Maximus IV GENE-Z in a FT03b!? No way! [*bandwidth cap warning*]

jeremyshaw

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Aug 26, 2009
Messages
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EDIT 4DEC2020: I found some of the old pictures, and reuploaded them to [H]. Imageshack is no more.



Soooo.... It's time for a story :p All pics are mine, these took a LONG time to upload, lol. And properly manually thumbnail to the size I like. If a pic doesn't load up, press F5.

Today, I received a Maximus IV GENE-Z in the mail... and the following is what happened immediately after:


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------However, like all stories, let's start from the beginning. BTW, if you are in here for OC results, I suck at OC. So there are none. I'm bone stock. i7 2600k put to waste, here.

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This is my current USB issue. There are another 4 devices begging to be plugged in. And all 6 are taken on my P8H67-I Deluxe (purchased to wait for Maximuxs IV GENE-Z).


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Storage solution. SSD. HDD. HDD. C300 128GB power there :D


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I am VERY glad for the fan filters. Very much so. There is a lot more dust than meets the eye, here.

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Current setup. The CPU HSF is a Scythe Shuriken Rev.B with the HSF mounting arms slightly bent to give more clearance to the GPU (because of the backplate on my GPU). This is indeed a mITX board in a mATX case :p


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Left - GTAP13 at full blast. Right - AX850 (Seasonic X-850 platform) at... BAMF mode?


0273.JPG - this picture is lost to time :(
Better lighting pic.


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Better lighting V2. I *did* cull a lot of redundant pics. So the remaining are the less redundant.


0276.JPG - this picture also lost to time. I culled a number of what I thought were redundant images off of my storage drive a while back
The meat and gravy of this post. Its also conveniently this arrived on today - when I don't have work in the morning :D


0277.JPG - same story with this image
*box automagically disappears*


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peak-a-boo.


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Replacement fiends... :D The mini, and the micro. BTW, the mini has faster 1866C9 SODIMMs :eek:


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A closer look. Despite speculation, I cannot find space for a SSD under that southbridge HS.


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FINALLY, a SLI cable that ASUS forgot to bundle with the P8P67-M Pro :p No CF cable is fine - most AMD GPU past 100usd come with one, anyways. SLI bridge... must have. :) The white USB cable is for ASUS ROG Connect, which reassigns one of the ten USB ports (yes!! 10!!! :D) on the back I/O so you can plug in your motherboard to another computer, to allow (afaik) UEFI level overclocking and settings tweaking.... while the computer is on!


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hmmm.... the X-Fi 2 is missing it's little cover sticker. Not that I care :p Again, the ASUS bundled cables include no *non 90degree* cables :( Please!! At least one!!


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G.Skill Sniper 1600 CAS9 1.25V. My other kit is on loan to a friend, so I got to wait for it to come back before I can get a full 16GB crammed in there :p


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ASUS even thought of resell purposes!! The Back I/O cover plate is stored with a bag that has a resealable top. So no cutting needed; no shredded back I/O plate cover bags.


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Backside shot. The eVGA Superclock backplate is already mounted at the time of this pic, so... I'm sorry :(


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cooler fits!!


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No PCIe slot clearance issue... (btw, the HS is a rebadged Polaris HSF - sealed sides is it's main design attribute).



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Another side.


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technically, the previous pic was the "backside" pic.

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Well... there are indeed 4 sides to a square...


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No mobo HS clearance issues.


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I think no fan clearance issues, if installed (I don't install since it would interfere with my case - but the mobo & RAM seem fine if one was installed).


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DOF experimentation...


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Removing DOF... :p


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Installing the mobo into the case. All three 120mm fan (one more in that angled bracket on the lower right) are GTAP13 fans. I dunno if I want to swap them out with GTAP15 and let the mobo control them... (have them here, just need motivation :p). Previously, they were all running at a wired 12V, since the recently vacated mITX mobo only had two fan headers...


