We present a comprehensive spectral-timing study of the black hole candidate MAXI J1659-152 during its 2010 outburst. We analysed 65 Rossi X-ray timing explorer (RXTE) observations taken along this period, and computed the fundamental diagrams commonly used to study black hole transients. We fitted power density and energy spectra and studied the evolution of the spectral and timing parameters along the outburst. We discuss the evolution of the variability observed at different energy bands on the basis of the relative contribution of the disc and hard components to the energy spectrum of the source.