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!

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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

Breathless · Sep 16, 2011

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

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.

ERazer · Sep 16, 2011

cadaveca said:
3800 MHz as stock

yeah just noticed that now you pointed it out

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.

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.

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.

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.

Deleted member 6693 · Sep 16, 2011

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

and yes - exciting review - as always

ice_v · Sep 18, 2011

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

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. :mad:

Maybe ASUS will come through for us there too.

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.
????

ckoons1 · Oct 20, 2011

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

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.

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"

specks · Oct 20, 2011

TPU must be this famous

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

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 :toast:

THX GOD

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Processor	R9 5950x
Motherboard	Asus x570 Crosshair VIII Formula
Cooling	EK 360mm AIO D-RGB
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z Neo 2x16gb (CL16@3800MHz)
Video Card(s)	PNY GeForce RTX 3090 24GB
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe \| Intel 660p 2TB NVMe
Display(s)	Acer Predator XB323QK 4K 144Hz
Case	Corsair 5000D Airflow
Audio Device(s)	Objective2 Amp/DAC \| GoXLR \| AKG K612PRO \| Beyerdynamic DT880\| Rode Pod Mic
Power Supply	Corsair AX 850w
Mouse	Razer DeathAdder Elite V2
Keyboard	Corsair K95 Platinum RGB "Cherry MX Brown"
VR HMD	Oculus Rift
Software	Window 11 Pro

Processor	R9 5950x
Motherboard	Asus x570 Crosshair VIII Formula
Cooling	EK 360mm AIO D-RGB
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z Neo 2x16gb (CL16@3800MHz)
Video Card(s)	PNY GeForce RTX 3090 24GB
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe \| Intel 660p 2TB NVMe
Display(s)	Acer Predator XB323QK 4K 144Hz
Case	Corsair 5000D Airflow
Audio Device(s)	Objective2 Amp/DAC \| GoXLR \| AKG K612PRO \| Beyerdynamic DT880\| Rode Pod Mic
Power Supply	Corsair AX 850w
Mouse	Razer DeathAdder Elite V2
Keyboard	Corsair K95 Platinum RGB "Cherry MX Brown"
VR HMD	Oculus Rift
Software	Window 11 Pro

System Name	Gaming temp// HTPC
Processor	AMD A6 5400k // A4 5300
Motherboard	ASRock FM2A75 PRO4// ASRock FM2A55M-DGS
Cooling	Xigmatek HDT-D1284 // stock phenom II HSF
Memory	4GB 1600mhz corsair vengeance // 4GB 1600mhz corsair vengeance low profile
Storage	64gb sandisk pulse SSD and 500gb HDD // 500gb HDD
Display(s)	acer 22" 1680x1050
Power Supply	Seasonic G-450 // Corsair CXM 430W

System Name	Vulcan
Processor	i6 6600K
Motherboard	GIGABYTE Z170X UD3
Cooling	Thermaltake Frio Silent 14
Memory	16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB)
Video Card(s)	ASUS Strix GTX 970
Storage	Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 1TB SSD
Display(s)	QNIX 27 Inch 1440p
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	Cooler Master V750
Software	Win 10 64-bit

System Name	ICE
Processor	AMD 1090t
Motherboard	Asus Sabertooth 990FX
Cooling	Thermaltake MaxORB EX
Memory	G.Skill RipjawsX 2x4Gb DDR3@1866
Video Card(s)	GIGABYTE GTX670 OC
Storage	SSD 128Gb Samsung 840 pro + 2x500Gb sata HDD
Display(s)	Samsung 2233RZ@120Hz
Case	CM Storm Enforcer
Power Supply	Corsair AX760 80Platinum
Software	Win 7 - 64 bit

ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z LGA1155

cadaveca

My name is Dave

ERazer

Breathless

cadaveca

My name is Dave

ERazer

cadaveca

My name is Dave

bear jesus

New Member

cadaveca

My name is Dave

PopcornMachine

Deleted member 6693

Guest

ice_v

PopcornMachine

ckoons1

ckoons1

cadaveca

My name is Dave

ckoons1

specks

New Member

cadaveca

My name is Dave

ckoons1

PopcornMachine

ruined

New Member

cadaveca

My name is Dave

Neuromancer

cadaveca

My name is Dave

PaulieG

Processor	Intel I7 4820k EK Supremacy Nickel Waterblock
Motherboard	Asus Rasmpage IV Extreme
Cooling	Alphacool UT60 560 Radiator
Memory	Kingston Hyper X 16gb 2400
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 580 Heatkiller Waterblock - EK Backplate
Storage	SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB
Display(s)	LG 24" Flatron
Case	Silerstone TJ11
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster Recon 3Di
Power Supply	XFX Pro 1000 Platimum
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate 64

System Name	Spreadsheet powerhouse
Processor	Two P4s glued together
Motherboard	Asus P5KPL-AM EPU
Cooling	CoolerMaster Hyper TX3
Memory	2gb (2x1gb) Kingston Value Ram DDR2 800mhz
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD4670 1gb GDDR3 w/ Arctic Cooling Accelero L7
Storage	500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
Display(s)	Philips 191EL 18.5"
Case	Thermaltake V4 Black Edition
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Thermaltake TR2 600W
Software	WinXp

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