ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z LGA1155 Review 28

ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z LGA1155 Review

(28 Comments) »

Value & Conclusion

  • The ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z will be available now with an MSRP of $179.99
  • Full-size board features and capability packed into a much smaller footprint
  • Excellent overclocking options
  • Mature BIOS ensures easy setup for near every configuration
  • Low power consumption
  • Lucid Virtu support
  • Fantastic accessory package.
  • Near the best "Out-of-the-Box" performance we've seen so far
  • 3-Year Limited Warranty
  • Our first "High-End" board without a USB 3.0 front panel device.
  • Slot spacing not ideal for multi-GPU configurations
  • Forced overclock with "stock" ASUS settings
  • Small size may leave it overlooked by many
  • BIOS has too many pages
  • Voltage read points need to be socketed.
We cannot say enough how impressed we are with the ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z. When it comes to the BIOS, although we feel that the pages are far too numerous, we wouldn't want to see a single option removed, and the ones we'd like to see added hardly have any effect on usability or performance. With one of the best audio results we've seen so far, and really some of the very best overclocking we've seen yet, this minute board not only offers everything much larger boards do for features, it offers a few things more too, and the fact that it's so small doesn't affect those features one bit. There is one problem, however. With support for dual video cards, both in SLI and CrossFire format, the slot spacing is far too close together for dual high-end cards like nVidia's GTX 580 and GTX 590, or AMD's 6970 and 6990. All of those solutions, from both sides of the fence, tend to require a high-airflow system, and that's just not possible in such a small form-factor. However, for single cards, we do believe many users will have a hard time to find anything lacking, and if high-end multiple-card video solutions are required, aftermarket watercooling is always possible. With the overclocking abilities offered it's almost a shame to not watercool a rig built with this board, as it's definitely able to go even further than we pushed it, provided you have a CPU that is capable. If you are serious about overclocking and plan on using a single VGA, you'd be foolish to not consider this product. We deducted points for the slot configuration, and for the "cheating" stock overclock, although these are very minor issues that one should expect from a product like this. Don't forget to hit us up in the forums when you buy yours, and we'll help you get started.
Recommended
Discuss(28 Comments)
View as single page
Nov 23rd, 2024 18:31 EST change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts