Disadvantages of going mATX (Z77) ?

Buckster · 27 Apr 2012 at 18:31

looking for a Z77 mobo + some tbd Ivy or Sandy processor

the Asus Maximus V Gene Z77 - looks an amazing motherboard for the price of circa £150

looks great build quality, high-end features, high-end power regulation

but I'm not looking to do a mATX build - what would the disadvantages be of choosing a mATX board such as this over say one of the mid-range Asus or Gigabyte UD5 ?

unless you need to use every SATA port, USB port, or need something like Tri-SLI ?

what would the disadvantages be please ? I will be building in a mid-size case (550D or equivalent) - so mATX is not needed, just the Gene seems such a great mobo for the money.

thanks, Buckster

cmndr_andi · 27 Apr 2012 at 19:02

The main disadvatage is price premium, the gene is a nice board - but it rather expensive at £156, while you can get fully featured ATX Z77 boards for £102-140.

Also, the PCIE spacing for two graphics cards is poor. The Gene only has two slot spacing between the main PCIE slots. Therefore, if you have a standard graphics card with a dual-slot cooler and want to run a second card then you need to have the PCB of the second card basically covering up the air intake of the top card. In contrast, full-ATX Z77 boards usually have a triple slot spacing between the main PCIE slot - so you can cool the cards better.

Buckster · 27 Apr 2012 at 19:05

cmndr_andi said:
The main disadvatage is price premium, the gene is a nice board - but it rather expensive at £156, while you can get fully featured ATX Z77 boards for £102-140.

Also, the PCIE spacing for two graphics cards is poor. The Gene only has two slot spacing between the main PCIE slots. Therefore, if you have a standard graphics card with a dual-slot cooler and want to run a second card then you need to have the PCB of the second card basically covering up the air intake of the top card. In contrast, full-ATX Z77 boards usually have a triple slot spacing between the main PCIE slot - so you can cool the cards better.

ah ok - I see thanks

if I'm not considering sli/crossfire though - still worth consdering ? I thought the Maximus boards excelled in features and overclocking prowess ?

cmndr_andi · 27 Apr 2012 at 19:13

It Gene does overclock well - but to be honest unless you are using custom watercooling or better it is the CPU not the motherboard which will limit your overclock. Even this £102 gigabyte board does very well at overclocking:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-z77xd3h-motherboard-review/8
http://vr-zone.com/articles/gigabyte-z77x-d3h-motherboard-review/15584-7.html

As for extra features, the main one that stands out to me is on the gene is the better than usual sound card. Though to be fair, if you went with a cheaper ATX board and a nice value sound card like this your sound quality would be even better than the genes.

May I ask, are there some features of the Gene that you really like that cheaper ATX board don't have?

the_director · 27 Apr 2012 at 19:30

I have a Gene Z77 and I'm going to be sticking my crossfire 5850s in it, I will post temps compared to their current spacing. The Gene is a very well specced board but I did have an Asrock extreme4 in the basket but it was out of stock so I ordered the Gene in anger really!

Feels like a nice board though.

Darujhistan · 29 Apr 2012 at 13:30

the_director said:
I have a Gene Z77 and I'm going to be sticking my crossfire 5850s in it, I will post temps compared to their current spacing. The Gene is a very well specced board but I did have an Asrock extreme4 in the basket but it was out of stock so I ordered the Gene in anger really!

Feels like a nice board though.

Great let us know!

alex_123_fra · 29 Apr 2012 at 17:34

cmndr_andi said:
The main disadvatage is price premium, the gene is a nice board - but it rather expensive at £156, while you can get fully featured ATX Z77 boards for £102-140.

Also, the PCIE spacing for two graphics cards is poor. The Gene only has two slot spacing between the main PCIE slots. Therefore, if you have a standard graphics card with a dual-slot cooler and want to run a second card then you need to have the PCB of the second card basically covering up the air intake of the top card. In contrast, full-ATX Z77 boards usually have a triple slot spacing between the main PCIE slot - so you can cool the cards better.

I initially had a concern running my 2 SLIed GTX560 Ti TOP cards on the Maximus V Gene. These are factory overclocked to 900/1800/4200 1037 mV. They fit perfectly well on the board even though they are massive cards.

There is no heat issue. The top card gets a little hotter than the one underneath by approx 15 C. Under full load playing BF3 with ultra settings the top card maxes at early 70s and bottom at around 55-60C. Both these are well within normal limits (top end of which is over 100C). The above is with conservative fan profiles to reduce noise (i.e. 100% fan speed is only reached at 80C+ GPU temp on my system).

So don't worry about card heat. Also the board is very good, exactly what you'd expect from ROG. Base your choice on board features which interest you. That would be my advice.

Darujhistan · 29 Apr 2012 at 18:08

This board definitely makes the shortlist, espec. after reading the above post.