Feature Articles
Event: ASUS At Computex – Firing Up Gamers’ Enthusiasm
ROG Rocks!
ASUS marked its first day in Computex with several exciting revelations for gamers and PC enthusiasts. Showcasing a whole new slew of Republic of Gamers (ROG) products composed of 3D notebooks, motherboards, graphics cards, a desktop PC, and a noise-cancelling headset, ASUS makes sure that all bases are well-covered.
Before heading to ASUS’ booth in Computex, members of the international press, including HardwareZone Philippines, assembled at a press conference staged by the executives from ASUS. We also got an opportunity to have an interview with Mr. Jackie Hsu, ASUS’ Vice President and General Manager of Worldwide Sales. Mr. Hsu told us that the Rampage III Black Edition motherboard is the ROG’s milestone product that marks the brand’s fifth anniversary in the industry.
Without further ado, join us as we take a sneak peek at upcoming gaming offerings from ASUS’ assembly line.
Notebooks
ASUS’ first notebook equipped with an autostereoscopic 3D display, the G53SX Naked-Eye 3D makes use of eye-tracking technology to allow you to enjoy visual content in 3D minus the 3D eyeglasses. This notebook is a powerhouse packed with a 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU, 15.6-inch LED-backlit LCD display, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M GPU with 2GB GDDR5 VRAM.
The G74SX 3D is also a 3D notebook but still uses a pair of active shutter 3D eyeglasses. Sporting a larger 17.3-inch LED-backlit LCD, this notebook is a powerhouse running on a 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU and the newly launched NVIDIA GTX 560M with 3GB GDDR5 VRAM. ASUS makes memory and hard disk upgrades easy by featuring the notebook with an Easy Access Cover. Carefully crafted by ASUS’ research and development team, heat generated within the G74SX 3D is quickly driven out of its schema through its dynamic air vents. Providing users with comfort without compromise, this gaming notebook sports a user-friendly keyboard layout and a soft-touch palm rest.
Touting a shape similar to ROG’s gaming notebooks, ASUS VX75X operates on a 2nd generation Intel Core i7 processor. The 15.6-inch notebook makes use of NVIDIA’s GTX 560M GPU with 3GB GDD35 VRAM and 4GB DDR3 that can be upgraded to 16GB. This thing of beauty measures 402 x 309 x 58mm and weighs 3.62kg with an 8-cell battery.
Graphics Cards
Part of the ASUS ROG graphics card family, the MATRIX GTX580 Platinum comes with 1536MB GDDR5 memory, 816MHz engine clock, and 4008MHz memory clock. Crafted to provide users with a higher level of controllability, this graphics card has three features: TWEAKIT for on-the-fly voltage adjustment, PROBEIT for voltage monitoring, and SAFE MODE for restoring to default settings.
A member of ASUS’ DirectCU II family of graphics cards, the EAH6970 is powered by an AMD Radeon HD 6970 GPU clocked at 890MHz. The card espouses a video memory of 2GB GDDR5 and has a memory clock of 5500MHz (1375MHz GDDR5). As what its moniker suggests, the card is equipped with a DirectCU II dual fan cooler to provide up to 600% airflow and 20% cooler performance. With four DisplayPorts, it can support a setup of six displays all at the same time.
Motherboards
Based on Intel’s Z68 chipset, the Maximus IV GENE-Z motherboard features Lucid Virtu technology. In spite of its microATX-size form factor, do not let its size fool you. If powered by an Intel Core i7-2600K processor with the right mix of memory modules, this platform can become a powerful gaming machine.
AMD enthusiasts should be looking forward to the ASUS Crosshair V Formula in upcoming months. Harnessing the capabilities of AMD’s 990FX/SB950 chipset, you can turn this motherboard into an intense gaming rig when combined with a Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition CPU and a multi-graphics configuration of either 3-way SLI or CrossFireX. ASUS bundles this board with a Thunderbolt PCI-E audio/LAN PCI-E combo card.
Another motherboard that AMD fanboys should expect is the Sabertooth 990FX. In this photo, ASUS’ TUF team has designed a special chassis for this motherboard to catch the attention of booth visitors.
Compared to the two other upcoming AMD boards, the ASUS M5A99X EVO has a more mainstream look.
Espousing a design that is similar to that of a dual-socket server motherboard, ASUS’ Danshui Bay concept design has excited members of the tech press with its promising layout. This futuristic motherboard comes with two CPU sockets, an LGA 2011 and an LGA 1366. Also called Socket R, the LGA 2011 is an upcoming processor socket, slated to be released alongside the Sandy Bridge-E processors sometime in Q4 2011.
Desktop PC
For gamers who prefer getting a gaming beast instantly, the ROG CG8565 is the ideal solution armed with a chassis designed for optimal thermal control. Within its intimidating confines, the machine is based on a Z68 platform that is powered by an Intel Core i7-2600K chip, 16GB of DDR3 memory modules and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 graphics card. Ample storage is provided with a 2TB SATA 6Gbps HDD and an 80GB SSD. Monitors used in the setup are ASUS VG278H 3D LED displays.
Headphones
ROG’s first noise-cancelling headset for gamers, ASUS’ ROG Vulcan ANC features 40mm drivers. This headset has an impedance grade of 32 ohms and a frequency response of 10Hz – 20kHz. Battery-operated, the Vulcan ANC can stay on up to 40 hours with an AAA cell. This pair of headphones weighs 325g.
