ASUS Maximus V Gene Intel Z77 Express LGA 1155

[Sasqui]

If the chip gets damaged, and say, it draws more power after, that invalidates the rest of the reviews used with it. I cannot have that. I've been overclocking since before TPU even existed, so I really want to get back into the extreme things as I have not done very much like that in 3-4 years.

Perfect, couldn't agree more.

Can't wait till you do get to push it to the max!

 

[cadaveca]

Perfect, couldn't agree more.

Can't wait till you do get to push it to the max!

I'll be working with memory clocking this weekend. I got many sets to test for a ram review, so that wil lelt me get a good general idea of what's going on, as well as trying out hte other chip(gotta check for a better IMC).


I plan on using this board for some time, I really want to get off of X79 and it's higher power consumption, although the ASUS P9X79 Deluxe I am using now has proven itself as excellent time and again.

 

[TheMailMan78]

That's a very good question. I do not think that there will be power for the drive that way? So you will need to provide power to it somehow?

eSATA uses one of the SATA 3 Gb/s ports from chipset, so I do not foresee any issues there.



The audio on the Maximus V Gene is awesome. Far better than the Gene-Z. In every way the Maximus V Gene is an evolution of the Gene-Z.

Don't forget...W1zz is using one for VGA reviews, and I wil leb using this one for memory reviews. That says something.

It says I'm jelly.

 

[evaseeker]

There are six internal SATA connectors, with a rather weird arrangement. The bottom red ports are SATA 6 Gb/s, driven by an ASMedia controller, while the other red ports are SATA 3 Gb/s, driven by the Intel Z77 Express PCH. The black ports are also driven by the Intel PCH controller, but are SATA 6 Gb/s

are you sure about the RED ports being 2 6g and 2 3g? because Rog.Asus list em otherwise,

both are 6g

with the black being the 3g

From http://rog.asus.com/motherboard/gene/maximus-v-gene/

2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), red
2 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), black
1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port(s), red
1 x mini-SATA 3Gb/s port(s), black
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology, Intel® Rapid Start Technology, Intel® Smart Connect Technology *5
ASMedia® PCIe SATA controller : *6
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), red

otherwise great review!

 

[cadaveca]

Yes, I am sure. I made a point of plugging a drive into each port and verifying the connectivity and what controller was used. I do that for every board. I connect my Crucial M4 128 GB SSD to every port, and run HDTune to confirm performance. Black ports at the top are the Intel Z77 PCH SATA 6 Gb/s ports, bottom red is connected to ASMedia 6 Gb/s controller.


If it waas not that way, my Crucial M4 would not have tested at the speeds it did. I actualyl mentioned it becuase i saw that info, and connected my drives according to that info, and found my M4 to be underperforming.

your comment does make me want to re-test though. I'll check it out. teh board is physically labelled as described by ASUS.

 

[evaseeker]

well i don't wanna continue questioning your methods because i always look forward to your reviews! but it seems to me then that both the Board manual and Asus website are wrong?

this can get messy for me, now i need to open up my case and switch the drives lol.

 

[cadaveca]

I'll toss the board on my bench right now and check it out. Give me about 20 minutes. If I am wrong, I really need to fix it!

 

[evaseeker]

thanks! i appreciate that

 

[cadaveca]

thanks! i appreciate that

You are correct, sir, thanks very much for pointing that out. I editted the review accordingly. I guess I must have wired it as normal, and then had to make the switch, and mistakenly wrote it out wrong. I simply play with too muc hardware, but there is no excuse there either. MY fault, and really, thanks very much. Please do question!!!!

Just booting into windows to test and verify right now....(edit)verified. drive is plugged into the bottom black port right this moment, testing at a very even 268 MB/s

 

[MetalRacer]

I'll be working with memory clocking this weekend. I got many sets to test for a ram review, so that wil lelt me get a good general idea of what's going on, as well as trying out hte other chip(gotta check for a better IMC).


