ASUS G56JR 15 Inch Gaming Notebook

March 20, 2014, 9:03 pm

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The G56JR is the latest 15 inch gaming notebook from ASUS, filling the gap in the gaming arsenal previously held by the G55VW. The G56JR provides a different spin on the red and black angular design of G750s, while still yielding core gaming and ROG credentials, with a red backlit keyboard and logo, along with brushed black aluminum covering that gives a premium look and feel. Tech specs include:

• 4th Gen Intel Core processor - either Core i5 4200H 2.8-3.4GHz dual core, or Core i7 4700HQ 2.4-3.4GHz quad core,
• Up to 16GB DDR3 memory (two DIMM slots)
• Nvidia GTX 760M graphics card
• Either HD or Full HD display options
• Wireless b/g/n and Gigabit Ethernet 
• ASUS SonicMaster Premium and Bang & Olufsen ICEPower audio that includes a separate desktop sub-woofer.

The G56JR is currently available in Singapore, Malaysia, Poland, France, Spain and Switzerland, with South Africa, more European and East/South East Asian countries to follow soon. Click the pics for a closer look, and hit the link to the product page below the gallery. [gallery include="31025,31026,31027,31028,31029,31030,31031,31032,31033,31034,31035,31036,31037,31038,31039,31040,31041,31042,31043,31044,31045" size="large" link="file" template="file-gallery" columns="2"]

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Memory Overclocking Guide For Rampage IV Black Edition (Beginner To Advanced)

March 23, 2014, 11:00 pm

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Originally posted in our forums by tech guru, Raja, this guide is aimed at those looking to maximize their overclocking and tweaking performance on the new Rampage IV Black Edition. It suits anyone from beginner to advanced, so everyone should get something out of it!

Memory Overclocking Guide For Rampage IV Black Edition

This guide provides basic information on how to overclock the Rampage IV Black Edition (R4BE) motherboard and also information on overclocking in general. Whether you’re using an R4BE motherboard or not, there are some valuable learning tips in this guide that help understand the process of stable overclocking on any platform – read on! For those of you using Ivy-E there’s already a basic processor overclocking guide here. We’d recommend reading through that overclocking guide in its entirety before continuing here. In this memory guide, we provide further information on settings and basic methodology to help obtain a stable system overclock. The R4BE is a high performance X79 chipset based motherboard, tuned to extract maximum performance from Intel’s Ivy-E processors. Our engineers have tweaked trace layout and components to improve quad channel DRAM overclocking potential over first generation X79 motherboards. DRAM signal line matching is improved between channels and slots, impedance has been changed to suit Ivy-E processors, while DRAM power components have been upgraded over the Rampage 4 Extreme to provide even better regulation. As a result, there are certain situations in which the R4BE can run tighter DRAM timings than the R4E or other X79 boards at equivalent voltages. Success, as always, depends largely on having a good combination of parts while the rest comes down to using a systematic approach of getting from stock to an intelligently tuned overclock.

Methodology Basics

This guide assumes you are running UEFI BIOS version 0507 or later. By default, UEFI parameters that relate to overclocking have automated scaling routines embedded in the background that will change/increase voltages to facilitate overclocking. In other words, we can simply change the processor multiplier ratio (within realistic limits), apply XMP for DRAM and let the board do the rest. However, there are processors and DRAM kits that may need special tuning for full stability. Either the CPU needs more voltage than average for a given frequency, or perhaps the DRAM modules being used aren’t stable at the timings or memory controller voltages the board applies on Auto. It’s the methodology for getting through these situations we’ll focus on today. One common mistake we deal with on forums relates to users trying to push processors too far, too soon. New users come to forums, have a look around and focus on copying the best overclocking results they can find; expecting their own processors to reach the same frequency as matter of course. Unfortunately, the system ends up being unstable, with the user frustrated and unsure of why there is an issue, or what needs to be adjusted. We can therefore conclude that a non-systematic approach to overclocking, leaves us with no clue about what to adjust when faced with instability: is the system unstable because CPU core voltage is too low? Is it related to DRAM? Could it be that the processor memory controller (IMC) can’t handle high DRAM speeds? It could be any and all of these at the same time, or it could simply come down to having a worse CPU sample than “KingD”, who was either really lucky, or he purchased multiple CPUs to find a good one. That’s why using a systematic and gradual approach is advised by us – use the results of others as a reference but don’t be fooled into thinking your parts can do the same simply by copying settings. So what’s systematic and gradual in the context of overclocking? Well, it includes methods to focus on certain parts of the system to evaluate overclocking potential before shooting for the moon. We can use different types of stress tests to focus on the CPU cores, and we can also use programs that focus more on memory to get a feel of what is possible on our combination of parts. Once we’ve got a feel for how things react, we can add more comprehensive forms of stress testing to evaluate the system as a whole. We should stress that it is imperative to perform a basic evaluation of stability before attempting any type of overclocking on the system. Leave everything at default parameters and check the system is stable and working as it should be. A tool like ROG Realbench is perfect for this task, allowing us to check stability in a manner akin to real-world applications and system loads. We should also install a third party temperature application at this stage to check CPU and system temperatures are within comfortable bounds at idle and when the system is under load. If anything is running too hot, or is unstable, it’s pointless trying to overclock the system without attending to the issue first. If the system is stable at stock speeds and has suitable overhead in terms of temperature, we can move to overclocking the system. The process is best started by isolating one side of the processor before overclocking the system as a whole unit. As an example, we can use various memory stress tests to evaluate how good our memory modules are and how good the memory controller in our CPU sample is. This is especially important for those of us that purchase high-speed memory kits. It’s possible that the processor is perfectly stable with little manual adjustment of voltages at high memory speeds, but it’s also possible the memory controller in our sample needs voltage or memory timing adjustments to be stable. At worst, the memory controller could be completely unstable at the desired operating frequency regardless of adjustments, in which case we have to accept a lower operating point. The latter can be debilitating to realize if one has purchased a high performance and expensive memory kit. Such things do happen. Once we’ve determined the memory can run at a given frequency, we can set a lower memory operating frequency for sake of isolating the CPU to find its overclocking potential. This eliminates guesswork as the memory will almost certainly be unconditionally stable at a lower operating speed, giving us fewer variables to fight against as we evaluate overclocking potential of the CPU cores. At this stage, we use a stress test routine that focuses primarily on the CPU. We can increase the CPU multiplier ratio by 1 and then see what kind of voltage the CPU needs to be stable. Once the required voltage for stability at the new frequency is found, we can again increase the multiplier ratio and repeat the stability testing and voltage tuning process. Keeping notes is valuable at this stage and will show a near linear pattern of voltage versus frequency increase. Eventually, we arrive at a point where we’ve either run out of cooling potential (temps are too high), or we need to make a huge voltage increase to get the processor stable. This is where I personally back off, and select the lower operating point. Why? Because the current drawn by the processor is proportional to voltage and operating frequency. Choosing the lower point is kinder to the processor from a longevity standpoint and there’s a better chance the system will remain stable over the long-term.

