ASUS ROG Owners/Users Feedback and Insights and Ideas. Your Opinion Counts!

[DEVIL K-ce]

Maximus Extreme user, and some Commando ...

Commando hmm good, very good oc, but why this mobo when it's die after some change in bios take also cpu/gpu/ram. All parts never more working

Now ...

Maximus Extreme ... good for easy oc ( fsb 500 ), not too mouch dividers for mem on any strap. Heat hmm without wather on nb I don't see 1.8v on X38 for 24/7.


Result for me is : ROG series is good product, sometimes with only too mouch price.

[w4tch0]

Maximus II Formula user here.

I short:
- drop the IDE and Floppy controllers.
- drop the sound card (at least an optional no sound card version for us who own Xonar or X-fi).
- drop the additional SATA controler chips. Don't need more than 6 ports provided by southbridge anyway.
- now that you removed the clutter drop the price as well

[kgtiger]

Let's hope that new extreme board lives up to the hype :p

What board is this?

I am just about to buy the R2E mobo.
In saying that the biggest challange I see is this cold boot challenge that has been around from the start.
Having heaps of bios update to me show that this boad was not really ready for release when it was handed over to the public to play with.

I do agree with the idea of having a pure Extreme OCing performance boad that goes all out and is made from Asus best of the best top end components with an all out bios would be a true winner.
You want flood the market with it but like when all the top end development teams push the best available hardware/software they can get there hands on and then push it to it's limits.
There will always be spin off from that development that then goes into the mainstrean boards and that can only make you/Asus stronger and a world leader in excellence.

Having the option to buy the Asus top end mobos fully water cooled straight out the box would be sweet to.

I also believe people only complain about the cost, if they feel the item they bought under performs, is faulty or there just tight fisted err, people.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Leeghoofd]

Rampage Extreme III mate, it's not a good time to buy the II... better wait a few more weeks till it's available ( this ofcourse if you want a bench platform )

If it's for a solid 24/7 board with a modest I7 OC ( 4-4.2Ghz) no need to cash out for a ROG board...

[kgtiger]

Thanks for the info Leeghoofd, perfect timing champ I was going to place my order last night but never got around to it.

I really only need a solid 24/7 board with a modest i7 OC 4-4.2Ghz, but once I start I know myself to well and I will be ticked off if the cheeper board can't do more.

Time to Google.

[gungstar]

1. Tweak It - useful, but not necessary
2. Probe It -
3. Super ML cap usage
4. SupremeFX sound with X-FI software support overprice feature
5. Bios Flashback
6. Swappable bios chips
7. CPU Level Up in the bios - not needed
8. Voltiminder LED always disable
9. External LCD Poster
10. Onboard switches
11. EL I/O (illuminated I/O Plate) overprice feature
12. Q-Connector - not needed
13. Water block support overprice feature
14. MemOK!
15. Memperfect
16. Q-LED
17. ROG Connect
18. GameFirst Packet Priority Software overprice feature
19. Speeding HDD
20. Q-Dimm
21. Q-Slot

it would be good if ASUS engineers unlock bioses on 1366 motherboards(not only ROG models) to have possibilities to change memory settings in Windows thru software like cpu-tweaker

[BenchZowner]

non flammable sealant would be a nice addition ( click to find out how to make your Asus Rampage Extreme go nuts )

[The Watcher]

any suggestion on the best bios for this mobo. sorry a litle OOT. TY.

[overclocking101]

is asus still even bothering too look at this thread?? they have not commented in quite some time. I wonder if they were not expecting the results this thread shows??? because im sure they thought we were all going to be like OMGWTFBBQ!!! ROG BOARDS ARE SICK!!!!! well they are good but could be much better for the $$ they cost. i went EVGA for my new P55 instead of ASUS maximus 23 formula because they have the exact same features and EVGA is 200 plus 30 rebate and maximus was 250 no rebate. $$ is the most prominent answer throughout this thread. if they aregoing to release mediocre products branded ROG then they should at least lower the cost a little

[BenchZowner]

Watching it ? Maybe.
Willing to listen to us or post ? Doubtful.

[ReverendMaynard]

Watching it ? Maybe.
Willing to listen to us or post ? Doubtful.

...and /thread.

[Leeghoofd]

is asus still even bothering too look at this thread?? they have not commented in quite some time. I wonder if they were not expecting the results this thread shows... if they aregoing to release mediocre products branded ROG then they should at least lower the cost a little

Do you think they will read sortlike posts ? or even will continue to read the thread ? would be better to list things you like or dislike then posting in this manner... as it will lead us to nowhere... but that's just my 5 cents...

