Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Motherboard review (mATX)

Asus have included easy access Reset and Start buttons, next to a digital read out for troubleshooting potential boot up problems (the manual has details on all the possible error codes). At the top right, behind the I/O panel is the ROG connect button. If the end user has a laptop then it can be connected via a USB cable to view real time POST code and hardware status readouts. On the fly changes can also be made on a hardware level. The GO button at the top left of the board is used for safe booting and memory speed timing reset. Underneath this button is a four LED system to give quick indication of boot up problems (VGA/DRAM/CPU and BOOT DEVICE). We didn't experience any problems during our testing period.

Asus have scattered five fan headers in all areas of the motherboard to ensure high airflow chassis design have plenty of coverage.

Along the lower section of the board are two USB 2.0 header connectors and the main 20-8 pin System panel connector.

The Back I/O port has connectivity for:

1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s)
1 x HDMI
2 x eSATA 3Gb/s
1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
2 x USB 3.0
8 x USB 2.0 (white port can be switched to ROG Connect)
1 x Optical S/PDIF out
6 x Audio jack(s)
1 x Clear CMOS button(s)

The board can handle both SLI and CrossfireX graphics configurations and it also supports LucidLogix Virtua Technology. We have covered the LucidLogix Virtua before and really do not rate this technology at all. Right now we believe it is best just ignoring it completely. When two graphics cards are installed in either CFx or SLI the 16x PCI E ports switch to 8x bandwidth. This really won't have an impact on performance, as we have shown in previous reviews.

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