A few Overclocking Technicalities Analogized

Why does a system become unstable when it is overclocked? There are numerous reasons, actually. More than one could cover in a single article. Many require electrical engineering backgrounds to both write and to understand. Electrical engineers we are not… Well, most of us (including me) are not anyway, so we’re going to try and keep things simple. Fundamentally, the role of a processor is to calculate, write and read data. At the core level, this data is represented and moved around the system as 1’s and 0’s (binary patterns). Let’s look at a crude visual representation of how data is represented at the electrical level: The “wavy” line is the signal alternating between a high and low voltage to represent 1 and 0. In this brief example the data pattern being transmitted from the memory bus to the processor is 101010.

• VOH (voltage output high) is the high voltage output level of the transmitter that represents a logic 1, while VOL is the low output voltage (voltage output low) representing a logic 0.
• VREF is the reference voltage. The reference is typically set at the midpoint between VOL and VOH.
• VDDQ (not shown, and known as DRAM Voltage on motherboards) is the voltage supply for VOH, VOL and the voltage from which VREF is derived.

Most signal stages have three states: VOH, VOL and “off” - known as a tri-state transceiver/s. Typically, “off” state will be a certain level lower than VOL but above ground potential. The off state is required to prevent inadvertent data transmission. This standing voltage (bias) in “off” state is attached to a compensation network to hold the voltage below VOL when the signal line is not transmitting. Compensation is usually in the form of a resistor to ground, but can be something more elaborate if required. The reason a certain level of bias is present and the line it is not at ground potential in “off” position is due to a number of factors which fall outside the scope of this article. For this example, let us assume VOH is around 80% of VDDQ, VOL is 20% of VDDQ, while VREF is 50% of VDDQ. The signal swings between VOL and VOH to represent data as a 1 or 0 while a strobe compares the signal against VREF. If the voltage is higher than VREF determines it to be a logic 1, or if the signal voltage is below VREF it is interpreted as a logic 0. Needless to say, the process of transferring the data and interpreting it accurately requires that the transmitter and the receiver device be in close timing sync. If there is a lack of synchronization between the transmitted signal and the strobe, the data could be read erroneously. In the ideal world, the signal waveform would be perfectly symmetrical as it transitions between high and low states. Never crossing above VOH or below VOL. The keen eyed among you will notice in the diagram above that the signal varies slightly from one transition to the next. That’s mostly because I’m crap at drawing, but in this case, fortunately, the rendition fits! The waveforms are non-symmetrical and have different levels of excursion past VOH or VOL (overshoot and undershoot). There are various reasons why these issues occur; power supply fluctuation, jitter, impedance issues and noise just to name a few. We won’t go into all of the factors leading to these problems as many fall outside the scope of this article. However, we can break down what happens as a result of them by using a real-world analogy in a context we can relate to.

