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As we hoped, the Micro ATX Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z motherboard delivers the goods without compromising on features. The bundle Asus have included is thorough, and the manual is well written, covering every aspect of system install and bios tuning that a user could ever need. It may sound like a small point, but some manuals we have read recently don't go into fine detail with some of the bios settings, potentially causing confusion for the user base.
Overclocking is well supported because there are several built in options with ‘safe' voltage settings, sure to be a favourite with inexperienced users who still want substantial performance gains. We had hoped that the Core i7 2600k would overclock well on the board, and it didn't disappoint, hitting 4.6ghz via a simple bios change and 4.8ghz with a decent air cooler and manual tuning. 5ghz+ would be possible with high end water cooling or phase change. Additionally, ROG connect is a popular option for hardcore system tweakers, as you can connect a laptop for on the fly hardware readout and changes.
The Maximus IV Gene-Z design is exceptional… with USB 3.0, SATA 6Gbps, CrossfireX and SLI support and the board will also handle memory up to 2,400mhz, with custom profile settings. Media aficionados will be chuffed to see that high grade audio SupremeFX X-FI is included and the back I/O port is fully loaded to satisfy even the most demanding setup.
We tested today with two single slot Powercolor HD6850 graphics cards … an ideal partner for a high grade media center, with a potential focus on 1080p gaming. The single slot design lowers the internal footprint and aids airflow inside a restricted chassis. While the slots downgrade to 8x/8x when more than one card is used it really doesn't affect performance with current discrete solutions.
Online pricing starts around £135, offering fantastic value for money.
Pros:
- Excellent design
- fully loaded
- SLI and Crossfire support
- memory support is first class
- great price point
Cons:
- Two cards is the limit
Kitguru says: Another excellent product from the Asus engineering team.
awesome, makes the sapphire Mini ITX H67 look rather feeble IMO.
Price is very impressive for the spec. quite surprised a ROG product isnt £200+
Very nice board, as always from the ROG team……. cheaper than the last one which is always a bonus.
@ francis. they arent the same style of board, one is mini and one is micro. big difference for chassis
gene series has been class leading for a long time now, glad to see it continuing
Can you tell me if this board works well with patriot memory? I had a terrible time with the last model and my memory not working right. took me ages to find out what the problem was as a second board was not posting also…..
How carefully have you actually checked that “onboard” supreme X-Fi audio chip?
Can you point out the chip on the board, and that its from Creative Laps?
Cause the Wiki says “Supreme X-Fi” on mainboards is just software, paired with a generic audio chip from outfits like Realtec and others. If this really was just software, it would be kind of lame and obviously have no influence on signal to noise ratio or THD, since that depends on the chip used, not some sound beautifier software that eats your CPU cycles for mostly questionable improvements…
I have no found a single review on this board that checks on this, they all just seem to copy the menu point from the box into their review.