Differences between P55M-UD4 and Maximus III Gene

Marvin · 26 Jul 2010 at 01:11

I know the Gene looks nicer...

But seriously, the price difference is £40 or so. They both do Crossfire and SLI, as they both have 2 PCI-E slots that run at x16, x1 or x8, x8. They both have a PCI-E x4 slot and a PCI slot.

Aside from this, they both have support for the same RAM (overclocking wise - though I doubt I'll be pushing to 2200MHz), same CPUs and the cooling seems similar.

In fact, the only reasons I can see for the Gene are:

1. It'll have the snappier POST time and BIOS presentation screen of the two.
2. It looks fancier and prettier...
3. It's got all the ROG gumph.

Have I missed something?

I fully intend on filling all the slots available (2 GTX470s - watercooled, 1 RevoDrive if they turn out as good as the numbers, and a Xonar D1 soundcard), and I'd like those exact slots to be honest, so don't bother suggesting something else.

Andrew Moore · 26 Jul 2010 at 01:15

Maximus III extreme is a brilliant board that puts nearly everything to shame. From what I have seen, the Gene is no different. It just lacks the 7 slots and little else. Having said that, the UD4 is an amazing little board but given a choice even with the price difference I would opt for the gene purely because of the easy to use and well laid out Bios.

Andy

Marvin · 26 Jul 2010 at 01:22

I was leaning towards the Gene. After having an Asus and a Gigabyte board, I prefer the Gigabyte's BIOS (probably because I used it first), but the speed of the Asus is something else. Sitting through (what feels like) a year of BIOS screen before booting with the Gigabyte sucks...

The thing that's going to be a little different here is that I'll be using a Xeon 3440 CPU, rather than an i7 860. I got it in a ridiculous deal (£139 new), which smashes the >£200 of the 860, so I don't mind if it doesn't overclock as well, or the fact that it's a little slower at stock...

Seems the Xeons are popular CPUs for LGA1156 on other forums...

Marvin · 26 Jul 2010 at 17:49

Well, I've just placed an order for the Gene. It's a shame OcUK don't do any MATX high-end Intel boards...