ASUS Z77 & Maximus V GENE Launch News Roundup

The ASUS Z77 and ROG Maximus V GENE motherboards are now (officially) on sale worldwide, so we’ve been rounding up the news and videos from reviews and previews published so far.

Anandtech

Anandtech looks at the P8Z77-V Pro and P8Z77-V Deluxe, and discusses the merits of the new T-Topology memory design that is exclusive to ASUS Z77 motherboards, including ROG.

“ASUS T-Topology Memory

ASUS have outsmarted Intel and have decided to take their technology to another level.  This is specifically in terms of memory, and how it is routed through the motherboard.  Typically, routing through the memory would occur in a daisy chain type environment, whereby if data was in the furthest memory slot away from the board, it would take longer to get to the CPU, and perhaps cause synchronization issues and delays – all reads had to be done serially between sticks in the same channel.

With ASUS’ new technology, they are essentially parallelizing memory reads that are commonly done serially between memory banks.  This is part of their ‘T-Topology’ memory subsystem, which allows synchronization to be dealt with in hardware.  This, according to ASUS, should allow for up to a 15% memory overclock beyond the previous methodology, where the motherboard is the limiting factor.  In this circumstance, we could be seeing some new memory records being set in dual channel memory.”

Tech Radar

Tech Radar reviews the Maximus V GENE and gives it 4/5 stars:

Small in stature, the Maximus V Gene packs a very hefty punch.

It delivers great performance with default settings and its auto-overclocking feature is the most effective we’ve yet seen for an LGA1155 motherboard.

….

Verdict

A lot of power and features expertly crammed into a compact board, with great performance at default settings.

Expreview

Expreview takes a first look at the Maximus V GENE:

“The mobo is based on Z77 chipset, 8+4 phase power circuit to support Extreme Ebgine Digi+ II technology (8 phase for CPU while 4 phase for GPU). Additionally it offers 2 phase independent power supply for memory.

In terms of expansion, there are two PCI-E 3.0 supported PCI-E x16 slot for setting up SLI, CrossFire or even Virtu MVP system. The mobo provides native USB 3.0 port, native SATA 6Gbps port, onboard Debug LED light/switch.”

Kit Guru

KitGuru reviews the Sabertooth Z77 with an OC’d GTX 680, awarding it Must Have 9/10:

“The Asus Sabertooth is the first Z77 motherboard we have reviewed and it has certainly set the bar high already. It stands out on the market, thanks to the Thermal Armor which covers the board from head to foot.

…In a nutshell, the Sabertooth Z77 never crashed, regardless of whether I had the active fans installed or the Thermal Armor removed. Temperatures of the VRM’s reduced by around 8c with both fans operating, but temperatures weren’t dangerously high in the first place so it made little difference in real world terms…”

Hexus

The P8Z77-V Deluxe is given the once over by the Hexus team, in this preview:

“On top of what you would expect in a basic Z77 board, ASUS implements what it calls Dual Intelligent Processors, used to provide granular power to the chip. 16 phases are reserved for the CPU while four are dedicated for the iGPU. We know Intel’s reference Z77 board doesn’t get overly hot during use, but if a firm adds a number of extra processors and VRM units, as ASUS has done here, there’s a manifest need to cool them. A thick chunk of aluminium is heatpipe-joined to a centrally-located heatsink; both are extremely well-built and screwed into the board rather than fastened by pushpins.

What you can’t see here is ASUS also bundles in its dual-function WiFi-GO! box of tricks, connected in the space between the left-hand USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports. Hooked up to two also-bundled antennas, it offers WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity… with a twist. Apps are available from the Google Play and Apple’s App Stores, enabling you to control the PC via a tablet or phone, as well as using the wireless technologies in their regular modes.”

Linus at NCIX

Linus unboxes the Sabertooth Z77:

Newegg TV

Another Sabertooth unboxing, this time by Newegg:

Motherboards.org

Elric gives us his impressions of, yes, the Sabertooth Z77: