Overclocking

Overclocking with the ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z is an absolute treat. At this point in time the BIOS is very mature, and ready for the vast majority of memory modules on the market. We did not run into any issues at all, and the ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z managed to pull our reference 4500 MHz overclock with just 1.272 V selected in BIOS, one of the best results yet. We also had no problem getting our Corsair sticks running at 2133 MHz, even managing to do so with just 1.6 V, which no other board was able to replicate.


Of course, ASUS does feature some auto-tuning software that will automatically overclock the system for you, and not just the CPU. Once you click the button to start, a very valid warning appears, letting us know that we were taking the safety of our CPU into our own hands, and this warning couldn't have been more honest, truth be known.


After a couple of reboots, the software had us WAY over 4500 MHz, clocking in at 5047 MHz on the CPU. It also applied an overclock to the i7 2600K's iGPU, all the way up to 1650 MHz.


We ran SuperPi 32M at first to check stability, and it passed with flying colors, as you can see in the screenshot above, nearly breaking past the seven minute mark. Under high load, like Cinebench, temperatures rose to a point we were not comfortable with our Noctua cooler, with the CPU initiating thermal throttle fairly quickly. Perhaps with better cooling we could have remained fully stable long term, but it was good fun to see the tiny Maximus board keep up with the 5047 MHz clocks.

Overclocked Performance Summary

Cinebench provided a substantial performance increase when overclocked, something that resounds true through the entire series of SandyBridge products.


Likewise, Super Pi 32m results proved the same as Cinebench, with substantial performance increases that are noticed on previous Intel platforms.


WPrime 1024M numbers further the results, showing that there is true power available when overclocking the ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z.


For a bit of 3D action, we fired up Code Master's F1 2010, to note that we are finally near to finding the optimal CPU speed at stock for F1 2010, with just a very small increase noticed.