Unboxing The Matrix GTX 780 Ti And R9 290X! (Gallery And Video)

March 26, 2014, 7:36 am

≫ Next: Video: Boost My PC – Singapore – Episode 2

≪ Previous: Memory Overclocking Guide For Rampage IV Black Edition (Beginner To Advanced)

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If you're gearing up to add a new Matrix to your system, you can follow ITLabs unboxing video, or our gallery below to see more! [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuOgfiCgFm8[/video] Look to the bottom right to match the color to match your AMD/Nvidia brand preference. Inside you'll see your new card peeking through, and a run down of the features above. Click to zoom the pictures. And the back, there's an overview of the card's design, layer by layer. Inside the card is packed under a lot of foam! Here's both GTX 780 Ti and R9 290X saying, Hi! Can you tell which is which? The Matrix GTX 780 Ti package:

• Matrix graphics card
• Driver DVD
• Case badge
• 2x dual 6-pin to 1x 8-pin PCI-Express power adapter
• Speed Setup guide

The Matrix R9 290X package is identical, although the driver disc packs the AMD drivers instead.

Video: Boost My PC – Singapore – Episode 2

March 28, 2014, 8:00 pm

≫ Next: Tried And Tested: Why Intel Ethernet Is Still Better For Gaming.

≪ Previous: Unboxing The Matrix GTX 780 Ti And R9 290X! (Gallery And Video)

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Rachel Tan presents Boost My PC Singapore Episode 2!

Related articles:

1. Video: Boost My PC – Singapore Episode 1
2. Video: Boost My PC – Czech Episode 2
3. Video: Boost My PC – Spain Episode 1

Tried And Tested: Why Intel Ethernet Is Still Better For Gaming.

April 10, 2014, 5:25 pm

≫ Next: ASUS First in World to Unleash Full SATA Express Performance

≪ Previous: Video: Boost My PC – Singapore – Episode 2

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For many years, Intel's Gigabit Ethernet chips have been the backbone of all ROG, and occasionally ASUS and TUF motherboards. The reason being is that it constantly showed better performance in our testing, which reviewers confirmed in their own testing too. That performance is by no means taken for granted. Each generation the ROG team undertakes extensive benchmarks (that are user repeatable) to understand which chip is better for its audience. After all, you buy a premium brand and expect nothing less. Just because a product throws 'gaming' into the name, are they actually better for it? Not necessarily, which is why things should be tested and benchmarked. This is the foundation all ROG hardware: only when its worth is proven does it get a space in the arsenal!

Intel I217-V Gigabit Ethernet

Current ROG Z87 (and some ASUS/TUF) motherboards feature the Intel I217-V Gigabit Ethernet chip, and so the following performance comparatives are based on it. As you'd imagine, having the full triad of Intel hardware on your PCB (CPU, PCH, LAN) also gives better compatibility, energy savings (the I217-V uses just 50mW when the connection is idle, down from a typical 500mW) and the chip itself can offload UDP/TCP checksums from the CPU, reducing PCH-CPU traffic and overall CPU use.

TCP Performance Testing: iPerf

iPerf test results show the differences of TCP throughput performance among Intel and other popular Gigabit Ethernet chips are almost negligible. However, it also shows Intel Ethernet consumes less CPU resource for the same performance level versus typical alternatives.

UDP Performance Testing: iPerf

Under UDP, iPerf "P" command should be >1 to reflect real network behavior, as every online task executes at least two connections in the background. Unfortunately, some other Gigabit Ethernet products have capability issues and do not support a UDP setting above 1. As you can see, Intel's UDP throughput is far ahead of the competition.

UDP Performance Testing: IxChariot

(Click for setup picture) IxChariot is a professional network assessment test tool used by thousands of enterprises and government agencies worldwide to measure the performance and reliability of their networks. We use it here to assess the fine grained performance of Ethernet chipsets in a real-world environment. Online game packets are usually less than 256 bytes (small). Here, Intel Ethernet shows up to 2x performance advantage over a direct 'gaming' competitor on small packet sizes. This proves that while 'course' testing appears equal, a deeper analysis shows Intel Gigabit Ethernet is clearly better for gaming.

Latency Performance Testing: Diablo III & League of Legends

Network latency is absolutely crucial to online gaming. The lower your ping, the more real-time your game. There are factors outside the control of the PC system that affect it, like the speed of the server you connect to and the inherent performance of your router and internet connection. In the tests conducted by the ROG team, the same physical and internet connection in all cases. Performance was found to be equal or slightly lower than direct alternatives.

ROG GameFirst II: Don't forget the bandwidth optimization / traffic shaping software.

GameFirst II is a traffic shaping technology that ships with all ROG motherboards. It ensures pings are kept low through constant packet inspection and management, resulting in reduced latency – great for online gaming! Traffic Shaping  prioritizes ACK packets, allowing the download to continue at max speed. Whereas previous tests were exclusively done on an isolated connection, ROG also evaluated the effect of having a heavy upload/download run in the background during gaming (World of Warcraft). The performance difference was significant, as you can see below.

ASUS First in World to Unleash Full SATA Express Performance

April 23, 2014, 8:01 am

≫ Next: Interview With CS:GO eSports Team, HellRaisers

≪ Previous: Tried And Tested: Why Intel Ethernet Is Still Better For Gaming.

