ASUS Maximus III Gene P55

cadaveca · Dec 15, 2010

The ASUS Maximus III Gene is a reasonably priced microATX motherboard that has loads of features for both normal users and overclockers. It was designed with overclockers in mind which is visible in the board design, the included software, BIOS options and performance that can be reached by some tweaking.

Show full review

W1zzard · Jan 15, 2011

feeedback please which features you'd like to see in future tpu motherboard reviews

WhiteLotus · Jan 15, 2011

How easy was it to cable up? If using a large air cooler would it cover any plugs for CPU power making it a bit tricky for example.

Bo$$ · Jan 15, 2011

any pictures of the leds on?

ZeppMan217 · Jan 15, 2011

Are you using memtest for stability check? How many runs?
Also, would love to see some more MBs reviews (AM3, specifically).

blibba · Jan 15, 2011

Nice thorough review, but now is a really bad time to buy an LGA1156 board, so I'd have to say that I disagree with the high score given.

PaulieG · Jan 15, 2011

Really nice review Cadaveca! The only thing I'd like to see is a few more performance tests for overclocking. Otherwise, I'm impressed!

heky · Jan 15, 2011

Nice review, but it would be nice if in the future reviewers included the settings at which the highest stable overclock is achieved. And i mean all the settings. Vcore, pll, memory voltage, etc...

Easy Rhino · Jan 15, 2011

heky said:
Nice review, but it would be nice if in the future reviewers included the settings at which the highest stable overclock is achieved. And i mean all the settings. Vcore, pll, memory voltage, etc...

wouldn't a lot of those be cpu dependent?

also, great review! :toast:

PaulieG · Jan 15, 2011

Easy Rhino said:
wouldn't a lot of those be cpu dependent?

also, great review!

Agreed. The only thing that would be applicable here with the motherboard is whether the voltages are "true and stable".

cadaveca · Jan 15, 2011

WhiteLotus said:
How easy was it to cable up? If using a large air cooler would it cover any plugs for CPU power making it a bit tricky for example.

I will be using a Noctua NH-C14 for future reviews. I am using on old CM690 to test in, and with that cooler mounted on THIS board, I had no issues installing the board into the case with the cooler mounted, nor connecting any cables. Even screwing the board into the chassis was no problem...just needed a long screwdriver(10cm from handle to tip) to clear the heatsink

Bo$$ said:
any pictures of the leds on?

Sure! I'll upload one for you in a bit.

ZeppMan217 said:
Are you using memtest for stability check? How many runs?
Also, would love to see some more MBs reviews (AM3, specifically).

Memtest is only just the start. For me to consider a system stable, it must be able to pass ANY TEST. That means Prime95, IntelBurnTest, OCCT, and anything else you want. Talking to other reviewers from other websites, my testing routine is one of the most extensive, albeit time consuming.

Paulieg said:
Really nice review Cadaveca! The only ting I'd like to see is a few more performance tests for overclocking. Otherwise, I'm impressed!

I partially agree, however, because overclocked results are more dependant on the other components(cpu/mem/vga), it didn't seem practical except to prove the platform stable.

That said though, this is the first review, and I look forward to bringing everyone what they want to see, so I will definitely keep this in mind as the format matures.

heky said:
Nice review, but it would be nice if in the future reviewers included the settings at which the highest stable overclock is achieved. And i mean all the settings. Vcore, pll, memory voltage, etc...

I am almost always on the forums whne I'm awake, so please feel free to ask me any direct questions, and I'll gladly give you the answers.

The 4.2ghz overclock required 1.3 V on the cpu, 1.9 V on the pll, 1.69 V on memory, and 1.39 V on the IMC/QPI. I was easily able to run 4 sticks @ 2110 MHz 8-8-8-24, before running into the cpu's limit.

Changing the sticks to ones based on PSC ICs allowed a max of 2408 MHz 8-11-8, but this wasn't fully stable, again due to cpu limitations. Of course, this also required a different cpu, an i7 870, in order to gain access to the higher divider not available to the i5 760.

blibba said:
Nice thorough review, but now is a really bad time to buy an LGA1156 board, so I'd have to say that I disagree with the high score given.