I plan on using this board for some time, I really want to get off of X79 and it's higher power consumption, although the ASUS P9X79 Deluxe I am using now has proven itself as excellent time and again.

Great review!

The M5G + Ivy Bridge are a memory over clocker’s wet dream come true, can’t wait to see your results.

 

[evaseeker]

You are correct, sir, thanks very much for pointing that out. I editted the review accordingly. I guess I must have wired it as normal, and then had to make the switch, and mistakenly wrote it out wrong. I simply play with too muc hardware, but there is no excuse there either. MY fault, and really, thanks very much. Please do question!!!!


http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47501&stc=1&d=1339781627





Just booting into windows to test and verify right now....(edit)verified. drive is plugged into the bottom black port right this moment, testing at a very even 268 MB/s

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47502&stc=1&d=1339782137

That was quick!

Thanks a lot for your efforts now i can breath easily!

 

[DOM]

I like my mvg but I would like a mve

 

[cadaveca]

That was quick!

Thanks a lot for your efforts now i can breath easily!

Yeha, you know, I don't have any real job, so stuff like this I can deal with quickly. I jsut simply mis-labelled each in the review, no big deal, but misleading, for sure, so again, thank you very much. I just simply changed 6 Gb/s to 3 Gb/s in the review, and all is well now.


Heh. I did say 20 minutes...

I like my mvg but I would like a mve

Can you explain why? Did I miss something, or does early info have you hoping for more from the Extreme?

 

[kajson]

Howdy tnx great review

I am currently using a very similar setup, (see system details) and i can confirm the middle red sata ports are the sataIII intel chipset powered ones, the ones on the outside are asmedia. The sata configuration screen of the bios only sees my m4 on the sata ports, and denies the existence of any other harddisks, even though they are selectable boot devices and otherwise work fine.


However i have a question as I'm currently running an i5 3570k @4.5 with 1.26v I cant seem to go lower or it gets unstable.

Could you tell me what kind of settings you are using to get that overclock stable, because you seem to be able to clock higher at lower volts. ( I wants )

My temps arent a problem i think, 75 celcius on one core max after a couple of hours of prime 95, and typical gaming they dont go higher then ~50 celcius.


Or is this purely down to the difference between the i7 and the i5

tnx in advance

 

[cadaveca]

The clocks I get are CPU-dependant. With that little SATA thing, I tossed in my other CPU isntead of the one used in the review... It is also not stable at the same clocks and voltages. I set 1.2 V, and then 1.225 V in bios, and 4.6 GHz failed both times. Looks like it's really down to individual CPUs, I do not think the i5/i7 difference is really the telling factor here.

I left the CPU in, as I need to test IMC for memroy review purposes, but it seems this second 3770K is just like your 3750K, if not worse!

 

[PopcornMachine]

Better then the Maximus IV Gene-Z? NEVER!

The audio on the Maximus V Gene is awesome. Far better than the Gene-Z. In every way the Maximus V Gene is an evolution of the Gene-Z.

Don't forget...W1zz is using one for VGA reviews, and I wil leb using this one for memory reviews. That says something.

But the Gene-z still is a very good board, right?

Just kidding. I know it is. Very happy with it and my 2500K. Especially considering I got the board for $160 and the chip for $180.

That said, I wouldn't mind having the new board. Although I would still put a 2500K or 2600K in it. I think they are much better values than the Ivy's.

Oh, and thanks for the review. I love M-ATX boards.

 

[cadaveca]

I have two more mATX product reviews incoming, too, so far.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

How do you ensure that the SSD's performance is consistent? Every time I bench a M4 performance gets a little worse and takes a good while to come back up.

Audio is promising. Hopefully they start doing that on more boards. What's the audio software like? Similar to their sound cards?

 

[kajson]

I'm currently using the 75% loadline calibration setting, would the 100% version drastically improve my chances to lower the voltage on the overclock?