[overclocking101]

hey I like asus boards i have owned more asus and rog than any other and like them. but I was making a point. they havent even posted since pg1 thats all.

[illuminatiASUS]

Hello Everyone,

First off thank you to leeghoofd,cryptik,mecho gruh,utnorris,in-fluence,racinf turtle,watcho,kgtiger,devil kce,talonmen,kuebk,kuchaii,zanzabar,kowciller,mons tru,chinstrap,massive overkill,xoqolatl,iandh. If i missed anyone my apologies I appreciate everyones time and effort is replying.

After the first round of feedback along with other direct communication feedback i worked closely witht the ROG product managers and r&d team to provide the input (from the ACI America Region on what the future of ROG boards should be). This ranged from PWM design to cooling implementations, bios options, layout , controller choices and much more.

In regards to delay on my part on commenting on the thread it has been quite busy for me as i have been dealing with the launches and refresh of a number of products as well as events ( such as ces ) although things have no signs of slowly down i have little more time to get back to forums.

With that said I would like to thank you all especially the one's that took the time to list what they like and what they did not as well as defining clear recommendations and not just the fact that they did not like the board or something specific without feedback. The key to this thread and real development is having an understanding at what is practical in terms of need/want and what is fundamental in terms of expectations.


To go over some of the feedback there have been some consistent messages.



1. Go Digital ( we of course previously went digital and were an innovator in this regard ) As I am sure some of you know there are benefits to both Digital and Analog PWM designs and a lot goes into the consideration of this. I am not going to go into extensive detailing outside of that fact on the previous design like the RIIE and we found internally very benefits to maintaining a Analog Phase Design.

With that said we have incorporated a new Digital + design in our upcoming ROG boards

2. Heatsink concerns and overall cooling performance. There are a lot of different statements when it comes to temperatures and what is acceptable and what is not. An important factor to remember is a heatsink has to be efficient and if it is it should dissipate the heat and therefore be hot to touch. No this of course can vary depending on the size, composite and other variables. I have been very aggressive about communicating cooling at both stock levels and overclock levels needs to always be at the forefront of design consideration.

Another question in regards to heatsink and cooling is do you prefer a single heatsink solution that cools better or a solution that is modular (one for the mosfets one of the sb/pch / nb or other area of the VRM) that may not cool as well. Or is ultimately just about cooling and regardless of being modular or unibody whatever is the best?
The reason for the question goes to the fact some users what to maybe cool the northbridge on the X58 but leave the mosfet cooling for the VRM as opposed to having to replace everything.

3. Sound solution on the motherboards. This is a topic of definite interest as some do not care so like it and others hate it. Currently our approach with ROG audio is to provide the best codec we have available and integrate onto the board providing a better class of audio and fidelity this is additionally improved by working with creative and integrating there X-FI software suite. Personally i have been recommending a different approach. It is to include a sound card with the unit ( similar to the supreme fx module ) but based on our Xonar based audio hardware providing users with a higher quality solution than what comes on motherboards as well as providing amplified headphone out and amplified microphone. This would then be easy to either use or not use depending on the choice of the user.

Is this a solution you would be interested in seeing?

4. Legacy connections on ROG boards? Overall we have moved away from placing IDE or Floppy connections so i think that covers most complaints but what about other connections.

Such as PS2, PCI

We have considered leaving these as some gamers and users like using the PS2 port instead additionally some benchers sometimes like being able to use a old generation PCI card.

5. Fan Controls and sensors and headers. I think we have actually made strides more so than any other vendor in this dept. I know many consider Abit to have defined the best of the best, but as some have noted they are no longer an option. We are looking to really ensure a strong set of options on the hardware and software/bios side.

With our current P55 solutions and upcoming solutions this has been a strongly voiced opinion from me and ASUS ACI. We currently have a number of options present along with a high count of fan headers (on ATX ROG boards). You have the ability to set target temperature and min and max fan cycles. This is the best that could be integrated in our current P55 solutions due to GPIO limitations of the controller but we have made a focus to push forward on upcoming board and includes controllers that allow for more options and more settings and allow independent fan control for the CPU and Chassis. We are also looking at options for minimum and maximum voltage for the as well. I think shortly we will offer the best fan controls available. Additionally i would like to confirm on people like the ability to have the temperature probes on the ROG series of boards? I also assume people think that the sensors should always come included with the board if this is a feature.
6. Bios options and updates. There has been the opinion that multiple bios updates are something that is bad. I think there needs to be a clear understanding that there is a difference to refinement and support of a bios and board that just releasing bios updates because we are fixing issues.
No board ever can be 100% perfect but we spend a lot of time before production to ensure the bios release is solid and performs to the expectations of what we hold the segmentation for that board. There are always cases of in the field back that of course we consider, test and weight and may incorporate into our bios. I see this as a strong suit for us in the fact we are continually releasing bios updates trying to best support possible in whatever context the update relates to. As I have previously communicated I am considering opening a official thread on certain key boards to have bios input for things we may be able to incorporate or consider for that board. Please let me know if this is something you think the community would be interested in.



