ASUS Maximus V GENE Pro Reviews

The Maximus V Gene provides a great motherboard with a ton of features, if you do not mind paying the small price premium. Even when you factor the initial cost in, against all the functionality, the software, the BIOS and the features, it makes financial sense that this board is worth purchasing for the extra green. On the face of it, we get a high performing board with extra USB 3.0, extra SATA 6 Gbps, SupremeFX III audio, an mPCIe combo card, an Intel NIC, voltage read points, power/reset buttons, a two digit debug, excellent fan controls, and features like ROG Connect, FanXpert II, USB 3.0 Boost, GameFirst for network management and USB BIOS Flashback. Performance wise the ASUS does quite well, enabling MCT and being very efficient across the board. With USB 3.0 Boost, our USB numbers while using this feature are enhanced by a good margin. Overclocking performed quite well, even with our bad CPU!

A perfect balance between price, ease-of-use and power

While the Maximus V Gene is not uber-cheap, it is far from expensive. You can purchase the motherboard from either Newegg or Amazon for $189.99 with free shipping from both (Prime for Amazon). Even though the Micro-ATX form factor pushes ASUS to limit expansion slot depth, ASUS has virtually left nothing off the Maximus V Gene design. In fact the ASUS Maximus V Gene has proven to be the best Z77 based Ivy Bridge overclocking we have experienced. If you can deal with the footprint, the Maximus V Gene proves to be one hell of an enthusiast value through its tremendous feature set and overclocking abilities.

The one thing in common with all the Z77 boards I have tested is that they all fall into a specific performance envelope based on the installed hardware. Any which way you cut it, your hardware is going to only give you what it can. Better power regulation can make that maximum speed more stable, but in the end the margin will be about the same. So what sets one board apart from the other at this point? It really all comes down to feature set, functionality, and price. Let's tackle price first, as the ROG boards usually command a significant premium over the mid range boards in ASUS' product stack. Believe it or not, the Maximus V Gene is offered for $189, in the prime $100-$200 range at popular e-tailers. For the features you get, it is an incredible value at that price point. That added value comes not only in the included hardware part of the bundle, but with fully licensed versions of Kaspersky Anti-Virus software, a basic version of DAEMON Tools, and an improved version of ASUS' GameFirst packet management software, which includes an easier to use GUI. You also get a fully functional uEFI BIOS implementation that works as intended without the lagging mouse functionality of some competing implementations. In this BIOS you get both an "EZ" mode and an Advanced mode that is granular enough to make just about any hardcore tweaker happy, while allowing the novice to get in and out on one page. Flashing the BIOS using either the USB BIOS flashback feature or ASUS EZ Flash in the tools section of the BIOS are simple chores and really could not be easier. Staying with the BIOS, ASUS C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall) is as good as it has been over the past few generations. If you get a little or lot out of bounds with the BIOS settings, a simple power down and restart will get you back in the BIOS with the previous settings intact.

There's not much left for me to say about the ASUS Maximus V Gene. Its overclock performance is second to none, has one of the best software packages, it is ready for gamers and extreme clockers alike, uses relatively tight voltage regulation, allowing for lower voltages to be used when overclocking, has all the features of a full ATX product, yet it is all smushed into a smaller mATX form-factor. I do not like the add-on mPCIe card, at all, and have issues recommending it to users, but I don't see many users actually making use of it anyway, although personally, I will not build an Intel Z77 Express system without an mSATA drive. There are clearly a couple of things that I have an issue with that prevented it from getting a perfect score, like that mSATA retention clip, a few details in BIOS, and the underwhelming SATA performance, but none of those things came in the way of the performance numbers, which were the best ever in nearly every situation. Unfortunately, there's one more detail I must mention. The ASUS Maximus V Gene is pretty expensive. For the cost, you can get a full ATX product with very similar features, and there are even a few out there that bundle WiFi and Bluetooth, something this product lacks. Be that as it may though, if performance is priority number one for you, or you're interested in using LN2 cooling, there's no better product than the ASUS Maximus V Gene, and the slightly elevated cost should pose no barrier. It's so good, in fact, that W1zzard is using it in his VGA test rig and you'll find it used as the basis for our upcoming memory reviews as well. I'm a bit disappointed to find that the "TPU" logo that ASUS and TechPowerUp share is not on this product either, but clearly if it serves as the base for some of our test rigs here on TPU, the ASUS Maximus V Gene has proven itself as a stellar product. It scores very high, as it's going to be very hard for any other product to match. Don't forget to hit us up on the forums, and tell us what you think!

Coming in at $199 the ASUS Maximus V GENE comes in and hits at a really nice price point. While ROG boards tend to be a little bit more expensive than other models, the mATX form factor on offer from ASUS means that the pricing comes in slightly more aggressive and sits very strong against a lot of other models. Performance as always is very strong and to be honest we'd expect nothing less from an ROG based motherboard. The overclock we managed here today is the strongest we've had out of our Z77 boards that we've tested so far and while it's only a little higher, it's higher none the less. Outside of the performance we've got a strong feature set on offer and it's awesome to see that ASUS managed to bring mini PCIe and mSATA connectivity to a small mATX based motherboard. Along with that we've got all those other yummy ROG features that makes the board stand out.

The highly anticipated release of Ivy Bridge processors and motherboards has marked a new lineup of hardware which has so far proven to be a worthy successor to the Sandy Bridge generation. With the ROG team's first Z77 release in the Maximus V GENE, ASUS brought their A game to the table by giving us a board with something for everyone. Somehow ASUS has packed the features of a full-sized board into a mATX format and for a gamer, the GENE will surely be appealing for the ability to overclock the processor to 4.6GHz with the click of a button. The built-in SupremeFX III sound system and GameFirst coupled with an Intel Gigabit LAN will bring your gaming experience to a new level. Add SLI capabilities, PCI-E Gen 3, and the benefits that Virtu MVP brings to the table and we can't think of a more complete product, be it mATX or ATX size.

If we’re honest here, we’re a little disappointed - the Maximus V Gene doesn’t distinguish itself from the competition in terms of raw performance in the way its predecessors have. This is a shame, but it’s indicative of a mature market - Ivy Bridge and Z77 are, after all, only updates to Sandy Bridge and Z68. This means motherboard manufacturers have had a good old while to perfect their boards, while also aping the tricks and features of their competitors, leading to a homogenous market. It’s good then to see the Maximus V Gene distinguish itself in other ways, such as in its pricing, features and looks. In this regard the board is a success - at £150 it’s cheaper than the other two boards we’ve been testing (reviews soon). Granted you lose some flexibility in terms of expansion slots, but what you lose here you make up for in the ability to choose a smaller case. The board also looks great, especially with its clever backlighting arrangement. As a result we’ve no hesitation in giving the Maximus V Gene a great big gold star, but stay tuned over the coming weeks, as we’ll be looking at more Z77 boards and seeing if any can topple the dinky Gene.

Anything that has a nomenclature like Maximus is going to be a product that screams I have it all and you want me. Why? Well for starters this motherboard represents the flagship series of segment boards in the R.O.G family of products. And made for the traveling gamer. Many people still feel that the bigger the board the more it has, but that is a fallacy paramount to words like never and always. The fact of the matter is this: Today’s advanced technology allows for the Gene to perform on par with boards of any size, but performance at stock speeds is no way to judge a motherboard as that us serious tunnel vision in a world where performance variables are only in a 1 though 4 percent range, in today’s market it is a battle of the features my friends.

A lot of power and features expertly crammed into a compact board, with great performance at default settings.