ASUS seems to have discovered the micro-ATX form factor for themselves lately. So a small X went 58-mainboard only a few weeks ago for the core i7 processor launch and the rumor mill already buzzing about a corresponding counterpart for the core 2. This is now officially released.

The name of the Board is “Maximus II GENE” and is suitable for all, core 2 processors published so far. As a chipset Intel’s P45 product is used. The Maximus II GENE can up to four RAM modules with a speed of up to 1,300 MHz address, making it far exceeds the official JEDEC specifications.

There are also on the micro-ATX mainboard, which by the way meets the size of 24.4 cm x 24.4 cm, two PCIe-x 16-, a PCIe-x 1- and a normal PCI slot. The Board supports CrossFire, but only eight PCIe lanes. By means of seven SATA-II-, one eSATA and one can address corresponding disk to an IDE connector, on a floppy connector you, however, do without.

7.1 OnBoard sound including EAX 4.0 (SupremeFX X-Fi), twelve times USB 2.0, FireWire, Gigabit LAN and an Optical SPDIF output round off the features of the Maximus II GENE. Cooling comes an heatpipe construct used, that cools the converters in addition to the Northbridge. An exact release date and price are still unknown until now.