Asus Maximus VII Gene Review: Test Setup
In testing the Asus Maximus VII Gene, I used my untamed Intel Core i7-4770K, Kingmax’s DDR3 Nano Gaming RAM, and Asus Radeon R9 290. Check out the rest of the system specs below.
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Gene
Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K
CPU Cooler: Cryorig R1 Ultimate
Memory: 16GB Kingmax Nano Gaming RAM 1866MHz DDR3
Graphics card: Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II
Hard Drive: Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB for the OS and WD RE 4TB for game files
Power Supply: Corsair HX650 80 Plus Gold
Case: BitFenix Prodigy M
I also used AIDA64, Super Pi, CPU-Z, Asus RealBench 2.0, wPrime and CineBench R15. For game benchmarks I used Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn Character Creation Benchmark, 3DMark 11, 3DMark Firestrike and Firestrike Extreme, Unigine Engine Heaven and Valley benchmarks, and several games like Crysis 3.
Please also take note that the motherboard’s performance is as good as the other components you install on it. Don’t expect that the Maximus VII Gene motherboard will make your system perform way faster compared to other motherboards with the same components installed. Don’t expect also that the components you installed, like CPU, memory and graphics card, will perform faster than expected just because you installed them on a high-end motherboard like this one. But you may overclock your components to gain faster performance compared to their stock speeds, and this motherboard will provide you with a better and stable overclocking experience compared to entry or mid-level motherboards.
Overclocking with Asus Maximus VII Gene
I was able to easily overclock my Intel Core i7-4770K to 4.7GHz at 1.35 volts, stable and without any problems. Of course 1.35 volts is somewhat high and it could still be lowered. Just don’t have enough time to play with it. I overclocked the processor via the UEFI BIOS, since I am more comfortable tweaking the system via its BIOS, rather than using the AI Suite III Windows-based utility. I also believe that 4.7GHz is not the limit to what the Maximus VII Gene can do with the 4770K, and even with the new Core i7-4790K Devil’s Canyon.
Asus Maximus VII Gene Benchmark Results
Below are some benchmark results I got while testing the system. The processor was running at 3.9GHz Turbo speed, while the graphics processor and the memory where overclocked on some tests.
AIDA64 Engineer “is a streamlined Windows diagnostic and benchmarking software for engineers. AIDA64 Engineer provides a wide range of features to assist in overclocking, hardware error diagnosis, stress testing, and sensor monitoring. It has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives. AIDA64 is compatible with all current 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems, including Windows 8.1 Update 1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Update 1.”
RealBench “uses real, open source applications to test your PC as it would perform in RL. Although it can be competitive, it’s not primarily designed to be more hardcore and time consuming – it’s a benchmark for everyone.”
Valley Benchmark “is a new GPU stress-testing tool from the developers of the very popular and highly acclaimed Heaven Benchmark. The forest-covered valley surrounded by vast mountains amazes with its scale from a bird’s-eye view and is extremely detailed down to every leaf and flower petal. This non-synthetic benchmark powered by the state-of-the art UNIGINE Engine showcases a comprehensive set of cutting-edge graphics technologies with a dynamic environment and fully interactive modes available to the end user.”
Heaven Benchmark “with its current version 4.0 is a GPU-intensive benchmark that hammers graphics cards to the limits. This powerful tool can be effectively used to determine the stability of a GPU under extremely stressful conditions, as well as check the cooling system’s potential under maximum heat output. It provides completely unbiased results and generates true in-game rendering workloads across all platforms, such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.”
“3DMark 11 is a DirectX 11 video card benchmark test for Windows. 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of DirectX 11 features including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. It includes the Deep Sea and High Temple Graphics tests, a Physics test and a Combined test.”
“3DMark Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for today’s high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today.”
“3DMark Fire Strike Extreme is an enhanced version of Fire Strike designed for high-end multi-GPU systems (SLI / Crossfire) and future hardware generations. In addition to raising the rendering resolution, additional visual quality improvements increase the rendering load to ensure accurate performance measurements for truly extreme hardware setups.”
You can download FutureMark’s 3DMark and 3DMark 11 Benchmark tools at http://www.futuremark.com
Above are the average frames per second results in several games I played using the Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC graphics card installed on the Asus Maximus VII Gene. All games are set to their highest possible settings with a resolution of 1920×1080 and V-Sync turned off.