I understand your perspective here, but keep in mind that when reviewing a product, I am very focused on the product's merits on it's own, in comparison to it's direct competition. That means it's ranking is only valid when considering motherboards and thier functionality as a basis for a system, and not overall performance, as I am not reviewing the CPU nor the memory.

I stand by my numbers. There are no functionality issues with the hardware itself, and the only negative points have no bearing on daily usage, or performance, and as such, the board is highly ranked in my books, and it WILL be hard for other boards to achieve such a high score. The Gene clocked cpu and memory higher than the other samples, and behaved exactly as expected, with not a single hiccup in setup or usage. As a P55-based product, I truly feel this is one of the best options for this platform.

hanzi · Jan 15, 2011

Great review Cadaveca! By the way I'm new here

although I always check the site for the latest news and reviews in the pc world.

I would like to see in the future motherboard reviews the actual pictures of the motherboard with all the hardware components installed, especially heatsinks and sli or crossfire settings. That way we can see the spacings of all the hardwares installed and how it looks like.

PaulieG · Jan 15, 2011

It's nearly impossible to make everyone entirely happy with a review, since everyone is looking at it from a different angle. The key is a good balance, and that has been achieved here.

cadaveca · Jan 15, 2011

hanzi said:
Great review Cadaveca! By the way I'm new here although I always check the site for the latest news and reviews in the pc world.

I would like to see in the future motherboard reviews the actual pictures of the motherboard with all the hardware components installed, especially heatsinks and sli or crossfire settings. That way we can see the spacings of all the hardwares installed and how it looks like.

Setup and Installation issues will be covered in upcoming reviews, as well as overall system power consumption. This is my first review for TPU, and as such, I know that there is room for improvement.

In the end, my goal is to provide the very best, and most comprehensive reviews on the internet, so my format will evolve over time, based on feedback from you guys.

garyinhere · Jan 15, 2011

Nice Review!

(FIH) The Don · Jan 15, 2011

cadaveca said:
Setup and Installation issues will be covered in upcoming reviews, as well as overall system power consumption. This is my first review for TPU, and as such, I know that there is room for improvement.

In the end, my goal is to provide the very best, and most comprehensive reviews on the internet, so my format will evolve over time, based on feedback from you guys.

and what a start, but you arent totally new in this business

but nice review no matter what, im glad to see the first mb review in years, and with good writing and testing

bravo!

:rockout:

DrunkenMafia · Jan 15, 2011

not a bad review but I think the overall score is a bit high.

That board doesnt even have dual 16x pcie slots.

It does look nice though. I also agree on the pics with hardware installed. That would give me the best idea of spacing and overall layout which is something I would like to see first if buying a board.

cadaveca · Jan 15, 2011

The board has two PCIe x16 connectors, but is wired 8 x 8 as this is the maximum config the P55 chipset supports. This does not detract from the board, to me, as there are many P55 boards that are wired x16 and x4, with no option of 8 x 8.

If you check W1zz's review on PCI-e scaling, you'll see that 8 x 8 has little impact on overall performance, and in some instances, performs better than 16 x 16, but 16 x 4 definitely has an impact.

(FIH) The Don said:
and what a start, but you arent totally new in this business

but nice review no matter what, im glad to see the first mb review in years, and with good writing and testing

bravo!

Thanks are due here. You lit the fire that led to this.

DannibusX · Jan 15, 2011

Excellent review, Dave.

Deleted member 74752 · Jan 15, 2011

Well here is a screen of the mb with a i7 875K on an air cooler...

cadaveca · Jan 16, 2011

The C14 mounted:

GSquadron · Jan 16, 2011

Two things i didn't get why:
1. The high score
2. Old mobo to be interesting for the review
All other openings were great and keep up the good job cuz i am waiting to see any giga or msi mobos with 990FX chipset

cadaveca · Jan 16, 2011

Aleksander Dishnica said:
Two things i didn't get why:
1. The high score
2. Old mobo to be interesting for the review
All other openings were great and keep up the good job cuz i am waiting to see any giga or msi mobos with 990FX chipset

I've explained the score. The gene is one of the best P55 boards, bar none, and definatively the best mATX P55 board...the Gigabyte used in the review had alot of the same features, but failed to meet the Gene is the overclocking duel. So the Gene got a high score, plain and simple. Find me a better mATX P55 motherboard, and I'll adjust the score accordingly, but I do not beleive such a board exists today. The score is based on the platform(P55), board format (mATX), and cost.