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Since the Z87 Deluxe/SATA Express ASUS has been working extensively with Intel and SATA Express SSD chipset manufacturers in developing compatibility and performance reliability for the new standard. As the only motherboard company to commit so early and positively, the fruits of this labor are now beginning to ripen. Today ASUS is announcing that the joint BIOS development teams have yielded a breakthrough in design, and will implement a technology that is critical for SATA Express to perform at its best — the Separate Reference Clock with Independent Spread Spectrum Clocking Architecture, or SRIS for short. OK, it's not sexy news like seeing a brand new ROG motherboard, but it's still extremely important to know that not every motherboard is made the same: having the physical connector is only a small part of the equation. SATA Express is the next generation SSD standard that jumps performance to 10Gbps, over current SATA III's 6Gbps. This equates to real world sequential read/write speeds of up to 745/809MB/s on upcoming ASUS motherboards with SATA Express, which is roughly around 40-50% greater performance over top performing SATA III SSDs. you can read more about it in our SSD technology guide before you plan your 2014 upgrade! Hit the PR button below for the official info. [caption id="attachment_31694" align="aligncenter" width="595" caption="SATA Express connectors on the Z87 Deluxe SATA Express"][/caption]

Interview With CS:GO eSports Team, HellRaisers

May 2, 2014, 8:00 am

≫ Next: Maximus VII Hero: Your 2014 ROG Upgrade!

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ROG sponsors HellRaisers, a top 10 (worldwide) CS:GO eSports team, and the Russian ROG team dropped by for a quick chat with these gaming stars.

Hey guys, we want to chat about everything! Let`s start with the first question - how are you?

- (ANGE1): Hello everyone! Ask about the latest results! In general, we are fine.

Competitive gaming is definitely a sport and you are, by definition, athletes. Are you into traditional sports too?

- (AdreN): Of course, our team is no stranger to other sports. Almost every one of us watches football (soccer), and occasionally we even go out to play together, however, this happens very rarely given that each of our players live in different cities and countries. For example, I live in Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan, ANGE1 lives in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, markeloff lives in Dnepropetrovsk - a large Ukrainian city, kUcheR live in Sevastopol in the Crimea, dosia from Ufa - Russian city. And besides football… some of us go to the gym too.

How did it all begin: How was HellRaisers born?

- (Markeloff): If we talk about the tag itself, it is originated back in 2008. Back then we used this team tag more as friends than a professional team. If we talk about current HellRaisers, after the disintegration of Astana Dragons we were without «a home» during those 3 months, yet we felt that we still can play and had considerable motivation, but ultimately we needed support. Then we approached ASUS Russia for support, which kick started this all. We revived the tag, because no new name felt as ‘right’ as the "Hellraiser" tag, so to some extent we have made a comeback.

What is your impression of ASUS hardware and sponsorship?

KUcheR): We were particularly pleased when, before going to the EMS One Katowice ASUS called to tell us they'd support us, as before this the cooperation was under discussion. But cooperation with ASUS is not only to support our project, but also in joint collaboration: tweaking and designing products for gamers. We're more about the Republic of Gamers products than ASUS though.

How important are gaming accessories for CS: GO players? What do you use personally?

- (Dosia): Gaming accessories are extremely important for CS: GO players, I would say even more important than the game strategy or MOBA players. We play on ASUS Echelon Mech keyboards and use ASUS ROG Orion Pro headsets. The keyboard has become a pleasant surprise for us. It can easily compete with (more established) competitors like SteelSeries or Razer. The headphones are also quite good, although I feel some things need to be tweaked. As for the mouse and mouse pads - ASUS has some amazing solutions that are ideal for office and home usage, and even for amateur gamers. Unfortunately, we think ROG’s mice are not good enough yet for professional gamers, although knowing I clearly believe that it is only a matter of time. By the way our team will be involved in the improvement of future devices, and who knows, maybe someday will joint line of products from ROG and HellRaisers! - (ANGE1): Some of us use ASUS gaming monitors at home, such as VG248QE. What more do you need than 144Hz to satisfy the needs of gamers? Oh yeah, my family uses the ASUS GX800. It’s used for everyday needs. With this mouse I even won the 1x1 tournament on CS: GO in one of the StarLadder finals!

Since the Starladder tournament, we would like to know your opinion on two recent events – one at the EMS One Katowice and another at Starladder.

- (ANGE1): We went particularly prepared in Katowice, after a 3-month decline. I consider we held our own against Titan and Virtus.pro to get a worthy result (5-8 place – approx.) Although, obviously, we’d very much like to do better. Most importantly, we get auto-quota for the next tournament on CS: GO, with a 250k prize. This tournament is our next target. When and where exactly is not yet known, but it will be definitely this year. As for the online part of Starladder – we failed unfortunately. We are keenly aware that we had a 90% chance to get into the finals; it has been our goal number one right after Katowice, and we did everything possible. However, something went wrong in a couple of key games, which caused a snowball effect. In any case, what’s done is done and we will make every effort not to fall into such a situation in the future.

Where will we see you in the future? What tournaments are you going to visit?

