Computex: Asus woos gamers with high-end ROG boards, Ares III graphics card, gaming rigs, 2K monitor

ASUS had announced its **mobile devices** and the latest **Transformer hybrid** yesterday. Today was the Republic of Gamers (ROG) event which addresses the performance PC and gaming enthusiasts. Over the years ROG has become a brand in itself and the product portfolio keeps increasing each year. Let us take a look at some beauties announced this year.   ASUS ROG Z97 and FM2+ motherboards ASUS’s ROG line up of motherboards is popular among gamers, and despite having announced the ROG line for the Z97 boards last month, ASUS had some more cards up its sleeves. The Maximus VII Formula and Maximus VII Impact are Z97 chipset based ROG boards, whereas the ROG Crossblade Ranger is the first ROG FM2+ board. [caption id=“attachment_225079” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Maximus VII Formula features a full body cover plate[/caption]   ASUS ROG Maximus VII Formula looks like an amalgamation of the ASUS TUF series boards and the ASUS Maximus series boards, thanks to the full cover body-plate offering structural rigidity. Since it is a Z97 chipset based board, it uses a dual SATA Express connector (one from the chipset, one from the ASMedia controller) and the mPCIe Combo III on the back panel IO, for the M.2 slot. [caption id=“attachment_225081” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  ASUS ROG Maximus VII Impact is a mini ITX board based on the Z97 chipset[/caption]   ASUS ROG Maximus VII Impact takes off from where the **Maximus VI Impact** left. In terms of design this mini ITX board is almost similar in design to the Maximus VI Impact board, sporting the similar motherboard-daughterboard combination and other additions such as an audio daughterboard as well. It sports the M.2 port as part of the mPCIe Combo IV. [caption id=“attachment_225080” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  ASUS ROG Crossblack Ranger is the first ROG FM2+ board[/caption]   Finally, the ASUS ROG Crossblack Ranger is the first FM2+ socket ROG board. In terms of build quality there are a lot of similarities with the Maximus VII range of boards. It comes with three PCIe x16 slots, eight SATA 6 ports, SupremeFX audio solution and so on.   The ROG boards are expected to start selling by July, with the Impact board expected for a Q3 sell date. Pricing was not announced.   ASUS ROG G20 Gaming desktop [caption id=“attachment_225091” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  ASUS ROG G20 gaming PC comes in an impressively designed case capable of a Haswell Core i7 plus GTX 780 rig[/caption] ASUS ROG G20 gaming desktop comes with an Intel Haswell Core i7 processor along with NVIDIA GTX 780 graphics solution for the highest specifications. The G20 is beautifully designed and has sharp edges. One look at it and you wouldn’t be surprised that it has won the Best Choice Golden Award at Computex. The lighting on the outside of the case is split into three regions which can be controlled according to your preference. The pricing of this gaming PC is expected to be in the $800 to $1700 (approx Rs 47,400 to Rs 1,00,700) based on the final specifications.   ASUS ROG GR8 Console Gaming PC [caption id=“attachment_225092” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  ASUS ROG GR8 comes in a small form factor housing GTX 750Ti for gaming[/caption] ASUS ROG GR8 combines the Intel Core i7 processor with a GTX 750Ti to give a small form factor PC thereby giving you a decent gaming as well as a streaming system. It comes with a Miracast receiver so you can connect compatible mobile devices and stream content. Not only this, the GR8 will come win a Windows 8.1 configuration as well as with SteamOS compatibility. The SteamOS configuration will be launched when Valve launches its SteamBox. It also comes with 802.11ac, SupremeFX audio.   ASUS ROG Ares III  [caption id=“attachment_225061” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  ASUS ROG Ares III will have two Hawaii XT class GPUs coupled with 8GB GDDR5 video memory[/caption] Ares graphics cards from ASUS have ridiculous price points , but they are on top when it comes to performance. This time around ASUS has announced the ROG Ares III, which is a limited edition water-cooled graphics card. It houses two AMD Radeon Hawaii XT class GPUs or 2x R9 290X along with 8GB  GDDR5 memory. From the press shots, it appears to be quite a slim for a dual-GPU card. It is indeed a single-slot card. ASUS will make only 500 of these, each of them will be individually numbered. Pricing details are not out yet.   ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q [caption id=“attachment_225066” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q is a 2560x1440p monitor supporting NVIDIA G-sync technology[/caption]   While the ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q was announced at CES 2014, more details were announced today. The ROG Swift PG278Q is the first 27-inch 2560x1440 pixel resolution monitor which supported NVIDIA G-Sync . It will sport the TN panel. Being an ROG product, ASUS has included a dedicated Turbo key to allow you to select the monitor refresh rate on-the-fly. You can select refresh rates in steps from 60Hz, 120Hz or 144Hz. There is no word out if it will support 3D Vision. It has a single DisplayPort, includes two USB 3.0 ports and has a 5-way joystick for the OSD. It will start selling in July for a price in the range of $800 or approx Rs 47,400.