ASRock 970 Extreme3 manual Installation of Memory Modules Dimm, Dual Channel Memory Configurations

2.3 Installation of Memory Modules (DIMM)

This motherboard provides four 240-pin DDR3 (Double Data Rate 3) DIMM slots, and supports Dual Channel Memory Technology. For dual channel configuration, you always need to install identical (the same brand, speed, size and chip-type) DDR3 DIMM pair in the slots. In other words, you have to install identical DDR3 DIMM pair in Dual Channel (DDR3_A1 and DDR3_B1; Black slots; see p.12 No.7) or identical DDR3 DIMM pair in Dual Channel (DDR3_A2 and DDR3_B2; Black slots; see p.12 No.8), so that Dual Channel Memory Technology can be activated. This motherboard also allows you to install four DDR3 DIMMs for dual channel configuration, and please install identical DDR3 DIMMs in all four slots. You may refer to the Dual Channel Memory Configuration Table below.

Dual Channel Memory Configurations

	DDR3_A1	DDR3_A2	DDR3_B1	DDR3_B2
	(Black Slot)	(Black Slot)	(Black Slot)	(Black Slot)
(1)	Populated	-	Populated	-
(2)	-	Populated	-	Populated
(3)*	Populated	Populated	Populated	Populated

* For the configuration (3), please install identical DDR3 DIMMs in all four slots.

1. Please install the memory module into the slots DDR3_A2 and DDR3_B2 for the first priority.

2. If you want to install two memory modules, for optimal compatibility and reliability, it is recommended to install them either in the set of slots DDR3_A1 and DDR3_B1, or in the set of slots DDR3_A2 and DDR3_B2.

3. If only one memory module or three memory modules are installed in the DDR3 DIMM slots on this motherboard, it is unable to activate the Dual Channel Memory Technology.

4. If a pair of memory modules is NOT installed in the same Dual Channel, for example, installing a pair of memory modules in DDR3_A1 and DDR3_A2, it is unable to activate the Dual Channel Memory Technology .

5. It is not allowed to install a DDR or DDR2 memory module into DDR3 slot; otherwise, this motherboard and DIMM may be dam- aged.

6. If you adopt DDR3 2100/1866/1800/1600 memory modules on this motherboard, it is recommended to install them on DDR3_A2 and DDR3_B2 slots.

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