Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z and XFX Radeon 6970

[ellford]

After some comments on the forums here, I've decided to save a bit more cash and get a better board and video card combination. I'm now looking at these 2 items, but I've heard many comments about the first slot spacing on the Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z.

Does anyone know if this video card (or another 6970 brand) will work with this motherboard?

I'm also thinking of O/C'ing the CPU slightly (not extremely). If I move away from the standard heatsink and fan that comes with the i5-2500k and move to a decent aftermarket one, would this also limit the space between the heatsink/fan and the video card? Or is there a smaller CPU cooler that you might recommend so this would work?

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[ellford]

Nobody has any first hand experience here with this board and a 6970 card? I'm desperate to know if one will fit, seeing that the price just dropped on these...

 

[jacknhut]

After some comments on the forums here, I've decided to save a bit more cash and get a better board and video card combination. I'm now looking at these 2 items, but I've heard many comments about the first slot spacing on the Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z.

Does anyone know if this video card (or another 6970 brand) will work with this motherboard?

I'm also thinking of O/C'ing the CPU slightly (not extremely). If I move away from the standard heatsink and fan that comes with the i5-2500k and move to a decent aftermarket one, would this also limit the space between the heatsink/fan and the video card? Or is there a smaller CPU cooler that you might recommend so this would work?

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

There is nothing wrong with the first PCI-E slot on the Maximus IV GeneZ other than the fact that its not PCI-E 3.0 ready. But since your video card is HD 6970, which is a PCI-E 2.1 card, that fits perfectly onto that mainboard. All video cards on the market fits just fine on that mainboard.

The problem with the spacing of the 2 PCI-E slots on that mainboard is that they are spaced close together which makes a tight fit if you choose to use dual video cards (SLI or CF). However, if you only use single video card, you got nothing to worry about.

SLI- Use 2 video cards of the same type using Nvidia GPU ie - 2 GTX 570 or 2 GTX 580 etc...
CF- Use 2 video cards of the same type using AMD GPU ie - 2 HD 6970 or 2 HD 6950 or 1 HD 6970 and 1 HD 6950 (the HD 6970 in this case will downclock to match HD 6950)

Also, All of the heatsinks on the market will fit just fine on that mainboard. What you need to think about when installing large heatsink is the space between the heatsink and the memory. Some memory has tall ram heatsink which might interfere with the CPU heatsink itself, but this problem can be avoid by using memory slot 2 and 4 (further away from the CPU area) on the motherboard and avoid memory slot 1 and 3. This problem is universal to all mainboards, not just Maximus IV Gene Z.

 

[AdrianPerry]

There is nothing wrong with the first PCI-E slot on the Maximus IV GeneZ other than the fact that its not PCI-E 3.0 ready. But since your video card is HD 6970, which is a PCI-E 2.1 card, that fits perfectly onto that mainboard. All video cards on the market fits just fine on that mainboard.

The problem with the spacing of the 2 PCI-E slots on that mainboard is that they are spaced close together which makes a tight fit if you choose to use dual video cards (SLI or CF). However, if you only use single video card, you got nothing to worry about.

SLI- Use 2 video cards of the same type using Nvidia GPU ie - 2 GTX 570 or 2 GTX 580 etc...
CF- Use 2 video cards of the same type using AMD GPU ie - 2 HD 6970 or 2 HD 6950 or 1 HD 6970 and 1 HD 6950 (the HD 6970 in this case will downclock to match HD 6950)

Also, All of the heatsinks on the market will fit just fine on that mainboard. What you need to think about when installing large heatsink is the space between the heatsink and the memory. Some memory has tall ram heatsink which might interfere with the CPU heatsink itself, but this problem can be avoid by using memory slot 2 and 4 (further away from the CPU area) on the motherboard and avoid memory slot 1 and 3. This problem is universal to all mainboards, not just Maximus IV Gene Z.

+1 to everything

No problems should occur using a single Graphics card set-up.
Memory issues can either be avoided, as said above, by using slots 2,4 or alternatively just buy Low Profile RAM. It comes it the same specs as "normal" RAM and at a very similar, if not exactly the same price. Corsair Vengeance LP is a popular choice.

 

[ellford]

Best answer selected by ellford.

 

[ellford]

Thanks guys I really appreciate the comments/advice.

With AMD releasing the 7900 series cards this week (in Canada), we're seeing some decent price drops on the 6900 series cards... I also just saw a significant price drop on this motherboard, so it looks like I'll be picking both of these up this week.