With those main points out of the way below i will note features users agree are not needed.

CPU Level UP ( this is a feature in the bios that allows novice overclockers to select a CPU overclock via the name of the CPU ) an example is going from a 750 to 870 without knowing anything more than that.

Memperfect ( this was a memory testing utility built into the bios additionally it allowed attempted to set you memory in relation to what you defined for your BCLK ). I think the idea of having a memory testing application in the bios is fine but the additional aspects of the feature are not needed.

Any type of additional hard drive controllers? ( speeding HD ) although does mean not have additional feature hardware controllers like SATA6G? Which are not native to X58 or P55.

Game First Packet Priority software?




Features to keep

Dual Bios (swappable)
LCD Poster (along with ROG Connect)
Probe it multimeter reading
On board switches (what switches do you always want to see on the board) just power and clr cmos and reset or other as well?
Q- Connector
Q-Shield (padded and emi reducing i/o shield) additionally maintain backlight shield
Q-LED ( like debug code ) quick 4 point led display for faults related to the CPU, Memory, Graphics or boot device. We feel this is easier than reading debug codes (although we understand some users still want it).


I think this covers a good amount of what has been detailed. I will wait for any other specific feedback in concerns to things that should be incorporated or considered before submitting my next round of feedback. As always thank you for your time and effort and input. Please enjoy the rest of your day.

[BenchZowner]

Maybe if you guys started paying more attention to the users, the reviewers, the overclockers & their feedback you'd have better products, more sales in the high end market ( you have to face it, the eVGA Classified E760 & E762 are overselling the Rampage II Extreme by far ).
Your BIOS support and development is also lacking nowadays compared to eVGA & Gigabyte.

You PR guys should also learn or be allowed ( sometimes it's your fault and sometimes the big boss's fault ) to do what you should do and not what you shouldn't.
You're there to organize launches, events and interact with the media and sometimes with the customers/consumers and provide the engineers with feedback and not dictate what they should or shouldn't do, and neither "force" them to go with silly solutions just for looks, and bragging rights ( these things might bring you some sales, but the other way will bring you more than that plus the products will keep getting better & better ).

And I did save the best for last, don't waste your time asking people to remove funny videos that have something to do/include any of your products.
I believe you know what I'm talking about, I'm speaking on my behalf and not the other person involved in this, so if you guys think you're tough take it on me ( I was the video uploader & 'author' anyway ).
I did remove the video because I respect my friend and don't want to cause him any troubles, but that's not a win for you guys if you think so.
I'll be back, with a personal video

[Leeghoofd]

For the cooling plz stop using them linked heatsinks. While they might look flashy their performance is so so ... Cool the NB/IOH seperately from the PWM's... no need to transfer heat from one component to another... This will make it easier to cool vital/critical parts. And if needed to add aftermarket blocks to enhance reliability/peformance... I've never been a fan of passive cooling on high end platforms, at least include a decent fan that works and does it's job at a respectable noise /performance ratio...

It really beats me when the designers are aware that eg the IOH on the X58 runs hot , why equip it with an underperforming heatsink ? Put something beefy on it as this will enhance stability big time...

I prefer stability/temp performance over the wow/bling factor... if it's a ROG board it has to have an OC advantage over the entry/medium range boards... This is not achieved with bling. An intuitive,well balanced in settings and friendly to use bios will allow more users to dial in their boards... It's not only Asus but most manufacturers put out just to many boards and the bios teams can't keep up with all of them at once...

Main factor has to be : A ROG board has to be warranted to overclock better, yet to be more reliable than the other boards in the lineup...


@Benchzowner I hope not another flame torching video..