- (AdreN): Honestly after the defeat in the online portion Starladder we took a short pause, in order to clear our heads and devote time to family and friends. We’re back now and hungry for victory at the next online tournament: we will visit DreamHack Summer and will play in many online tournaments.

What are your plans besides visiting tournaments?

- (ANGE1): We’ve got many plans! One priority is to start selling HellRaisers branded clothing in the CIS region, as many our fans have asked about it. In addition, we are doing our website, which is in an early stage of development. We have plans for lots of interesting things, but we should wait a bit to kick off all of them. If we talk about long term strategic plans, we look forward to the developing cooperation with ASUS and improving products for gamers. In the short term we will have some contests on our social network pages.

Thanks for your time! Any messages for your fans and  those who play CS:GO?.

- (AdreN): Thank you all for your support! There are difficulties we need to face, and we are used to facing them now. - (Dosia): Thanks ASUS and Republic of Gamers for the support, even during difficult times together. - (KUcheR): Thanks to everyone who is a fan of us in spite of all political situation in the CIS region. Every player on my team - individuality, we are all different, but we are together for the wins despite the odds. - (Markeloff): Thanks to everyone who continues to believe in us. We will not let you down! - (ANGE1): Guys, the key components of the team's success is based on several factors such that few people think of. One such part is the support of the fans. It does not always go smoothly, but we clearly believe that in 2014 we will be able to regain its former glory. Thank you!

Maximus VII Hero: Your 2014 ROG Upgrade!

May 7, 2014, 5:00 am

≫ Next: RealBench v2.2 Available To Download

≪ Previous: Interview With CS:GO eSports Team, HellRaisers

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Last year's Hero saw it smash onto the PC gamer and enthusiast builder scene, as easily the most popular ROG board to date! It goes without saying then that 2014's Maximus VII Hero would have a lot to live up to, so thankfully, it's had a huge upgrade and a big splash of cool design. Have a look at this:

The sharp aesthetic design is drawn throughout its creation; from painted, matt black PCB through to heatsink, through to (optionally) illuminated Z97 heatsink. The keen eyed will also notice no more white clips as the whole board is now totally red/black!

The Hero supports all current Intel 4th Generation (Haswell, Haswell-refresh) and future 5th Generation (Broadwell) CPUs on LGA1150. The Extreme Engine DIGI+ III hardware includes 8+2 phase power, NexFET™ Power Block MOSFET, 60A Ferrite Chokes and 10K Black Metallic Capacitors to make overclocking a cinch.

On the memory front there's support for four DDR3 DIMMS up to and beyond 3,200MHz, depending on what kit you choose to pair it with.

[gallery include="32032,32033" size="medium" link="file" template="file-gallery" columns="2"]

Within its price-range it's also the only board with rear bracing/heatspreaders for the VRMs too:

While top-side, the heatsink has a nickel-plated heatpipe cunningly snuck deep into its design to improve cooling:

[gallery include="32035,32037" size="medium" link="file" template="file-gallery" columns="2"]

The rear IO features two USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, combination PS2 keyboard and mouse, HDMI out, DVI out, dsub out, USB BIOS Flashback, RJ45 Intel I218V Gigabit Ethernet port with LANGuard (and GameFirst III), S/PDIF out and 6x 3.5mm audio jacks from the SupremeFX 2014.

In the box there's also a metallic black Q-shield to cover the rear IO:

[gallery include="32043,32044" size="medium" link="file" template="file-gallery" columns="2"]

On the audio front, it packs SupremeFX 2014. This includes ROG technologies like SupremeFX Shielding over the sound codec, ELNA premium audio capacitors, ELNA premium audio capacitors, DTS Connect, and ROG exclusive enhancements such as Sonic SoundStage, Sonic SenseAmp, Sonic Studio and Sonic Radar II.

[caption id="attachment_32045" align="aligncenter" width="595" caption="The SupremeFX Shield gets a flash of ROG Redline too"][/caption]

The PCI-Express layout is aimed at (most common) 2-way SLI and CrossFire users with its two, red PCI-Express x16 slots providing 1x16 or 2x8 from the CPU. If you're using more GPUs, wait for our Computex announcements!

Three open-ended PCI-Express x1 slots, a PCI-Express x16 (x4 electrically) and the M.2 (PCI-E x2) slot are all connected to the Z97 PCH. Note that due to the limitation in number of available Z97 PCI-Express lanes, these PCI-Express lanes are shared. The default setting is Auto Mode, which automatically assigns the PCI-Express lanes, meaning if you install a PCI-Express x4 device into the bottom slot, the system will automatically detect and disable the x1 slots and M.2 slot.

[caption id="attachment_32065" align="aligncenter" width="595" caption="The red heatsink stripe is extended further along the motherboard PCB"][/caption]

The M.2 port support PCI-Express x2 devices up to 2280 (80mm long), giving the latest 10Gbps extreme performance. Since it's PCI-Express based it does not eat up one of the eight SATA III ports when used, giving you the maximum storage potential and best performance, all the time.