The older product was used as at the time the work on this review began, P67 was not yet released. In an effort to show what I could do, review-wise, I went and bought what was available. I bought all three boards, and new CPUs, power supplies, cooling, and other bits...none of the product used in the review was provided by manufacturers. It was all purchased by myself, using my own money.

The timing worked really well, as I had already sold off the majority of my PC hardware in preparation for P67's launch. Instead of waiting for P67, I bought this stuff, as back in october or something, (FIH)The Don opened a thread asking for TPU to do motherboard reviews, and W1zzard responded with "who will do the reviews?".

I stepped up to the plate, and the review you read is the final result.

I have no aversion to any OEM. Whoever sends me parts, I will test, and give my honest opinion. Rather than ask me to review specific parts, talk to the OEMs, and tell them to send them to me!

I hope to review every board on the market!

Easy Rhino · Jan 16, 2011

Aleksander Dishnica said:
Two things i didn't get why:
1. The high score
2. Old mobo to be interesting for the review

about a month ago i became interested in this board before i became interested in sanybridge. so for me, this review is actually perfect timing.

Initialised · Jan 17, 2011

If it was an 1155 board or ITX (or both and overclockabkle in my dreams) it'd be a good product to review.

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

System Name	Vintage
Processor	i7 - 3770K @ Stock
Cooling	Scythe Zipang II
Memory	2x4GB Crucial DDR3
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX970
Storage	M4 124GB SSD// WD Black 640GB// WD Black 1TB//Samsung F3 1.5TB
Display(s)	Samsung SM223BW 21.6"
Case	Generic
Power Supply	Corsair HX 520W
Software	Windows 7

System Name	Desktop \| Server
Processor	Intel i7 2700k @ 4.6GHZ \| AMD 5350 @ 2500MHZ
Motherboard	Asus P7Z77-V Pro \| Asus AM1I-A
Cooling	Corsair H60v2 \| Stock Air
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 2x8GB CL8 1600MHZ \| Corsair Vengence 2x4GB CL9 1600MHZ
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1060 6GB \| PNY GTX 750Ti
Storage	Samsung 840 EVO 250GB + 4TB WD Red \| 2x Seagate Barracuda 2TB
Display(s)	Samsung S27D390H + Asus VE276Q \| Headless
Case	Fractal Design R5 \| CM Elite 110
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar D1 w/Otone Stilo 5.1 and Creative Fatal1ty headset
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 850 G2\| Corsair CX430M
Mouse	Razer Imperator 2012
Keyboard	Corsair K90
Software	Windows 7 SP1 X64 \| Ubuntu 16.04LTS

Processor	AMD Phenom II X4 925
Motherboard	Asus M4A78LT-M
Cooling	Ice Hammer IH-4***
Memory	2x4GB DDR3 Corsair
Video Card(s)	Asus HD7870 2GB
Storage	500GB SATAII Samsung \| 500GB SATAII Seagate
Display(s)	23" LG 23EA63V-P
Case	Thermaltake V3 Black Edition
Audio Device(s)	VIA VT1708S
Power Supply	Corsair TX650W
Software	Windows 10 x64