[dctokyo]

3. Sound solution on the motherboards. This is a topic of definite interest as some do not care so like it and others hate it. Currently our approach with ROG audio is to provide the best codec we have available and integrate onto the board providing a better class of audio and fidelity this is additionally improved by working with creative and integrating there X-FI software suite. Personally i have been recommending a different approach. It is to include a sound card with the unit ( similar to the supreme fx module ) but based on our Xonar based audio hardware providing users with a higher quality solution than what comes on motherboards as well as providing amplified headphone out and amplified microphone. This would then be easy to either use or not use depending on the choice of the user.

Is this a solution you would be interested in seeing?

Please no on-board audio, let us chose our own card.

[Telo]

Overall ASUS is a good brand, but I stay away from the "specialty" boards. I've owned an Striker Extreme [$430 when I bought it], and the P5E3 Premium although not an ROG but still so called high end [$395 when I bought it] and to say the truth I'm really glad Newegg took them back and I got a full refund because they were trully garbage. The RAM compatibility with both boards was insane, not even a set of $450 CellShocks worked on either, at less that stock speed mind you. The crappy P5E3 Pro I got for my brother a few weeks back [$130] is performing 17,000% better that those other fiascos you guys called high end "enthusiast boards". Bottom line, I would spend less money in hyping the board and the crazy designs on the retail boxes, and spend some more cash in R&D and testing [REAL testing, bring some overclockers in house and have them torture that board before you release it and damage your brand any further].

[BenchZowner]

Priceless...

I wonder why they're offering that superb "Live tech support" thing when they always tell you to call the hotline ( and yes, wait 30 minutes on the phone like an id*ot )...
Issue 1, reply - please call blah blah blah
Issue 2, reply - please call blah blah blah
Issue 3, reply - please call blah blah blah

I'm impressed!

[CryptiK]

Hello Everyone,

First off thank you to leeghoofd,cryptik,mecho gruh,utnorris,in-fluence,racinf turtle,watcho,kgtiger,devil kce,talonmen,kuebk,kuchaii,zanzabar,kowciller,mons tru,chinstrap,massive overkill,xoqolatl,iandh. If i missed anyone my apologies I appreciate everyones time and effort is replying.

After the first round of feedback along with other direct communication feedback i worked closely witht the ROG product managers and r&d team to provide the input (from the ACI America Region on what the future of ROG boards should be). This ranged from PWM design to cooling implementations, bios options, layout , controller choices and much more.

In regards to delay on my part on commenting on the thread it has been quite busy for me as i have been dealing with the launches and refresh of a number of products as well as events ( such as ces ) although things have no signs of slowly down i have little more time to get back to forums.

With that said I would like to thank you all especially the one's that took the time to list what they like and what they did not as well as defining clear recommendations and not just the fact that they did not like the board or something specific without feedback. The key to this thread and real development is having an understanding at what is practical in terms of need/want and what is fundamental in terms of expectations.


To go over some of the feedback there have been some consistent messages.



1. Go Digital ( we of course previously went digital and were an innovator in this regard ) As I am sure some of you know there are benefits to both Digital and Analog PWM designs and a lot goes into the consideration of this. I am not going to go into extensive detailing outside of that fact on the previous design like the RIIE and we found internally very benefits to maintaining a Analog Phase Design.

With that said we have incorporated a new Digital + design in our upcoming ROG boards

2. Heatsink concerns and overall cooling performance. There are a lot of different statements when it comes to temperatures and what is acceptable and what is not. An important factor to remember is a heatsink has to be efficient and if it is it should dissipate the heat and therefore be hot to touch. No this of course can vary depending on the size, composite and other variables. I have been very aggressive about communicating cooling at both stock levels and overclock levels needs to always be at the forefront of design consideration.

Another question in regards to heatsink and cooling is do you prefer a single heatsink solution that cools better or a solution that is modular (one for the mosfets one of the sb/pch / nb or other area of the VRM) that may not cool as well. Or is ultimately just about cooling and regardless of being modular or unibody whatever is the best?
The reason for the question goes to the fact some users what to maybe cool the northbridge on the X58 but leave the mosfet cooling for the VRM as opposed to having to replace everything.

3. Sound solution on the motherboards. This is a topic of definite interest as some do not care so like it and others hate it. Currently our approach with ROG audio is to provide the best codec we have available and integrate onto the board providing a better class of audio and fidelity this is additionally improved by working with creative and integrating there X-FI software suite. Personally i have been recommending a different approach. It is to include a sound card with the unit ( similar to the supreme fx module ) but based on our Xonar based audio hardware providing users with a higher quality solution than what comes on motherboards as well as providing amplified headphone out and amplified microphone. This would then be easy to either use or not use depending on the choice of the user.