Onboard buttons include the usual power, rest, Clear CMOS, MemOK! tester and new Sonic SoundStage switcher and KeyBot on/off.

[gallery include="32066,32067" size="medium" link="file" template="file-gallery" columns="2"]

Flip the board over, and you can find the KeyBot hardware IC too:

On the bundled software disc you'll get these to use with your new build:

• ROG GameFirst III
• ROG RAMDisk
• ROG CPU-Z
• ROG Mem TweakIt
• Kaspersky® Anti-Virus
• DAEMON Tools Pro Standard
• ASUS WebStorage
• Home Cloud
• ASUS Utilities

Any further questions? Drop into our Maximus VII forum!

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RealBench v2.2 Available To Download

May 11, 2014, 8:00 pm

≫ Next: What Is ROG KeyBot?

≪ Previous: Maximus VII Hero: Your 2014 ROG Upgrade!

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ROG's real-world benchmarking app, RealBench, has been updated to v2.2 with new support added in the stability test for systems with 64GB of memory. The benchmark hasn't changed, so results from v2.0 and v2.1 are compatible with the latest v2.2, so don't worry if you're still using the older versions. Download v2.2 here if you want to test your X79 system maxed out with 64GB of DDR3 memory! Not tried RealBench yet? Download it for free, test your PC and upload your result to our leaderboard! It's packed with achievements and comparatives to other ROG systems.

What Is ROG KeyBot?

May 12, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: What Is ROG LANGuard?

≪ Previous: RealBench v2.2 Available To Download

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Fancy a free keyboard upgrade? KeyBot is a custom designed hardware IC included on on all ROG Maximus VII motherboards. It means any regular USB gaming keyboard can activate some of the special functions of ROG motherboards, perform key macros and multimedia functions. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="595" caption="The KeyBot IC"][/caption] You can find the KeyBot IC on the easily on back of the Hero, Ranger and Gene and it can be turned on/off via the button on the front. [caption id="attachment_32049" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="The KeyBot can be turned on/off via the button on the motherboard"][/caption] Using the dedicated USB port, KeyBot allows wake-up from S5 and boot into one of three different modes: CPU Level UP, XMP or DirectKey into the BIOS. With the corresponding Windows software, the F1-10 keys can be assigned to custom key macro's, shortcuts or functions. The software design has also been unified to match other new and upgraded ROG software.

What Is ROG LANGuard?

May 15, 2014, 8:00 pm

≫ Next: Maximus VII Ranger: High-value Entry-level ROG Gaming

≪ Previous: What Is ROG KeyBot?

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When combined with Intel's latest I218-V Ethernet and ROG's GameFirst III software, LANGuard is part of ROG's design leadership in its gamer Ethernet.

You'd think there's not much you can do to a simple RJ45 socket, right? Well it turns out there's plenty of antiquated tech inside, like old, circular filters and wires everywhere; as you can see below, on the left.

[caption id="attachment_32119" align="aligncenter" width="595" caption="If anything, LANGuard (on the right) will satisfy your OCD."][/caption]

ROG engineers modernized the design with advanced signal-coupling technology and premium surface-mount components, which, add protection from power spikes and keep the (Gigabit) Ethernet signal cleaner, reducing the chance of errors. These are normally corrected by error checking mechanisms, but this requires CPU time that could be devoted to your game!

Look for the red LAN port on ROG motherboards and only ROG motherboard - like the Maximus VII Gene below - then you know you've got LANGuard, Intel GigE and GameFirst III!

Maximus VII Ranger: High-value Entry-level ROG Gaming

May 18, 2014, 9:08 pm

≫ Next: Win An ASUS PB287Q Monitor: 2014 4K UHD Wallpaper Competition!

≪ Previous: What Is ROG LANGuard?

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The new Ranger is a brand new range of ATX motherboards from ROG, that hits the affordable, performance-mainstream segment. It's all ROG heart, albeit a little lighter on the features and eye-candy in design. You can see the first of this new breed below: the Maximus VII Ranger.

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Built around the Z97 chipset and LGA1150 socket, it has support for 4th and upcoming 5th generation Intel processors.

It still packs much of the same features as other Maximus VII boards, namely Intel GigE + LANGuard + GameFirst III, SupremeFX 2014 + Sonic extras, KeyBot + TrueVolt USB, UEFI BIOS with ROG enhancements like Secure Erase, USB BIOS Flashback and a support disc filled with extra software (Kapersky, RAMDisk, DAEMON Tools pro, WebStorage, HomeCloud, CPU-Z and AISuite III).

The Extreme Engine III is slightly tweaked with alternative Alloy chokes that forgoes only the fancier design to meet its price, not the performance, and you don't get the fancy inked PCB either.

SupremeFX 2014 packs all the latest audio goodies: Red-line and EMI cap shielding, ELNA audio capacitors, Sonic SenseAMP, Sonic Studio, Sonic SoundStage and Sonic Radar II.

An M.2 slot up to 2280 PCIe 2x is available, although there are 6x SATA III versus the Hero's 8x and while the heatsink lack the lighting effects too, the Maximus VII's core style of pure red and black remains throughout.

