Today we put one of the most interesting of the ASUS boards under the microscope. The Maximus V GENE Z77, a pint sized mATX product that packs a ridiculous number of features into a compact design. A few notable features on the ASUS Maximus V GENE Z77 include: SupremeFX III audio, LucidLogix Virtu MVP, GameFirst, Intel Gigabit LAN, mPCIe Combo, Extreme Engine Digi+ II, PCI-E 3.0, and SLI/CrossFire On-Demand.
ASUS has included a handy utility with the GENE to automatically overclock the system called CPU Level Up. CPU Level Up allows for quick and easy CPU overclocking by simply enabling the feature in the BIOS where there are three levels available for our 3770K: 4.2GHz, 4.4GHz, and 4GHz. Once you select one, the board resets and both a CPU and memory overclock are applied. The result is a boost from stock speed (optimized defaults, Turbo enabled) of 3,900Mhz to an instant 4,600Mhz with no effort whatsoever! Not only do we have a very nice CPU overclock with CPU Level Up, but the GENE also gave a modest overclock to the memory with 1866Mhz at 11-13-13-35 1T. This is among the best auto overclocks we have seen to date. The system was rock stable at 4.6Ghz while using the CPU Level Up feature and we were able to run all stress tests and benchmarks without any issue. For reference load, Vcore was at 1.328v and load temperatures in the mid 70s for the auto OC of 4.6Ghz.
The last thing we tested was how the 3770K would overclock while undervolted. At 1.1V Vcore, we could push the chip to 4.3GHz with temps averaging 46C after an hour of load. This could be a good option for folders or those running low power, low heat machines.
All in all, Ivy Bridge overclocking really is quite easy in comparison to Sandy bridge-E for example since there are less variables involved. The GENE was a pleasure to work with and the BIOS was virtually bug free.
With a brand new platform, growing pains often exist but users will be happy to know that one of the only issues they will encounter will be the crazy heat omitted by an overclocked Ivy Bridge chip. We thought that ASUS did such a good job with the GENE that we are left wondering what they have left up their sleeve for the flagship Maximus V Extreme Z77. Source
Asus MAXIMUS V GENE Z77 mATX DDR3 Intel LGA 1155 MotherboardASUS has included a handy utility with the GENE to automatically overclock the system called CPU Level Up. CPU Level Up allows for quick and easy CPU overclocking by simply enabling the feature in the BIOS where there are three levels available for our 3770K: 4.2GHz, 4.4GHz, and 4GHz. Once you select one, the board resets and both a CPU and memory overclock are applied. The result is a boost from stock speed (optimized defaults, Turbo enabled) of 3,900Mhz to an instant 4,600Mhz with no effort whatsoever! Not only do we have a very nice CPU overclock with CPU Level Up, but the GENE also gave a modest overclock to the memory with 1866Mhz at 11-13-13-35 1T. This is among the best auto overclocks we have seen to date. The system was rock stable at 4.6Ghz while using the CPU Level Up feature and we were able to run all stress tests and benchmarks without any issue. For reference load, Vcore was at 1.328v and load temperatures in the mid 70s for the auto OC of 4.6Ghz.
The last thing we tested was how the 3770K would overclock while undervolted. At 1.1V Vcore, we could push the chip to 4.3GHz with temps averaging 46C after an hour of load. This could be a good option for folders or those running low power, low heat machines.
All in all, Ivy Bridge overclocking really is quite easy in comparison to Sandy bridge-E for example since there are less variables involved. The GENE was a pleasure to work with and the BIOS was virtually bug free.
With a brand new platform, growing pains often exist but users will be happy to know that one of the only issues they will encounter will be the crazy heat omitted by an overclocked Ivy Bridge chip. We thought that ASUS did such a good job with the GENE that we are left wondering what they have left up their sleeve for the flagship Maximus V Extreme Z77. Source
Price $199.99
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