Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Schematic, Manual, Bios & Driver || Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Review
Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Schematic, Manual, Bios & Driver || Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Review
Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Overview
The Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z is a mini ATX motherboard designed for the LGA 1155 platform. This motherboard contains SLI support from ATI crossfire. I believe they are referring to AMD crossfire X. This motherboard is an M-80 X Republic of Gamers variant. That has a Z-type chipset rather than a P67 chipset, which supports Intel SRT technology, which combines your hard drive with an SSD to make it speedier. The Intel Z68 chipset powers it. We also have virtue support, which uses the lucid hydrologic software to use the integrated GPU for things like transcoding video and saving power, as well as using your dedicated GPU or GPUs. So premium FX X-FI 2 is built-in for this, and you have a nice onboard sound game first, which has to do with prioritizing your network traffic.
The ROG Connect is an interesting device. You may connect a USB cord to another computer or laptop to overclock your board. There is a cool BIOS print one-click; share your BIOS settings and may print off your BIOS settings extremely neat since this is very useful for assisting others with their stuff. GPU DIMM post is a bit misleading because they mean GPU and memory post Diagnostics, and I believe they're attempting to reduce it slightly too much. Because it's a fantastic tool, but they've made it difficult to explain what it does. So you can quickly identify which cards are plugged into which Dims from within the BIOS. If they're correctly identified, or Dims slots for PCIe slots, whether they're properly detected, you'll be able to troubleshoot any problems with the system more quickly.
Accessories
Let's have a look at what we've got, including accessories. First, we have our ROG connect cable, some cable ties, and a short SLI bridge that's flexible. I prefer to see a black or red one on a board. We also have front panel connectors and sound cards, which I believe are fantastic. We've got six SATA cables, our I/O shield, and a user guide, including a DVD which you should throw away, and download the latest drivers from the Asus website, which I have included at the end of the review in the download section. Republican gamers sticker, which you cannot download from the Asus website; you'll have to have to use that one hard drive label and a ROG sticker for the case.
The Board - A Closer Look
Let's have a closer look and the Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z motherboard circuit inspection. I am trying to inspect the details of the motherboard electronic components as possible.
The BIOS, Digi+ EPU, and TPU Chip
The ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z includes a 64Mb BIOS chip to store its UEFI firmware. The firmware communicates with the Digi+/EPU VRM controller, which, combined with the "TPU" chip, forms ASUS' "Dual Intelligent Processor" VRM solution, which is included in practically every enthusiast product ASUS manufactures. The TPU stands for "Turbo Processing Unit."
The second figure above shows that the DIMM VRM is a simple dual-phase design with two sets of Hi/Low MOSFETs and twin inductors labeled "1R2." the VRM is a conventional Hi/Low MOSFET design with six little black square input drivers between the MOSFETs, each supplying two complete phases. Given the inductor layout, it's easy to tell which phases, with eight for the CPU and four for the GPU.
The LAN chip is provided by Intel, with the widely popular Intel WG82579V PCIe Ethernet controller claiming to utilize extremely minimal CPU time, which might be essential for optimal online gaming performance. The ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z has a software-based X-Fi system known as the X-Fi 2 SupremeFX, which employs a Realtek ALC889 audio CODEC.
iROG & Rear I/O Chip
As a Super I/O, we find the Nuvoton NCT6776F, which has become a typical item on ASUS boards. The Nuvoton chip is linked with the iROG chip visible in the second image to enable full voltage and temperature monitoring and fan speed management. ASUS has used the JMicron JMB362, a cheap PCIe SATA 3 Gb/s controller we've seen on several devices, to support the eSATA ports on the rear I/O.
AsMedia provides the following components, beginning with the ASM1440 PCIe 2.0 switches, which shift lanes from the first PCIe x16 slot to the secondary slot. The ASM1442, the second component, is a TMDS that provides the functionality and voltage shifting required to enable the HDMI port on the back I/O. The final two AsMedia components are ASM1042 USB 3.0 controllers that connect to the PCIe bus. The first USB 3.0 controller, shown in the third image above, supports the red USB 3.0 front panel header. In contrast, the second controller is positioned at the back of the board between the VRM cooler and the rear I/O tower, which houses the ports the controller is attached.
ASUS has provided the Maximus IV Gene-Z with many buttons, like with the majority of ROG products; an ON/OFF and a RESET button are situated on the board's edge, and they light up when the board is powered on, while a third, labeled "GO BUTTON," provides two unique functionalities. First, it enables ASUS's own "MemOK" functionality, an additional chunk of BIOS code that, when pressed before POST is activated, tests the installed memory and then applies settings deemed to be OK to ensure a "safe boot."
We tested this capability using a set of DIMMs known to be incompatible with most 1155 socket boards, and the "MemOK" function got us into the BIOS, which is more than many other products can boast. Second, the "GO BUTTON" loads a preset overclock that may be manually modified in the board's BIOS on the fly. There's also a set of reading points for crucial system voltages, which we've seen on other overclocker-friendly devices. Still, these aren't our preferred option because they're solder points, not sockets, which might lead to shorting issues if users aren't cautious.
For cooling, we discover an "L"-shaped cooler for the VRM, made up of two matching metal parts with several thick fins joined by a huge flattened heat pipe. The numerous fins offer a vast surface area for cooling, allowing the cooler to perform well even in low-flow settings. The PCH cooler appears to be made of a huge solid block of aluminum, with the underside cut out somewhat to avoid contact with other components. Flipping them over, we discover that they make good contact with all relevant surfaces, with the VRM cooler displaying such deep imprints from the MOSFETs and input drivers that we can see through the pad in spots.
The PCH cooler employs the ubiquitous but adequate bubble-gum thermal interface that we've seen many times before and performs admirably in our testing. It's worth noting that, due to the appearance of the pad on the VRM cooler, we recommend that users do not remove this cooler unless they intend to replace it with a completely different cooler, such as a water block, because the effectiveness of the compressed thermal pad after the cooler has been removed is called into question.
