ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z Review
Published by Marc Büchel on 22.07.11Conclusion
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| At a first glance ASUS leaves a good impression with its Maximus IV Gene-Z. Once more very nice was the ROG color schema. Every time ASUS decides to create another ROG product it's going to be beautiful. Furthermore the board is also very well equipped. There are lots of USB ports - unfortunately only two of them support USB3.0 - and it also comes with two the PCI-Express x16 slots. This makes it possible to run a SLI or CrossFire setup on this small motherboard. | - Design - mATX Gaming Board - SLI/CrossFire possible |
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| Layout | + | - | |
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Generally the ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z's Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. There also is a debug display which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Furthermore the placement of the second PCI-Express slot is well chosen. As a matter of fact, placing a graphics card in the second PCIe x16 slot does not render the connectors at the bottom edge of the board useless which is a big plus especially with a small mATX gaming board. Furthermore the cooling blocks which keep the current converters at adequate temperatures are resonably sized. Therefore one can comfortably install even a big CPU cooler. |
- Angled SATA connectors - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - PCI-Express x16 not last expansion slot |
- DIMM slots close to CPU socket | |
| Performance | + | - | |
| This board really was able to convice regarding performance. Therefore in a lot of benchmarks it's been able to score very well. In SuperPi, SiSoft Sandra as well as 3DMark Vantage you often find this little thing leading our charts. Only WPrime and 3DMark 11 CPU could have been better. | -
Super Pi - SiSoft Sandra - 3DMark Vantage |
- WPrime - 3DMark 11 CPU |
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| Overclocking / BIOS | + | - | |
| Focussing only on the settings, overclocking definitely isn't something unknown for the P68Z-V Pro. Furthermore we also reached the maximum clock speed of our test CPU, which is 5'200 MHz. Looking at the Maximus IV Gene-Z's EFI BIOS we find it well structured. You'll quickly find all the different settings and it also resets itself if you should set values that do not work. | - Well structured BIOS
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| Recommendation | + | - | |
| If you want to build a gaming PC or a well performing desktop rig then the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro will be a safe bet. For a very competitive price you'll get a lot of performance. Even for enthusiasts or overclockers this board will be a very good choice. | -
Gaming PC - Performance Desktop - Enthusiast |
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| Rating | |||
| We give the ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z four out of five stars. | |||
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch Copy edited and translated: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch c.ney@ocaholic.ch
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