Hardcore gamers have a great year to look forward to in 2010, thanks to ASUS and a raft of new Republic of Gamers (ROG) components.
Two new ROG Extreme Series motherboards combine cutting-edge specifications with unprecedented overclocking opportunities for speed junkies. The Rampage III Extreme (Intel® X58 chipset) and Crosshair IV Extreme (AMD® 890FX chipset) each offer four PCI-E x16 slots for mind-blowing frame rates with quad-card NVIDIA SLI and ATI CrossFire X set-ups, but both motherboards also make it easier than ever to squeeze more performance out of more mainstream rigs.
With the flick of a switch, ASUS ROG Connect repurposes a USB port on each Extreme Series motherboard to enable remote access to overclocking features from a second PC. The proprietary iROG processor allows real-time status monitoring on a laptop via a USB connection and the RC TweakIt applications provides a simple way to adjust overclocking parameters on-the-fly.
ROG Connect also provides a straightforward recovery system for over-enthusiastic overclockers and the RC BIOS Flashback feature lets you re-flash the BIOS from a backup using a second computer. RC Remote also provides remote reset, shutdown and CMOS clearing over a USB connection for fool-proof fine-tuning.
Overclockers looking for the ultimate in remote control need look further than ROG Connect’s RC Bluetooth feature. With software installed on a compatible smartphone, overclocking adjustments can be made wirelessly over a Bluetooth connection — just the thing for hectic LAN parties where trailing cables are the very last thing you need.
James Kidder