While a lot of the focus on computer motherboards has legitimately been on the X58 chipset and the Core i7 CPUs due to the increased performance and new features of the combination, there is still a market for P45 based motherboards and Core 2 CPUs. After all, the platform cost for a X58+Core i7+ DDR3 memory is far less than buying a P45 based motherboard+ Core 2 CPU+ DDR2 memory. With the economy the way it is value is becoming more and more important.

ASUS manufactures video cards motherboards, and other computer related equipment for years now. They are the number one motherboard company in terms of sales and have a special place in both mine and Doc's hearts as every personal system we build has an ASUS motherboard as its base. They sold over 24 million motherboards in 2008. Today's review is on the ASUS Maximus II Gene motherboard which is based upon the P45 chipset. This board is a micro-ATX motherboard and can handle all the new Core 2 CPUs from Intel. This board is small enough to fit into most HTPC cases and seems to be a great board on paper for hat purpose.
•Intel Socket 775 Core 2 Quad/Core 2 Extreme/ Core 2 Duo/Pentium dual-core/Celeron Processors Support Intel 45nm Multi-Core CPU
•Intel P45 chipset
•ATI CrossFireX Technology
•Dual Channel DDR2 1300MHz
•PCIE 2.0
•IROG
•CPU Level Up
•COP EX
•Loadline Calibration

Name: ASUS Maximus II Gene Motherboard.jpg Views: 4068 Size: 56.5 KB

•Noise Filter
•External LCD Poster
•Onboard switch
•EPU-6 Engine
•ASUS Q-Connector
•3DMark06 Advanced Edition

The motherboard sports the P45 chipset which means it supports the latest Intel Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo CPUs on the market up to and including the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 CPU. The memory controller on the chipset supports up to 16GB of Dual Channel DDR2-1300MHz memory which is the fastest DDR2 memory available on the market.

Republic of Gamers logo

The ASUS Maximus II Gene is a micro-ATX motherboard. What this means is that expansion is limited as there are fewer slots on the board available to add cards versus the full size ATX motherboards. ASUS decided to give the user the option of installing two video cards on this motherboard, with dual PCI Express Generation 2.0 x16 slots. The P45 chipset can do CrossFireX with each slot operating at x8 mode.
ASUS has implemented a special integrated circuit with their iROG boards. This IC allows the user to overclock the board with ease at a hardware level. CPU Level Up allows you to overclock the Intel CPU to a new CPU level with the click of a button. Allows for increased compatibility by having a fail-safe mode for the memory if it has problems booting. COP Ex allows the user to overvolt the CPU without problems. LED shows the overvoltage status of the CPU, memory, NB and SB in color coded fashion.