USB01) 9 Rear Speaker (Black)

2 HDMI Port 10 Line In (Light Blue)

3 USB 3.0 Ports (USB3_01) 11 Front Speaker (Lime)**

4 Clear CMOS Switch (CLRCBTN1) 12 Microphone (Pink)

5 USB 3.0 Ports (USB3_23) 13 Optical SPDIF Out Port

6 USB 2.0 Ports (USB23) 14 USB 3.0 Ports (USB3_45)

7 LAN RJ-45 Port* 15 PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port

8 Central / Bass (Orange)

4

5

6

7

14

9

13

11

12

English

10 11

Z97 OC Formula

* ere are two LEDs on each LAN port. Please refer to the table below for the LAN port LED indications .

ACT/LINK LED

SPEED LED

LAN Por t

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, plea se connect the speake r’s plug into “Front Speaker Jack”. See th e table below

for connection d etails in accordance w ith the type of speaker you use.

Audio Output

Channels

Front Speaker

(N o. 11)

Rear Speaker

(No. 9)

Central / Bass

(No. 8)

2 V -- -- --
4 V V -- --
6 V V V --
8 V V V V

To enable Multi-Streaming, you need to connect a front panel audio cable to the front
panel au dio header. Aer re starting your computer, you will nd the “Mixe r” tool on your
system. Plea se sele ct “Mixe r ToolBox” , click “Enable playback multi-streaming”, and
click “ok”. Choose “2CH”, “4CH”, “6CH”, or “8CH” and then you are a llowed to select
“Realtek HDA Primary output” to use the Rear Spea ker, Cent ral/Ba ss, and Front Speaker,
or select “Realtek HDA Audio 2nd output” to use the front panel audio.

Line In

(No. 10)

English

Chapter 2 Installation

is is an ATX 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 to you 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.

English

12 13

2.1 Installing the CPU

1. Before you insert the 1150-Pin CPU into the sock et, please check if the PnP cap i s on the
socket, if the CPU surface is unclean, or if there are any bent pins in the socket. Do not
force to in sert the CPU into the socket if above situation is found. Otherwise, the CPU
will be seriously damaged.

2. Unplug all power c ables before in stalling the CPU.

1

Z97 OC Formula

A

B

2

English

3

5

4

English

14 15

Z97 OC Formula

Please save and replace the cover if the processor i s removed. e cover must be placed if
you wish to return the motherboard for aer service.

English

2.2 Installing the CPU Fan and Heatsink

1 2

N

FA

_

U

P

C

English

16 17

Z97 OC Formula

2.3 Installing Memory Modules (DIMM)

is motherboard provides four 240-pin DDR3 (Double Data Rate 3) DIMM slots,

and supports Dual Channel Memory Technology.

1. For dual channel cong uration , you always need to in stall identical (the same b rand,

speed , size and chip-type) DDR3 DI MM pairs.

2. It is unable to activate Dual Channel Memor y Technology with only one or three memory

module installed.

3. It is not allowed to install a DDR or DDR2 memory module into a DDR3 slot; otherwise,

this motherboard and DIMM may be dam aged.

Dual Channel Memory Conguration

Priority DDR3_A1 DDR3_A2 DDR3_B1 DDR3_B2

1 Populated Populated
2 Populated Populated
3 Populated Populated Populated Populated

e DIMM only ts in one correct orientation. It will cause permanent dam age to the
motherboard and the DIMM if you force the DIMM into the slot at incorrect orientation.

English

1

2

3

English

18 19

Z97 OC Formula

2.4 Expansion Slots (PCI Express Slots)

ere are 6 PCI Express slots on the motherboard.

Before installing an ex pansion card, please make sure that the power supply is switched o
or the power cord is unplug ged. Pl ease read the documentation of the expansion card and
make necessary hardware settings for the card before you start the installation.

PCIe slots:

PCIE1 (PCIe 3.0 x16 slot) is used for PCI Express x16 lane width graphics cards.

PCIE2 (PCIe 3.0 x16 slot) is used for PCI Express x4 lane width graphics cards.

PCIE3 (PCIe 2.0 x1 slot) is used for PCI Express x1 lane width cards.

PCIE4 (PCIe 3.0 x16 slot) is used for PCI Express x8 lane width graphics cards.

PCIE5 (PCIe 2.0 x1 slot) is used for PCI Express x1 lane width cards.

PCIE6 (PCIe 2.0 x16 slot) is used for PCI Express x4 lane width graphics cards.

PCIe Slot Congurations

PCIE1 PCIE2 PCIE4 PCIE6

Single Graphics Card x16 N/A N/A N/A

Two Graphics Cards in

CrossFireXTM or SLITM Mode

ree Graphics Cards in

3-Way CrossFireXTM Mode

Four Graphics Cards in

4-Way CrossFireXTM Mode

For a better ther mal environment, ple ase connect a ch assi s fan to the motherboard’s chas­sis fan connector (CHA_ FAN1, CHA_ FAN2, CHA _FAN3 or CHA_ FAN4) when using
multiple graphics cards.

x8 N/A x8 N /A

x8 x4 x4 N/A

x8 x4 x4 x4

English

2.5 Jumpers Setup

e illustration shows how jumpers are setup. When the jumper cap is placed on

the pins, the jumper is “Short”. If no jumper cap is placed on the pins, the jumper

is “Open”. e illustration shows a 3-pin jumper whose pin1 and pin2 are “Short”

when a jumper cap is placed on these 2 pins.