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'nother pic. I have a lot of bandwidth wasting pics. BTW, you probably already know, but you can click on the pics for fullsize direct pics. And by now, now, you already know a lot of the fullsize ones are blurry in some areas :( I DO NOT suck at taking pictures! I simply do not!! (I was told denying everything helps).


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ASUS Engineer who thought of this... I *wub* U! :) :D You are so awesome! This allows for the semi passive push pull of the FT03 case to be fully utilized. Also allows for push pull HSF setups to work. Or one fan on HSF, and one exhausting from the case. Both are controlled via the same UEFI fan control setting.


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July 4th coming up. For those of us in the USA, it means Independence Day! Also, that's a glowing power button on the mobo. Not a fire.


0300.JPG - so I cannot really say lost to time, if I'm the one who deleted them.
UEFI default screen. I love ASUS for defaulting to advanced screen :)


0301.JPG - I've also been reading my old post back, was I really that cringey back then?
memory and PCIe allocation tab...


0302.JPG - Also gone.
Power on by PS/2 KB and Mouse options exist. Just I fail at taking monitor pics... BTW, I set to 1/10th second shutter, F7.1 aperature, Nikon D3100 with the stock kit lens... for most of these pictures. A majority have okay lighting, thankfully. I was eyeballing based off of the D3100's LCD, which is severely lacking compared to my U2711, lol.


0303.JPG - I'm surprised I deleted this one
The specific LAN chip utilized on this mobo. Intel 82579. The default Windows 7 SP1 driver set does not include even a generic driver for this. So... heads up on that little driver.


That is all, [H]!!

I'll try to answer all questions possible. Thank you very much!

-Jeremy Shaw (I have creative username -.-).



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i7 2600k
Maximus IV GENE-Z
GTX580 1.5GB
8GB 1600 C9 1.25V
128GB C300
Two 2TB WD Green HDDs
FT03b
AX850
U2711
Blackwidow Ultimate
ASUS wired OEM mouse (doesn't come with the mobo).
 
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Awesome build. Thanks for checking on that power on via PS/2 keyboard option in the BIOS. ;)
 
Awesome build. Thanks for checking on that power on via PS/2 keyboard option in the BIOS. ;)

No problem, I did remember your request on that :D

I also noticed a hotkey to take screencaps... in the UEFI. However, I didn't have my HDDs setup at that time, so I didn't want to mess around with it, lol.
 
You installed a micro ATX board in a micro ATX case?! No way!

:p

But anyway... nice build? I didn't even know EVGA made a CPU cooler...
 
You installed a micro ATX board in a micro ATX case?! No way!

:p

But anyway... nice build? I didn't even know EVGA made a CPU cooler...

hee hee :D

The FT03, due to PSU size, placement, etc is just one slot width away from becomming an ATX tower, lol. FT03 owners know what I am talking about :p

Actually, if Silverstone made an ATX tower like this, I'd buy it, too. I like the lack of most useless 5.25" ports on this space optimized case (it is decently midsize for a mATX case).

My only real complaint resides with the side panels, but I don't move the case around nearly enough to care :)

As for the CPU cooler, I won it in a contest from eVGA :p I would of never bought it otherwise (since I was happy enough with a dimpy Scythe Shuriken Rev.B :)
 
Still testing. It's gonna take a while. It's quite subjective, after all :(

EDIT: and for the guys I linked via OCN's Beastly SFF thread, Hi!! :D

Oh no worries, just was hoping maybe you'd listened to some music or such already. :D

I have to say, that custom-colored ROG UEFI is really nice.
 
looking good man, really makes me want to fill my case out as well
I notice you have a gaping hole next to that 580...wonder how that could be fixed
 
Oh no worries, just was hoping maybe you'd listened to some music or such already. :D

I have to say, that custom-colored ROG UEFI is really nice.
Ah, not to mention, most of my music is on my laptop, lol :( I'll do some testing throught the night and the week :)
looking good man, really makes me want to fill my case out as well
I notice you have a gaping hole next to that 580...wonder how that could be fixed



?? - solves both of our problems!! :D

On the other hand, it would of been a GTS450, however, the GT430 I had was WAY too noisey for it's intended purpose I had for it, so it ended up being replaced by the GTS450 :(

Either way, GPU will have to wait until HD7000 :D
 
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Wow, great job, first ft03 ever I see with a good cabling job :D
Thank you!
lol... it's horribad in person :p The pics carefully hide any major imperfections :D

However, I forgot to mention, ASUS actually bundles 10 cable zip ties in with the mobo :) White color.
 