Is this a solution you would be interested in seeing?

4. Legacy connections on ROG boards? Overall we have moved away from placing IDE or Floppy connections so i think that covers most complaints but what about other connections.

Such as PS2, PCI

We have considered leaving these as some gamers and users like using the PS2 port instead additionally some benchers sometimes like being able to use a old generation PCI card.

5. Fan Controls and sensors and headers. I think we have actually made strides more so than any other vendor in this dept. I know many consider Abit to have defined the best of the best, but as some have noted they are no longer an option. We are looking to really ensure a strong set of options on the hardware and software/bios side.

With our current P55 solutions and upcoming solutions this has been a strongly voiced opinion from me and ASUS ACI. We currently have a number of options present along with a high count of fan headers (on ATX ROG boards). You have the ability to set target temperature and min and max fan cycles. This is the best that could be integrated in our current P55 solutions due to GPIO limitations of the controller but we have made a focus to push forward on upcoming board and includes controllers that allow for more options and more settings and allow independent fan control for the CPU and Chassis. We are also looking at options for minimum and maximum voltage for the as well. I think shortly we will offer the best fan controls available. Additionally i would like to confirm on people like the ability to have the temperature probes on the ROG series of boards? I also assume people think that the sensors should always come included with the board if this is a feature.
6. Bios options and updates. There has been the opinion that multiple bios updates are something that is bad. I think there needs to be a clear understanding that there is a difference to refinement and support of a bios and board that just releasing bios updates because we are fixing issues.
No board ever can be 100% perfect but we spend a lot of time before production to ensure the bios release is solid and performs to the expectations of what we hold the segmentation for that board. There are always cases of in the field back that of course we consider, test and weight and may incorporate into our bios. I see this as a strong suit for us in the fact we are continually releasing bios updates trying to best support possible in whatever context the update relates to. As I have previously communicated I am considering opening a official thread on certain key boards to have bios input for things we may be able to incorporate or consider for that board. Please let me know if this is something you think the community would be interested in.



With those main points out of the way below i will note features users agree are not needed.

CPU Level UP ( this is a feature in the bios that allows novice overclockers to select a CPU overclock via the name of the CPU ) an example is going from a 750 to 870 without knowing anything more than that.

Memperfect ( this was a memory testing utility built into the bios additionally it allowed attempted to set you memory in relation to what you defined for your BCLK ). I think the idea of having a memory testing application in the bios is fine but the additional aspects of the feature are not needed.

Any type of additional hard drive controllers? ( speeding HD ) although does mean not have additional feature hardware controllers like SATA6G? Which are not native to X58 or P55.

Game First Packet Priority software?




Features to keep

Dual Bios (swappable)
LCD Poster (along with ROG Connect)
Probe it multimeter reading
On board switches (what switches do you always want to see on the board) just power and clr cmos and reset or other as well?
Q- Connector
Q-Shield (padded and emi reducing i/o shield) additionally maintain backlight shield
Q-LED ( like debug code ) quick 4 point led display for faults related to the CPU, Memory, Graphics or boot device. We feel this is easier than reading debug codes (although we understand some users still want it).


I think this covers a good amount of what has been detailed. I will wait for any other specific feedback in concerns to things that should be incorporated or considered before submitting my next round of feedback. As always thank you for your time and effort and input. Please enjoy the rest of your day.

1) Digital PWM solution should be nice. The fact that the EVGA Classified uses a digital PWM may explain the fact that CPU's require a slightly lower vcore and Vtt than the Rampage II Extreme for the same overclock.

A large difficulty is keeping a Digital PWM solution cool, but the current Analogue solution on the Rampage II Extreme runs hot - I noticed Asus removed the PWM temp sensor from the R2E when it was present on the original Rampage Extreme. Whether this was to disguise the fact the PWM was running very hot (50 - 60*C on the heatsink under load at 4.2GHz by my measurements) I don't know, but this is around the same temp the Classified runs at with decent aircooling.

Please put back the PWM temp sensor so we can monitor it! It is very important.

2) Cooling the PWM, IOH and ICH separately would be ideal for aircooling, but I can't lab test this vs integrated heatpipe solution. Whatever cools best is what should be used, looks come a distant second to performance. However it should be designed so that a one piece full cover water block can be used (like the EVGA Classified).