The board packs the ultimate combo of Intel GigE + LANGuard + GameFirst III:

While the rear IO houses two USB 2.0, four USB 3.0, HDMI, DVI and dsub outputs, S/PDIF audio and 6x 3.5mm gold-plated, stereo audio jacks, USB BIOS Flashback and the red LANGuard Gigabit Ethernet socket. The IO shield is now metallic black to match your case.

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KeyBot IC is also added, and TrueVolt USB powers all USB ports (front and rear) directly from the PSU to provide the most stable power source.

See the Maximus VII Ranger product page and click the feature links in the text above for more info.

Win An ASUS PB287Q Monitor: 2014 4K UHD Wallpaper Competition!

May 22, 2014, 5:00 pm

≫ Next: ROG Announces Sponsorship of Taipei Assassins And Taipei Snipers

≪ Previous: Maximus VII Ranger: High-value Entry-level ROG Gaming

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It's time for our third annual wallpaper competition! This year's prize is BIG! We're talking an ASUS PB287Q 28" 4K UHD monitor for the winner, to perfectly match the new crop of ROG 4K UHD wallpapers we want to see!

>>Entry Submission Thread<<

 

ASUS PB287Q 4K UHD Monitor Winner Selection:

Selection criteria: Wallpapers must directly reference the ROG brand, ROG design, any ROG product, or ROG history (we’re 8 years old this year!)

Correct entrants will be displayed for a public vote. ROG forum members can vote for a maximum of 3 entries. At the end of the public vote period, the winner will be chosen by ROG staff at ASUS HQ from the top 10 entries.

Maximus VII Gene + ROG Front Base Winner Selection:

Selection criteria: Wallpapers must directly reference the ROG brand, ROG design, any ROG product, or ROG history.

Correct entrants will be displayed for a public vote. ROG forum members can vote for a maximum of 3 entries. At the end of the public vote period, the winner will be chosen by ROG staff at ASUS HQ from the top 10 entries that were produced by ROG forum members with a minimum of 15 posts and 30 days membership (by end of competition).

<From 3rd June> Computex Prize Winner Selection:

Selection criteria: Wallpapers must directly reference any of the new products launched at Computex.

The winners will be chosen by ROG staff at ASUS HQ at the end of the competition. One game code will be chosen per best wallpaper based around each new product launched.

Competition Rules (the serious bit - pay attention here)

• We reserve the right to reject entries that do not meet the requirements.
• Entries must be your own work.
• Submitted wallpapers must be 3840 x 2160 pixels resolution. Other resolutions such as: 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440 or 5760 x 1080 can be added but won't be submitted into the competition.
• Entries must contain the name of your work so we can identify it.
• There is no limit to the number of entries one person can submit, however, they must offer a 'significant difference' to be attributed as additional entries.
• We cannot accept entries that use copyrighted materials from other companies or brands.
• They must remain tasteful (yes, we know you guys!): you can titillate, but no nips or adult bits on show.
• The competition ends on Sunday 6th July 2014.
• ROG reserves the right to upload any of the entries (along with due credit to the designer) to the ROG site downloads page when the competition is complete. Winners have 1 week to reply after the public announcement.
• The prizes are non-exchangeable for cash or other items of the same value.

ROG Announces Sponsorship of Taipei Assassins And Taipei Snipers

May 25, 2014, 7:45 pm

≫ Next: ASUS Republic of Gamers Launches Epic Gaming Hardware at Computex 2014

≪ Previous: Win An ASUS PB287Q Monitor: 2014 4K UHD Wallpaper Competition!

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ROG has just announced a high-profile sponsorship agreement with tier-1 LoL teams in Taiwan: Taipei Assassins (TPA) and Taipei Snipers (TPS). TPA came in first in LoL’s Season Two World Championship, held in Los Angeles, USA, in October 2012. In May 2014, the team represented South East Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau in the LoL All-Star Challenge held in Paris, France. TPS, the sister team of TPA, came in second in the Garena Premier League (GPL) 2013 Winter Season, and third in 2013 Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games.

Both teams are equipped with ASUS and ROG gaming hardware, including ROG’s G56JR gaming laptops, G30 gaming desktop PCs, Maximus VII Hero motherboards, Orion Pro gaming headsets and a variety of  ASUS DirectCU II gaming graphics cards, as well as 24-inch VG248QE fast gaming monitors.

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Hit the PR button for more details.

ASUS Republic of Gamers Launches Epic Gaming Hardware at Computex 2014

June 3, 2014, 12:56 am

≫ Next: ASUS Dominates Awards at Computex 2014

≪ Previous: ROG Announces Sponsorship of Taipei Assassins And Taipei Snipers

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Hit the PR button below to see the full press release regarding ROG's new gaming gear launched at Computex 2014!

More articles inbound all week with details about our new products.

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ASUS Dominates Awards at Computex 2014

June 3, 2014, 1:07 am

≫ Next: ROG At Computex 2014: ARES III, GR8, Crossblade, Gladius, GX500, Formula, Impact, G20, GK2000!