Nice little system you have there :)

Jeremy, is there are possibility that you can measure the clearance between the edge of the heatsink and the backplate of the graphics card? The EVGA / Swiftech heatsink is 135mm wide, so looking at the photos I think it confirms my expectation that 140mm wide heatsinks aren't really an option on these boards. Thanks.

I really hate the socket position on LGA 1155 µATX boards, if Intel had only moved it ~15mm closer to the edge of the board then we would confidently be able to use the large heatsinks for 140mm fans.
 
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Nice touch with the American flag.

BTW, if you are in here for OC results, I suck at OC. So there are none. I'm bone stock. i7 2600k put to waste, here.

Here are instructions on how to OC your 2600K

Step 1
Go into UEFI (seems as if you already know how to do this)

Step 2
Find place to change Turbo multipliers, and change all four of them to... pick a number. 45 is pretty common, 42 if you want "safe."

Step 3
...

Step 4
Profit!
 
Nice work Jeremy. Where did you get the Maxius IV Gene from?
buy.com. However, I got it last wednessday, when buy.com themselves still had it in stock for 186usd. Now, it seems that beachaudio is reselling via buy.com at a higher price :(
Nice little system you have there :)

Jeremy, is there are possibility that you can measure the clearance between the edge of the heatsink and the backplate of the graphics card? The EVGA / Swiftech heatsink is 135mm wide, so looking at the photos I think it confirms my expectation that 140mm wide heatsinks aren't really an option on these boards. Thanks.

I really hate the socket position on LGA 1155 µATX boards, if Intel had only moved it ~15mm closer to the edge of the board then we would confidently be able to use the large heatsinks for 140mm fans.
A lither less than 3mm. Do note, the Polaris/Superclock is wider at the middle, where I measured (you already know this; why am I reposting, lol?) However my GPU does have a backplate, which add about 5mm, afaik [based on measurements with my old board and the Scythe ShurikenRev.B I had on it].
Nice touch with the American flag.



Here are instructions on how to OC your 2600K

Step 1
Go into UEFI (seems as if you already know how to do this)

Step 2
Find place to change Turbo multipliers, and change all four of them to... pick a number. 45 is pretty common, 42 if you want "safe."

Step 3
...

Step 4
Profit!
Thank you :D I actually set the board to use the first XMP profile, which caused it to auto OC via the Turbo to 3800 - which is dandy for me, since the most stressful games I play are Bad Company 2 (rarely) and Starcraft 2 :) Nevertheless, thank you!!
nice build bro and yhpm.

gtpm. ygpm b. XD
 
How's the audio for music and such? ;)

Okay, so I played around with the X-Fi2 outside of gaming (where I didn't notice any benefits... maybe my cans have a smaller soundstage? [ATH-M50s]) today, and I, subjectively, feel the X-Fi2 is a bit fuzzier on voices than the uDAC2 I have. Maybe it's a side product of the Sound Blaster "THX TruStudio Pro" enchancements, so I'll have to see about that. My uDAC2 and the XFi2 have noteceably different sound signuatures, so even an A-B blind test would not work (uDAC2 feels sharper, I dunno how to describe it, since it's just a feeling).:( Also, if my computer is on, and I plug in my headphones to the X-Fi2, there is a nasty DC spike I don't like. Plugged in while off is fine. Already plugged in while staring up is also fine.

I dunno, I don't like the XFi2? I don't feel it's better than my old HP Slimlines nForce's audio output, it's a teeny bit better than my m11xr2's audio, and seems worse than my ZuneHD...

Again, this is all subjective. It's also why I hate reviewing and audio product. (unlike the ATH-M50s, where after a month, I could litterally hear the difference night/day vs my old 12usd phillips).
 
