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Published: July 29, 2009 | Source: Asus | Author: James Napier

ASUS Maximus II GENE mATX Motherboard

Introduction & Specifications
 
ASUS LogoIt wasn’t so long ago that the mATX motherboard was deemed only acceptable for use inside HTPC setups or budget builds. Most came with shoddy low-end integrated graphics and nasty on-board sound chips and no enthusiast in their right minds would consider going anywhere near one. However, on the 27th February 2009 ASUS shocked us all. By splicing the features of their high-end Republic of Gamers Rampage II motherboard along the standard mATX form factor, the first ever performance i7 X58 mATX motherboard was born. Named the ASUS RoG Rampage II Gene, the board was received well by both enthusiasts and the press. Not only did it possess all the features of it’s larger ATX counterpart but it was also more affordable, better at overclocking and took the lead in many benchmarks.
 
But why should the i7 crowd get all the fun?
 
Although good old Socket 775 has been receiving a lot less attention recently, it is still very much one of the top choices for enthusiasts who don’t want to shell out on an expensive i7 setup. After all CPU’s such as the E8400 and E7200 are cheap as chips (no pun!) these days and punch well above their weight when overclocked. In fact, its almost hard to believe that the last S775 motherboard reviewed here on Overclock3D was almost a year ago! ASUS however, aren’t so keen to let the Core 2 series die just yet and recently announced a new member of their ‘Gene’ pool, the Maximus II Gene. Today we’re going to be putting this board through its paces, but first the specs:
 
CPU
Intel® Socket 775 Core™2 Quad/Core™2 Extreme/Core™2 Duo/Pentium® dual-core/Celeron® dual-core / Celeron® Processors Support Intel® 45nm Multi-Core CPU
* Refer to www.asus.com for Intel CPU support list

Chipset
Intel® P45 /ICH10R

Front Side Bus
1600/1333/1066/800 MHz

Memory:
4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR2 1300/1200/1066/800/667 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel memory architecture
*Refer to www.asus.com or this user manual for the Memory QVL(Qualified Vendors Lists).

Expansion Slots
2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (single max @ x16,dual @ x8 speed)
1 x PCIe x1
1 x PCI 2.2

Multi-GPU Support
Support ATI CrossFireX™ Technology

Storage
Intel ICH10R controller
6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports
Intel Matrix Storage Technology Support RAID 0,1,5,10
JMicron® JMB363 PATA and SATA controller
1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66/33 for up to 2 PATA devices
1 xExternal SATA 3.0 Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go)
1 xSATA 3.0 Gb/s port

LAN
Gigabit LAN

Audio
SupremeFX X-Fi built-in
8 – Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
– EAX® Advanced™ HD 4.0
– X-Fi CMSS®-3D
– X-Fi Crystalizer™
– Creative ALchemy

IEEE 1394 2 x 1394a ports (1 port at back I/O, 1 port onboard)
USB 12 USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at back I/O, 6 ports onboard)

Overclocking Features
Keyboard-TweakIt
CPU Level Up
iROG
Extreme Tweaker
Loadline Calibration
Power Design:
– 8-phase CPU power
– 2-phase DRAM power
– 2-phase NB power
Intelligent overclocking tools:
– TurboV
– O.C Profile
– COP EX (Component Overheat Protection – EX)
– Voltiminder LED
– ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)

Special Features
ASUS MyLogo 3
ASUS EZ Flash 2
ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
ASUS Q-Connector
External LCD Poster
MemOK!
One DIMM latch
Onboard Switches: Power / Reset / Memok / Clr CMOS (at rear)
ASUS EPU-6 Engine
ASUS Fan Xpert

Powered by an P45/ICH10R chipset combo the Maximus II Gene has official support for DDR2-1300 memory, Crossfire (albeit at 8x8x) and RAID 0/1/5/10 via the six SATA-II ports. Sound is provided via an on-board version of ASUS’ SupremeFX X-Fi which is capable of EAX4.0 and many other X-Fi features, but mostly by software emulation. Other features common only to the ASUS RoG series are also plentiful with 8-Phase CPU power circuitry, 2-Phase DRAM and NB power, Voltminder LED, Onboard swiches and a whole host of other goodies. But before I give the game away let’s move on to the next page and take a proper look at the board….

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