Also I must note that I'm using the normal energy saving settings like EIST, the one thing i havent been able to figure out is how to get the voltage to also pace itself when the cpu isnt taxed, like it does when you dont overclock. But i'm guessing thats got to do with the loadlinecalibration overruling that?

At least in cpu-z and AI suite II it just stubornly stays at 1.26v.


Tnx for the info

 

[cadaveca]

How do you ensure that the SSD's performance is consistent? Every time I bench a M4 performance gets a little worse and takes a good while to come back up.

Audio is promising. Hopefully they start doing that on more boards. What's the audio software like? Similar to their sound cards?

Good question. All SSDs that i have played with experience "performance degredation" from usage.

SO, to offset this, I simply don't use the drives used for testing for anything other than drive testing, and I use a seperate drive for OS installs. The drives used to test were loaded with data, and then only read testing has been done since. I have, as recently as yesterday, connected the drives to my P9X79 Deluxe, and confirmed that the numbers have stayed the same, even though they've been used for about 6 board reviews since then.

Audio performance is outstanding. Comes with the fairly standard onboard X-Fi suite, nothing too exciting.

 

[DOM]

Yeha, you know, I don't have any real job, so stuff like this I can deal with quickly. I jsut simply mis-labelled each in the review, no big deal, but misleading, for sure, so again, thank you very much. I just simply changed 6 Gb/s to 3 Gb/s in the review, and all is well now.


Heh. I did say 20 minutes...



Can you explain why? Did I miss something, or does early info have you hoping for more from the Extreme?

I just want it no reasons but do like the extra pci-e lanes

 

[cadaveca]

I'm currently using the 75% loadline calibration setting, would the 100% version drastically improve my chances to lower the voltage on the overclock?

Also I must note that I'm using the normal energy saving settings like EIST, the one thing i havent been able to figure out is how to get the voltage to also pace itself when the cpu isnt taxed, like it does when you dont overclock. But i'm guessing thats got to do with the loadlinecalibration overruling that?

At least in cpu-z and AI suite II it just stubornly stays at 1.26v.


Tnx for the info

Manual votlage setting is what the issue is. You need to use "Offset Mode" to get the votlage drop when idle.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Audio performance is outstanding. Comes with the fairly standard onboard X-Fi suite, nothing too exciting.

From what I can gather it's a realtek chip with a combo of realtek/asus/creative drivers, which I'm slightly amazed play nice together. Wondering how much is offloaded vs done on the CPU. Would be interesting to see CPU usage compared between this, a standard realtek, and a full on card.

 

[Shou Miko]

If i had one of those cables, I'd check for ya, but sadly, i do not. I use 3x SSD, 1x mSATA SSD and an optical drive for review testing. I cannot see why it'd be OK to read a disc, but not write..have you run into such an issue before?

i have only used it for format and backup data on my dad's lappy through e-sata bcs it's soo much faster than usb 2.0

 

[cadaveca]

From what I can gather it's a realtek chip with a combo of realtek/asus/creative drivers, which I'm slightly amazed play nice together. Wondering how much is offloaded vs done on the CPU. Would be interesting to see CPU usage compared between this, a standard realtek, and a full on card.

That is nearly impossible to test. the app used to play back audio will also use CPU, so I'd have to use the same version of app, etc....and such CPU usage is so miniscule at this point(<1%) for audio apps that such testing is rather useless. I have checked CPU usage.

I will keep it in mind though, and see if there is some other way other than RMAA for audio testing that can give repeatable results. My main focus here is to ensure that whatever I get as a result, you can as well, while providing real usable data.

AS to the chip used...I really have no idea. I assume it's a realtek unit, but decided to not mention anything in the review as really, does it matter? TO me, as long and quality is decent, the chip doesn't matter, as so much more than just the chip itself can affect audio quality. At least half of the boards I have tested in the past 20 months or so used Realtek ACL892 or ACL898, with results quite varied even with the same chip because of circuit design.