Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Motherboard review (mATX)

We have reviewed several Z68 boards before, and we have also reviewed the Intel Core i7 2600k in several configurations. We feel that many people buying the Asus Maximum IV Gene-Z motherboard will be building a high performance media center inside a specialised chassis, smaller than the usual tower design.

For this review are using the 4.6ghz automated settings as listed on the previous page and we are using two Powercolor HD6850 Single slot cards. Many people are wary of attempting manual bios adjustments, and by simply changing a few bios settings, 4.6ghz is easily achieved, a healthy 1.2ghz overclock with minimal effort. We have covered the LucidLogix Virtua technology before in earlier reviews and really do not rate it at all. Right now we believe it is best just ignoring it completely.

This is the kind of system that would make for an incredibly powerful media center that can easily double up for 1080p gaming in a living room. With the single slot Powercolor cards, the airflow inside a smaller chassis would be maximised.

System build:

Processor: Intel Core i7 2600k @ 4.6ghz (automated bios setting).
Cooler: Noctua NH-U12P Special Edition SE2
Motherboard: Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB 1600mhz 7-7-7-20
Drives: Intel 510 SSD 250GB and Samsung 2TB
Power Supply: Cooler Master GX650 Bronze
Optical Drive: Asus BluRay SBC-06d1S-U
Monitors: Sanyo 1080p LCD Television and LaCie 730 (IQ testing and some game tests)

Graphics cards:
Powercolor HD6850 Single Slot (CrossfireX)

Software:
Windows 7 64 Bit Enterprise Edition
Catalyst 11.5
Fraps Professional
Pcmark 7
SiSoft Sandra
CPUz
GPUz
CPUID Hardware Monitor Professional
Cinebench R11.5 64 bit
CyberLink PowerDvd 10 Ultra
Cyberlink Media Espresso
CrystalMark
HDTach
HQV Benchmark V 2.0
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
Unigine Heaven Benchmark

Games:
Far Cry 2
Resident Evil 5
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Tom Clancy HAWX 2
Alien V Predator
Lost Planet 2
Metro 2033
Dead Space 2
Batman Arkham Asylum
Battleforge
Crysis Warhead
Devil May Cry 4
Left4Dead 2

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests across five closely matched runs and averages out the results to get an accurate median figure.

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