System Name	The one under the desk / Media Centre
Processor	Xeon X3730@3.6GHZ / Phenom II X4 805E
Motherboard	Gigabyte P55M-UD4 / Asus Crosshair III
Cooling	Corsair H70 + 2*PWM fan / Arctic Alpine 11
Memory	16GB DRR3-1333 9-9-9-27 / 4GB Crucial DDR3-1333
Video Card(s)	Asus DirectCU GTX 680 / Gigabyte 560TI
Storage	Kingston V200 128GB, WD6400AAKS, 1TB Seagate 7.2kRPM SSHD / Kingston V200 128GB
Display(s)	Samsung 2343BW + Dell Ultrasharp 1600*1200 / 32" TV
Case	C'M' Silencio 550 / Some ancient SilverStone brushed aluminium media centre
Audio Device(s)	No.
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower XT 675W / EVGA 430W
Mouse	Mionix Naos 3200 / Generic PS2
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos TKL Pro / Evoluent Mouse Friendly Keyboard (Logitech OEM)
Software	Windows 7 Ult x64
Benchmark Scores	Nah.

ASUS Maximus III Gene P55

cadaveca

My name is Dave

W1zzard

Administrator

WhiteLotus

Bo$$

Lab Extraordinaire

ZeppMan217

blibba

PaulieG

heky

Easy Rhino

Linux Advocate

PaulieG

cadaveca

My name is Dave

hanzi

New Member

PaulieG

cadaveca

My name is Dave

garyinhere

(FIH) The Don

DrunkenMafia

cadaveca

My name is Dave

DannibusX

Deleted member 74752

Guest

cadaveca

My name is Dave

GSquadron

cadaveca

My name is Dave

Easy Rhino

Linux Advocate

Initialised

Processor	5800x(2)/5700g/5600x/5600g/2700x/1700x/1700
Motherboard	MSI B550 Carbon (2)/ MSI z490 Unify/Asus Strix B550-F/MSI B450 Tomahawk (3)
Cooling	EK AIO 360 (2)/EK AIO 240, Arctic Cooling Freezer II 280/EVGA CLC 280/Noctua D15/Cryorig M9(2)
Memory	32 GB Ballistix Elite/32 GB TridentZ/16GB Mushkin Redline Black/16 GB Dominator
Video Card(s)	Asus Strix RTX3060/EVGA 970(2)/Asus 750 ti/Old Quadros
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe 500GB/WD Black M.2 NVMe 500GB/Adata 500gb NVMe
Display(s)	Acer 1080p 22"/ (3) Samsung 22" 1080p
Case	(2) Lian Li Lancool II Mesh/Corsair 4000D /Phanteks Eclipse 500a/Be Quiet Pure Base 500/Bones of HAF
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 850G(2)/EVGA Supernova GT 650w/Phantek Amps 750w/Seasonic Focus 750w
Mouse	Generic Black wireless (5)
Keyboard	Generic Black wireless (5)
Software	Win 10/Ubuntu

System Name	Bang4Buck
Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard	MSI PRESTIGE x570 CREATION
Cooling	Fractal Design Celsius S36
Memory	32Gb 4400Mhz Patriot Viper Steel(Samsung B-die) @ 3800Mhz 16-16-16-32-48-1T @ 1.38v
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 3080 Ti Suprim X
Storage	Adata SX8200Pro 512Gb/2x Crucial P1 1Tb/Samsung 840 EVO/6Tb Raid -HGST Enterprise/2x IronWolf 8Tb/
Display(s)	Samsung UE49KS8002 4K HDR TV (US - 9 series)
Case	Fractal Design Define R6 Black Usb-C
Audio Device(s)	HDMI out to Denon X4400H reciever, 2x Dali Zensor 7, Dali Zensor Vokal, 2x Dali Zensor 1, Yamaha Sub
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Ultra 750W
Mouse	Logitech G305 Lightspeed
Keyboard	Logitech K520
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	https://www.3dmark.com/spy/26216445

System Name	Desktop
Processor	i5 13600KF
Motherboard	AsRock B760M Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling	Noctua NH-U9S
Memory	4x 16 Gb Gskill S5 DDR5 @6000
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Gaming OC 6750 XT 12GB
Storage	WD_BLACK 4TB SN850x
Display(s)	Gigabye M32U
Case	Corsair Carbide 400C
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 650 P2
Mouse	MX Master 3s
Keyboard	Logitech G915 Wireless Clicky
Software	The Matrix

Processor	W3520 Xeon
Motherboard	Asus Sabertooth X58
Cooling	Cool it Vantage
Memory	6gb Dominators
Video Card(s)	GTX 460
Storage	60Gb Vertex II 500Gb storage
Display(s)	LG 42LH40 42" 1080P
Case	932 HAF
Audio Device(s)	Voices in my head
Power Supply	Raidmax730/
Software	Win7Pro64
Benchmark Scores	Pretty High one's. but it's not a contest/ I just read them for the articles.