A lither less than 3mm. Do note, the Polaris/Superclock is wider at the middle, where I measured (you already know this; why am I reposting, lol?) However my GPU does have a backplate, which add about 5mm, afaik [based on measurements with my old board and the Scythe ShurikenRev.B I had on it].
Thanks for taking the time to check that, I contacted Asus via their website, and the Asus rep here on [H] and got no response about it. An HR02 or Noctua might just squeeze into the gap, but the fit looks like it would be tighter than a gnat's chuff, and maybe that wouldn't be so good for the overall airflow.

Okay, so I played around with the X-Fi2 outside of gaming (where I didn't notice any benefits... maybe my cans have a smaller soundstage? [ATH-M50s]) today, and I, subjectively, feel the X-Fi2 is a bit fuzzier on voices than the uDAC2 I have...

You're obviously not alone in struggling to tell the difference with these types of comparisons. It's difficult to pull a short quote to summarise all the articles in the links, but the gist of it is that the uDAC-2 doesn't measure too well and the headphone out is poor, but volunteers still somewhat struggle to hear differences vs alternatives. The quote is taken from the article in the 4th link below (listening challenge results)
The NuForce did much better via the line outs than the headphone outputs. Given the output impedance problem and higher distortion of the headphone output, this is what the measurements would predict.
http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/nuforce-udac-2-drama.html
http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/nuforce-udac-2-listening-test.html
http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/dac-listening-sequel.html
http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/dac-listening-challenge-results.html

It's an interesting blog, I'm hoping that someday the author will look at some of the ubiquitous onboard audio systems and popular soundcards.

Again, this is all subjective. It's also why I hate reviewing and audio product.
I wouldn't worry about it, subjective opinions are useful, but much more valuable when backed up with something more substantial. http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/05/subjective-vs-objective-debate.html
 
ah :p, I was asking around on [H] and OCN once (before I found out the FT03's center fan would not fit with this), and I recall one member actually had a Noctua D14 in a P8P67 Pro(?) board from ASUS (iirc, D14 was the 14cm monster HSF), and he noted his audio card in slot one clears without the fan clips, and the fan clips must be bent to allow PCB clearance. Noctua's website, iirc, says something similar to this reguard on many LGA1155 motherboards.

And thank you for lifting that weight off of me for audio testing *whew*. Since the difference I heard was so limited (and was subjective/personal taste???), I was having serious trouble saying one was better than the other (since the XFi2 also has that THX setup that changes the sound around a bit for games/3d sound, iirc).
 
buy.com also had a 10% off coupon at the time:p

Shop Discover (for those with a Discover Card) also gives 5% cashback at Buy.com.

Damnit! Why didn't I know about this deal? Not that I need another motherboard, but that's besides the point!
 
I just got my gene through excaliberpc.com a few days ago, not sure if they still have stock but just a heads up
 
And thank you for lifting that weight off of me for audio testing *whew*. Since the difference I heard was so limited (and was subjective/personal taste???), I was having serious trouble saying one was better than the other (since the XFi2 also has that THX setup that changes the sound around a bit for games/3d sound, iirc).

Thanks for providing some thoughts on it too! Based on what you wrote and what IanM provided, I'll probably end up ultimately just getting one of ASUS' XONAR cards at some point, since the higher-end ones have a dedicated headphone amp and also allow both a headphone and speakers to be connected at the same time. The sound reproduction with them is supposedly rather good.
 
Shop Discover (for those with a Discover Card) also gives 5% cashback at Buy.com.

Damnit! Why didn't I know about this deal? Not that I need another motherboard, but that's besides the point!
buuuyyyyy eeettttttt.....! :D :D Need is relative :p
Thanks for providing some thoughts on it too! Based on what you wrote and what IanM provided, I'll probably end up ultimately just getting one of ASUS' XONAR cards at some point, since the higher-end ones have a dedicated headphone amp and also allow both a headphone and speakers to be connected at the same time. The sound reproduction with them is supposedly rather good.