Clear CMOS Jumper

(CLRMO S1)

(see p.7, No. 42)

CLRMOS1 allows you to clear the data in CMOS. To clear and reset the system

parameters to default setup, please turn o the computer and unplug the power

cord from the power supply. Aer waiting for 15 seconds, use a jumper cap to

short pin2 and pin3 on CLRMOS1 for 5 seconds. However, please do not clear the

CMOS right aer you update the BIOS. If you need to clear the CMOS when you

just nish updating the BIOS, you must boot up the system rst, and then shut it

down before you do the clear-CMOS action. Please be noted that the password,

date, time, and user default prole will be cleared only if the CMOS battery is

removed.

Clear CMOSDefault

e Clear CMOS Switch has the same function a s the Clear CMOS jumper.

English

20 21

2.6 Onboard Headers and Connectors

Onboard headers and connectors are NOT jumpers. Do NOT place jumper caps over these
heade rs and connectors. Placing jumper caps over the headers and connectors will cause
permanent damage to the motherboard.

Z97 OC Formula

System Panel Header

(9-pi n PANEL1)

(see p.7, No. 21)

PWRBTN (Power Switch):

Connec t to the power switch on the chassi s front panel. You may congure the way to tur n
o your system using the power switch.

RESET (Reset Switch):
Connec t to the reset switch on the chassi s front panel. P ress the reset sw itch to restart the
computer if the computer f reezes and fails to perform a normal restar t.

PLED (Syste m Power LED):
Connec t to the power status indicator on the chassis front panel. e LED i s on when the
system is operating. e LED keeps blinking when the system is in S1/S3 sleep state. e
LED is o when the system is in S4 sleep state or powered o (S5).

HDLED (Ha rd Drive Activity LED):
Connec t to the hard drive ac tivity LED on the chassis front panel. e LED is on when the
hard drive is reading or wr iting data.

e front panel de sign may dier by chassis. A front pane l module mainly consists of power
switch, reset switch , power LED, hard dr ive activity LED, speaker and etc. When connect­ing your ch assi s front panel module to thi s header, make sure the wire a ssignments and the
pin assignments are matched correctly.

1

PLED+

PLED-

HDLED-

HDLED+

PWRBTN#

GND

RESET#

GND

Connect the power

switch, reset switch and

system status indicator on

the chassis to this header

GND

according to the pin

assignments below. Note

the positive and negative

pins before connecting

the cables.

English

Power LED Header

(3-p in PL E D1)

(see p.7, No. 26)

1

PLED+

PLED+

PLED-

Please connect the chassis

power LED to this header

to

indicate the system’s

power status.

Serial ATA3 Connectors

(SATA3_0)

(see p.7, No. 12)

(SATA 3_1)

(see p.7, No. 14)

(SATA3_ 2)

(see p.7, No. 16)

(SATA 3_3)

(see p.7, No. 13)

(SATA3_4)

(see p.7, No. 15)

(SATA3_ 5)

(see p.7, No. 17)

(SATA3_ A1)

(see p.7, No. 10)

(SATA3_ A2)

(see p.7, No. 11)

Serial ATA Express

Connector

(SATA E_1)

(see p.7, No. 18)

SATA3_A1

SATA3_0

SATA3_1

SATA3_2

ese eight SATA3

connectors support SATA

data cables for internal

SATA3_A2

storage devices with up to

6.0 Gb/s data transfer rate.

e SATA3_4, SATA3_5

are shared with the SATA

SATA3_3

Express connector.

To minimize the boot

time, use Intel® Z97 SATA

ports (SATA3_0) for your

SATA3_4

bootable devices.

SATA3_5

Please connect either

SATA or PCIe storage

devices to this connector.

e SATA Express

connector is shared with

the SATA3_4, SATA3_5

and the M.2 Socket.

SATAE_1 SATA3_5 SATA3_4

*e SATA Express

interface is a combination

of SATAE_1, SATA3_4,

and SATA 3_5.

English

22 23

Z97 OC Formula

USB 2.0 Header

(9-pin USB4_5)

(see p.7, No. 35)

USB 3.0 Header

(19-pin USB3_6_7)

(see p.7, No. 9)

IntA_PA_SSRX+

IntA_PA_SSTX+

Front Panel Audio Header

(9-pin HD_ AUDIO1)

(see p.7, No. 41)

1

Vbus

IntA_PA_SSRX-

GND

IntA_PA_SSTX-

GND

IntA_PA_D-

IntA_PA_D+

GND

1

MIC2_L

USB_PWR

P-

P+

P+

P-

USB_PWR

PRESENCE#

MIC_RET

OUT2_R

MIC2_R

GND

DUMMY

GND

VbusVbus

IntA_PB_SSRX-

IntA_PB_SSRX+

GND

IntA_PB_SSTX-

IntA_PB_SSTX+

GND

IntA_PB_D-

IntA_PB_D+

Dummy

1

OUT_RET

OUT2_L

J_SENSE

Besides four USB 2.0

ports on the I/O panel,

there is one header on this

motherboard. Each USB

2.0 header can support

two ports.

Besides six USB 3.0 ports

on the I/O panel, there

is one header on this

motherboard. Each USB

3.0 header can support

two ports.

is header is for

connecting audio devices

to the front audio panel.

1. High Denition Audio support s Jack Sensing , but the panel wire on the cha ssis must sup -

port HDA to function correctly. Ple ase fol low the instructions in our manual and chassis
manual to install your system.

2. If you use an AC’97 audio panel , please install it to th e front panel audio header by the

steps below:
A. Connect Mic_IN (MIC) to MIC2_ L.
B. Conne ct 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 the HD audio panel only. You don’t need to conn ect
them for the AC’97 audio panel .
E. To activate the front mic, go to the “FrontMic” Tab in the Realtek Control panel and
adjust “Recording Volume”.

English