Perhaps the most exciting micro-ATX motherboard based on Intel 7-series chipset, supporting "Ivy Bridge" Core processors, is the ROG Maximus V Gene, from ASUS. This board gives you nearly all the connectivity of larger ATX motherboards, by making use of what little PCB real-estate it has. The board uses a 12-phase VRM to power the LGA1155 CPU, just like the Maximus V Formula. The CPU is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots. Expansion slots include two PCI-E 3.0 x16 (x8/x8 with both populated), and one open-ended PCI-E 2.0 x4. Connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s, four SATA 3 Gb/s internal ports, six USB 3.0 ports (four rear, two front), SupremeFX III audio with ground-layer isolation from the rest of the motherboard, and a mini-PCIe riser card that packs a dual-band wireless networking adapter. Expect this board to be out in April.