≪ Previous: ASUS Republic of Gamers Launches Epic Gaming Hardware at Computex 2014

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Every year since 2008 ROG has won design awards from internationally renowned design houses. 2014 is no different, with the G20 winning Computex Best Choice Gold Award and Best Choice of the Year award. Meanwhile, several new ROG products won Computex d&i Awards. See the press release below for full details.

ROG At Computex 2014: ARES III, GR8, Crossblade, Gladius, GX500, Formula, Impact, G20, GK2000!

June 3, 2014, 1:33 am

≫ Next: ARES III – Limited Edition. Unlimited Power

≪ Previous: ASUS Dominates Awards at Computex 2014

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At the ROG press event in Computex 2014 there was no less than 9 new product launches that you'll see over the next six months! See below for the press event slides showing the overview of each new product below.

[caption id="attachment_32494" align="aligncenter" width="915"] Top row: GX500, ARES III, Crossblade Ranger, GR8, Middle Left: G20, Maximus VII Impact Bottom Row: GK2000, Maximus VII Formula, PG278Q Bottom Right: Gladius Mouse[/caption]

Here is a round-up of slides presented at the press conference. Stay tuned to ROG site this week for more details about each new gaming hardware!

ARES III

Limited Edition. Unlimited Power. Available: Q3

 

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Maximus VII Formula

Ultimate Gaming Motherboard. Available: July

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 Maximus VII Impact

No Compromise Gen-2 Design. Available: August

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Crossblade Ranger

New ROG AMD FM2+ motherboard range! Available: July

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GR8, Gaming Console PC

Tiny Tower of Power. Available: Q3

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G20, Gaming PC

Deceptively Powerful Small Form-Factor Gaming Desktop. Available: Q3

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GX500, 4K Gaming Laptop

Lightest, Thinnest Ultraportable Gaming Notebook with 4K UHD Display. Available: Sept-October

 

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GK2000

Mechanical Mastery. Available: Q3

 

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Gladius

New Brand: Ground-up redesign. Available: August.

 

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Swift PG278Q

Ultimate Gaming Monitor with G-Sync. Available: July

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ARES III – Limited Edition. Unlimited Power

June 3, 2014, 8:00 pm

≫ Next: GR8 – Gaming Console PC. World Leading Size : Performance

≪ Previous: ROG At Computex 2014: ARES III, GR8, Crossblade, Gladius, GX500, Formula, Impact, G20, GK2000!

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World's Fastest Graphics Card!

• Dual R9 290X (Hawaii) GPU – Faster than R9 295X!
• Custom designed PCB with Super Allow Power and the only dual-GPU single card with real OC potential.
• 8GB GDDR5 (4GB per GPU)

Limited Edition

• Only 500 numbered units made.
• Single slot, custom designed EK water block with ARES lighting.

Exclusive ROG Software

• ROG branded GPU Tweak and GPU Tweak Streaming software.

Additional info

• DVI, HDMI, DP connectivity.
• 3x 8-pin power required.
• G1/4 ports fit any standard water cooling loop.

Available: Q3

GR8 – Gaming Console PC. World Leading Size : Performance

June 4, 2014, 8:00 pm

≫ Next: Maximus VII Impact – Mini-ITX. Max Spec

≪ Previous: ARES III – Limited Edition. Unlimited Power

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Tiny Tower of Power 

• Just 2.5 liters of space-saving size, with a bespoke gamer design.
• Featuring a 4th Generation Intel Core i7 processor and GTX 750 Ti (Kepler-class) graphics card.

Gamer-centric features

• Dedicated sound card-like audio design
• 802.11ac
• No-lag Intel LAN
• Up to 4K UHD display support
• Upgradable 2.5” HDD bay and memory

HTPC features

• Stream via Miracast (dedicated button) & DLNA
• Super quiet and energy saving design

Available: Q3

Maximus VII Impact – Mini-ITX. Max Spec

June 5, 2014, 5:00 am

≫ Next: Swift PG278Q – Available July. G-Sync 144Hz WQHD Gaming Monitor

≪ Previous: GR8 – Gaming Console PC. World Leading Size : Performance

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2nd Generation No Compromise Design

• mPCIe Combo III card with 802.11ac and M.2 (up to PCIe 4x M.2 SSDs supported);
• Intel GigE+LANGuard+GameFirst III;
• SupremeFX Impact II (Sonic SenseAMP, Sonic SoundStage, Sonic Studio and Sonic Radar II);
• Impact Control Card: KeyBot + SoundStage buttons
• Impact CoolHub Card: 2x 4pin fan headers + LN2 mode switch
• ROG UEFI BIOS Enhancements, including Secure Erase.

Five Exclusive Daughterboards

In order to maximize features, there are five exclusively designed vertical ‘daughterboards’ that provide power, sound, fan control, WiFi/SSD, ROG IO buttons. Their ultra-minimal design does not impede on component install.

Gaming or Overclocking: Built for Devil’s Canyon

Optimized for upcoming Devil’s Canyon, the new Impact overclocks like an ATX-class motherboard. The only mini-ITX Z97 with LN2 mode support.

Available: Q3