# ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z LGA1155



## cadaveca (Sep 1, 2011)

ASUS has updated their microATX ROG offerings with the latest chipset from Intel, and we take a look. A red and black racer, the ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z is ready for high speed gaming without a doubt, and packs in many exclusive features that just might see it hit the finish line first. Ready? Set? GO!

*Show full review*


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## ERazer (Sep 16, 2011)

bought this mobo couple months ago and i can honestly say the best mATX mobo i ever bought

pcie spacing might be con for others but definitely not for single users like me and i have 3 slot vga


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## Breathless (Sep 16, 2011)

Now Asus needs to do the same thing but with an ITX Z68!!!


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## cadaveca (Sep 16, 2011)

ERazer said:


> bought this mobo couple months ago and i can honestly say the best mATX mobo i ever bought
> 
> pcie spacing might be con for others but definitely not for single users like me and i have 3 slot vga



Totally a minor issue, but it must be mentioned. The board is fantastic.

A big part if that is now the BIOS is pretty mature, boy, is it ever a difference from products I've had that weren't in the retail space, every single memory kit I have just plain old worked, and that's a big thing in my books.


It's a little weird that they have 3800 MHz as stock, and they kinda cheated the scores there, but htey aren't the only one, either.


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## ERazer (Sep 16, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> 3800 MHz as stock



yeah just noticed that now you pointed it out


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## cadaveca (Sep 16, 2011)

ERazer said:


> yeah just noticed that now you pointed it out



Yeah, I had to. The BIOS that was on the board when I got did not do this, and I received a revised BIOS that did. I was a bit shocked, to be honest, but I trust ASUS has tested this functionality enoug hthat it won't be an issue for anyone, and everyone gets an easy free performance boost without even trying.

It seems that the voltage did increase from stock a tiny bit too, so I am 100% confident they considered the consequences of enabling this function in the BIOS.


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## bear jesus (Sep 16, 2011)

Great motherboard review as always Dave, i really like that you keep taking off the heat sinks and showing the VRM set up and also the impression of the components on the thermal pads.


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## cadaveca (Sep 16, 2011)

bear jesus said:


> Great motherboard review as always Dave, i really like that you keep taking off the heat sinks and showing the VRM set up and also the impression of the components on the thermal pads.



Thanks man. Really, I do this for you guys anyway, so you don't encounter problems that may come out of things like that. I do feel that cooling is important, as there used to eb a time, back when I was part of the extreme cooling scene, when taking off heatsinks and repalcing thermal paste is jsut something everyone did when they got a brand new board...

I mean, i've got to compare the boards somehow. Cooling is one obvious thing that differs from product to product, so I examine the cooling.

I also had requests for pictures of the boards "naked", so yeah, I make sure to show all the critical stuff you guys need to know about, and explain what they are, and it's up to you guys to judge whether it's important or not.


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## PopcornMachine (Sep 16, 2011)

Thanks for the review.  Depending on how the new CPUS measure up with Sandy Bridge, this board could be in my future.


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## VulkanBros (Sep 16, 2011)

Well - if I were an Intel guy - this board would certainly catch my interest ...

and yes - exciting review - as always


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## ice_v (Sep 18, 2011)

I WOULD KILL, RAPE, BLOW A HOSPITAL to have identic layout on an am3+ with AMD 9-Series Chipset!


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## PopcornMachine (Sep 18, 2011)

ice_v said:


> I WOULD KILL, RAPE, BLOW A HOSPITAL to have identic layout on an am3+ with AMD 9-Series Chipset!



You have good point.  Been astonished at the absence of MATX 990FX boards.

That alone may turn me off to Bulldozer. 

Maybe ASUS will come through for us there too.


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## ckoons1 (Oct 20, 2011)

anyone know why my asus maximus gene z won't restart. i have to clear cmos and press power button to enter bios or windows but when i try to reset it shuts down. no overclock applied.
????


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## ckoons1 (Oct 20, 2011)

the cpu temp in the bios is reading 21-23c. can this be an issue?


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## cadaveca (Oct 20, 2011)

Could be a bent pin, or memory problem. Is the board flexed under the CPU cooler?

Temps are low compared to my chips, but not that much. I wouldn't think that was a problem.