System Name	CosmosII
Processor	Ryzen 7700
Motherboard	Gigabyte b650 gaming x ax v2
Cooling	BeQuiet Pure Rock v2
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 2x16GB
Video Card(s)	Inno3d RTX 4070 Ti Super
Storage	1tb Corsair MP600 Pro XT
Display(s)	34" Ultrawide
Case	Cosmos II
Audio Device(s)	stock onboard thing
Power Supply	RM850E
Software	½½

System Name	GaMEr / HTPC
Processor	FX8320 4.5ghz so far NB- 2815mhz / X2 255 @ 3.2ghz (Temp till BD)
Motherboard	990FX-UD5 / GA-MA785GPMT-US2H
Cooling	XSPC - 240rad 480rad 5 x 120mm out, 6 x 80mm in / H220-edge 1/2" & 2 x 120mm Magma
Memory	4gb PI 6,8,6,18 1T 1706mhz / 4gb Crucial D9's 1400 @ 6,6,6,18,1T
Video Card(s)	3gb HD7950 / Onboard
Storage	2 x 120gb Sandisk ultra plus 2tb WD / 60gb vertex 2 + 2 x 2tb WD Greens
Display(s)	3x24in Dell Ultra (portrait) / NEC 32" FullHD LCD
Case	LL PC71A Full tower / Antec fusion black with Imon remote Modded for WC
Audio Device(s)	OB / Auzentech cinema 7.1
Power Supply	TT 700w TR2 / TT 600w Litepower modded with Noctua S12 fan.
Software	7 Ult / 7 premium x64

System Name	Aluminum Mallard
Processor	Ryzen 1900x
Motherboard	AsRock Phantom 6
Cooling	AIO
Memory	32GB
Video Card(s)	EVGA 3080Ti FTW
Storage	SSD
Display(s)	Benq Zowie
Case	Cosmos 1000
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	Corsair CX750
VR HMD	HTV Vive, Valve Index
Software	Arch Linux
Benchmark Scores	31 FPS in Dalaran

System Name	Dark Stealth
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600x
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450M Gaming rev 1.0
Cooling	Snowman, arctic p12 x2 fans
Memory	16x2 DDR4 Corsair Dominator Pro
Video Card(s)	3080 10gb
Storage	2TB NVME PCIE 4.0 Crucial P3 Plus, 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD, 4TB WD RED HDD
Display(s)	HP Omen 34c (34" monitor 3440x1440 165Hz VA panel)
Case	Zalman S2
Power Supply	Corsair 750TX
Mouse	Logitech pro superlight, mx mouse s3, Razer Basiliskx with battery
Keyboard	Custom mechanical keyboard tm680
Software	Windows 11
Benchmark Scores	70-80 fps 3440x1440 on cyberpunk 2077 max settings

System Name	Roxy
Processor	i7 5930K @ 4.5GHz (167x27 1.35V)
Motherboard	X99-A/USB3.1
Cooling	Barrow Infinity Mirror, EK 45x420mm, EK X-Res w 10W DDC
Memory	2x16GB Patriot Viper 3600 @3333 16-20-20-38
Video Card(s)	XFX 5700 XT Thicc III Ultra
Storage	Sabrent Rocket 2TB, 4TB WD Mechanical
Display(s)	Acer XZ321Q (144Mhz Freesync Curved 32" 1080p)
Case	Modded Cosmos-S Red, Tempered Glass Window, Full Frontal Mesh, Black interior
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Z
Power Supply	Corsair RM 850x White
Mouse	Logitech G403
Keyboard	CM Storm QuickFire TK
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	https://valid.x86.fr/e5uz5f