Ah, I guess I'll probably go down that route, too :D
 
My only complaint about this card (and many others like it), is WHY cannot they simply just draw power from the PCIe slot... I mean, unless if PCIe x1 slots generally provide no/little power?

In the Xonar Essence's case, the extra power required is because it has the headphone amp installed, and from what I can recall, the x1 slot isn't able to provide that much power.
 
In the Xonar Essence's case, the extra power required is because it has the headphone amp installed, and from what I can recall, the x1 slot isn't able to provide that much power.

unless if I'm wrong, that's some nasty 75W of power :eek:

I looked into it a lot more just earlier, and it seems that it may be a holdover from the PCI design, since the PCIe version is just the PCI design with an extra PLX PCI-->PCIe bridge chip o.0 I mean, even ASUS' low profile DX card has the 4pin Berg connector!
 
unless if I'm wrong, that's some nasty 75W of power :eek:

I looked into it a lot more just earlier, and it seems that it may be a holdover from the PCI design, since the PCIe version is just the PCI design with an extra PLX PCI-->PCIe bridge chip o.0 I mean, even ASUS' low profile DX card has the 4pin Berg connector!

Ah, good catch! Either way,the card's feature set is worth using a Berg connector to me. :D
 
cant afford at this time, would like to know how stable this board is and features it has different

Jen
 
cant afford at this time, would like to know how stable this board is and features it has different

Jen

In terms of features, it has a LOT more USB ports on the back (well, just 4 extra :p), but that's really it in terms of extra features I can think of...

Maybe the slightly better PCIe allocation from the chipset that doesn't cut off one pair of USB ports based on it's (it's complicated) PCIe lane allocation system the P8P67-M Pro has.

An ASUS rep did state some 240-250W (I don't recall which) power circuitry for the CPU on the Maximus IV GENE-Z...

Also, the m4g has a BIOS reset switch on the back, along with one extra eSATA over the P8P67-M Pro (however, both eSATA are not hot pluggable in the current BIOS :(), which have been useful for me.

That's about all I can think of in terms of my useage of both boards. :( I'm sorry! I'm not really thinking right now.

And so is incest. :eek: I would hope I have more control than that.

Maybe.

Pitbull - I Know You Want Me
 
Ok, quick question for you guys running this board;

Are any of you guys running a discrete video card in one of the 16x slots and anything else (TV tuner card, USB 3.0 card, etc.) in the other 16x slot?

If so, is the discrete card running at 8x instead of the full 16x?
 
(however, both eSATA are not hot pluggable in the current BIOS :()

What? That seems a pretty basic thing to have missed.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure my current P8P67 Pro's eSATA prompts Windows to "safely remove hardware." My previous P6T did, as did my Maximus II Gene.

Maybe I should see what other brands have to offer. :p
 
Ok, quick question for you guys running this board;

Are any of you guys running a discrete video card in one of the 16x slots and anything else (TV tuner card, USB 3.0 card, etc.) in the other 16x slot?

If so, is the discrete card running at 8x instead of the full 16x?
I'd rather run an accessory in the x4 slot, first. Running an accessory in the second X16 slot about force the first x16 slot to run only at x8 :( So I don't view it worthwhile unless if it's a GPU, or I'm out of slot space.
What? That seems a pretty basic thing to have missed.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure my current P8P67 Pro's eSATA prompts Windows to "safely remove hardware." My previous P6T did, as did my Maximus II Gene.

Maybe I should see what other brands have to offer. :p

The P8H67-I Deluxe had the hot plugging option for its eSATA, because its was driven by the H67 southbridge. The two eSATA on the Max IV GENE are driven by a Jmicron Sata crontroller that doesn't have the option of working :(
The only read reason I care, is I was cheap a while back, and bought my BluRay burner and external enclosure seperately, instead of paying the extra 2usd for the properly made LG external drive, and the current external enclosure is louder than my entire system at gaming/3D rendering loads :( [LG one is passive] So I'd rather have it off, until I need to use it.
 
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