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## ckoons1 (Oct 20, 2011)

i'll check. why would it only be on restart? i try to restart it and it shuts down. then when i press power it boots up to bios saying "overclock failed"


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## specks (Oct 20, 2011)

TPU must be this famous


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## cadaveca (Oct 20, 2011)

ckoons1 said:


> i'll check. why would it only be on restart? i try to restart it and it shuts down. then when i press power it boots up to bios saying "overclock failed"



Could be memory, could be an errant setting. Clear CMOS fully, removing battery and using jumper as it shows in the manual, and then try loading "optimized deafaults" and see if the problem persists. Also make sure ram is installed in the right slots(1&3)



specks said:


> TPU must be this famous


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## ckoons1 (Oct 20, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Could be a bent pin, or memory problem. Is the board flexed under the CPU cooler?
> 
> Temps are low compared to my chips, but not that much. I wouldn't think that was a problem.



turns out the SLEEVED 8 pin ext cable i was using was bad. removed it and all is good  THX GOD


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## PopcornMachine (Oct 20, 2011)

ckoons1 said:


> turns out the SLEEVED 8 pin ext cable i was using was bad. removed it and all is good  THX GOD



That is fortunate.  Glad the problem wasn't with your nice new motherborad. 



PopcornMachine said:


> Thanks for the review.  Depending on how the new CPUS measure up with Sandy Bridge, this board could be in my future.



Now that the new CPUS are out, if I were building a new system today it would be a Sandy Bridge CPU and a Gene-Z.


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## ruined (Oct 20, 2011)

Hi guys,
I've read the review of this board and what an amazing review for an amazing board I must say.
However, being a newbie, I'm overwhelmed with those bios settings and stuff.
So, I would like to know, does the manual that comes with the board teaches you all those?
Thanks.


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## cadaveca (Oct 20, 2011)

Manual has brief explanations. For a better guide, here you go :

http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?2787-Maximus-IV-GENE-Z-BIOS-Guide-Overclocking


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## Neuromancer (Oct 20, 2011)

Hey Dave did you use the Lucid Graphics when doing your testing? I have this board on the bench now, and intended to do that same that I did with MSIs Z68 which was test with and without Lucid, (as with there is a slight performance decrease almost across the board) generally 1-2% IIRC.


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## cadaveca (Oct 20, 2011)

I do not use Lucid for testing. It's software, and I'm after hardware testing, so have not put too much into Lucid and benchmarks.

That said, I do use the Lucid software in my personal rigs...2%-10%, depends on the app. I think Lucid launched a new driver recently, too.


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## PaulieG (Oct 21, 2011)

Nice review. Quite thorough, and pretty much covers anything that I noted while owning this board for a couple of months. Anyone considering this board, do not hesitate.


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## ruined (Oct 21, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Manual has brief explanations. For a better guide, here you go :
> 
> http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?2787-Maximus-IV-GENE-Z-BIOS-Guide-Overclocking



thanks a lot.^^


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## cadaveca (Oct 21, 2011)

ruined said:


> thanks a lot.^^



ASUS really does a good job of providing the resources needed to get the most out of their products. While I may have pointed you in the right direction, ASUS staff really deserve the credit.



Paulieg said:


> Nice review. Quite thorough, and pretty much covers anything that I noted while owning this board for a couple of months. Anyone considering this board, do not hesitate.



Thanks Paulie. I agree with your sentiment...I really enjoyed using the Maximus III Gene, and the updated Maximus IV Gene-Z offers everything that board did, and then some. There is really very little, if anything, lacking in this board, other than size, and to me, that's a good thing.


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## italianclarion (Jan 13, 2012)

I'm thinking of upgrading my current desktop (vaio ra104) with this great sounding mATX board. I'm not that au fait with tech terms (getting there thanks to this site).
My only concern is I want the following to work with my board:

1. BlackGold BGT3600 Dual DVB-T2/DVB-C, Dual DVB-S2, Analogue, Composite/S-video/Component video PCIe product

2. My existing power supply

3. WiFi & BT capability, don't really want to use USB's. I have quite a few BT products I link with, this is a real problem with my current set up & I don't want this with the new set up.

4. My current pentium 4 is water cooled, can I still use this? Is fitting an alternative/new cooler easy?

5. I want to keep my front panel access ports can they be linked to the motherboard & TV card?
Includes:
mic out
headphones out
s-video
video input
L & R channel inputs
iLINK S400
3 No USB's
Various card readers - XD, CF, SD, MS Pro

6. Is this board reviewed the same as the Maximus IV Gene-Z GEN3? If not what's the difference?

7. I currently use my PC through the combined TV, video, gaming screen. It's a 5 year old 38" LED Samsung. Will the HDMI output improve viewing & will HDTV work well through the TV card & mobo I mentioned above?

8. Finally. By using the same hard disks I have through the new mobo, will my windowsXP Pro software work ok. I plan to upgrade to Win7, which version would you recommend? which processor would you recommend.

The PC is really a home PC, not used for gaming, but mainly for audio, TV, video & mundane PC work, quite a few apps running at the same time

Thanks

Julian


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## adrian07ch (Jan 22, 2012)

I have an annoying problem, I can only raise the Turbo Boost clock of my i5 2500k with this motherboard. Can anyone help me? Is there any way of deactivating that stupid turbo while overclocking the cpu?


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