3) If you want to do it right, bundle an Asus Xonar Essence ST or STX sound card with the motherboard. A top class motherboard deserves a top class sound card. If this is not possible for some reason, at least design the board so that a full length sound card can be placed in the top 1x PCI-E slot - you cannot do this on the Rampage II Extreme as the NB heatsink prevents the full length sound card from fitting.

The current XFi card is a little better than an onboard sound solution, but not much better.

4) I'm not sure about PS2 connectors vs USB for keyboard & mouse, I have heard it causes lag but someone else should give input here.

5) Fan headers and fan control is currently quite good in my opinion, this was one of the reasons I bought a Rampage II Extreme. More specific fan control would be nice (eg: being able to control each chassis fan separately and also be able to set duty cycle manually for CPU fan in BIOS).

6) Asus BIOS can be good and bad - for example as I have brought up earlier, the Rampage II Extreme suffered cold boot issues with a few of it's BIOS. This should have been realized in testing and fixed before release. I almost sold my board for this reason alone but luckily BIOS 1504 fixed the issue.

Regarding settings to include, get the engineers to do their research first, so a thread shouldn't be necessary.

I have already suggested that the ability to set Round Trip Latency in the Rampage II Extreme BIOS be implemented, and I also suggested CPU vPLL be able to be set below 1.80v as this can aid overclocking, but neither of these things has been done with the BIOS that was release after my suggestions to you. I'd like to see both these options in the next BIOS.

7) Please also keep BIOS flashback - this has already saved me a couple of times after corrupting the BIOS during overclocking.

[al-]

I may not be a hardcore overclocker (yet), but knowing that the board I invested in (MIIF/$270) has limitations due to a faulty BIOS (some options that don't work) isn't inspiring enough to purchase another expensive ROG board.

If I want my PC to have 'bling' (with a side window), ROG!!!

But, if I seriously want to overclock, Asus competitors have boards with equal specs and BIOS's that work correctly that are far less expensive/<$150.

[kow_ciller]

Hello Everyone,

First off thank you to leeghoofd,cryptik,mecho gruh,utnorris,in-fluence,racinf turtle,watcho,kgtiger,devil kce,talonmen,kuebk,kuchaii,zanzabar,kowciller,mons tru,chinstrap,massive overkill,xoqolatl,iandh. If i missed anyone my apologies I appreciate everyones time and effort is replying.

After the first round of feedback along with other direct communication feedback i worked closely witht the ROG product managers and r&d team to provide the input (from the ACI America Region on what the future of ROG boards should be). This ranged from PWM design to cooling implementations, bios options, layout , controller choices and much more.

In regards to delay on my part on commenting on the thread it has been quite busy for me as i have been dealing with the launches and refresh of a number of products as well as events ( such as ces ) although things have no signs of slowly down i have little more time to get back to forums.

With that said I would like to thank you all especially the one's that took the time to list what they like and what they did not as well as defining clear recommendations and not just the fact that they did not like the board or something specific without feedback. The key to this thread and real development is having an understanding at what is practical in terms of need/want and what is fundamental in terms of expectations.


To go over some of the feedback there have been some consistent messages.



1. Go Digital ( we of course previously went digital and were an innovator in this regard ) As I am sure some of you know there are benefits to both Digital and Analog PWM designs and a lot goes into the consideration of this. I am not going to go into extensive detailing outside of that fact on the previous design like the RIIE and we found internally very benefits to maintaining a Analog Phase Design.

With that said we have incorporated a new Digital + design in our upcoming ROG boards

2. Heatsink concerns and overall cooling performance. There are a lot of different statements when it comes to temperatures and what is acceptable and what is not. An important factor to remember is a heatsink has to be efficient and if it is it should dissipate the heat and therefore be hot to touch. No this of course can vary depending on the size, composite and other variables. I have been very aggressive about communicating cooling at both stock levels and overclock levels needs to always be at the forefront of design consideration.

Another question in regards to heatsink and cooling is do you prefer a single heatsink solution that cools better or a solution that is modular (one for the mosfets one of the sb/pch / nb or other area of the VRM) that may not cool as well. Or is ultimately just about cooling and regardless of being modular or unibody whatever is the best?
The reason for the question goes to the fact some users what to maybe cool the northbridge on the X58 but leave the mosfet cooling for the VRM as opposed to having to replace everything.

3. Sound solution on the motherboards. This is a topic of definite interest as some do not care so like it and others hate it. Currently our approach with ROG audio is to provide the best codec we have available and integrate onto the board providing a better class of audio and fidelity this is additionally improved by working with creative and integrating there X-FI software suite. Personally i have been recommending a different approach. It is to include a sound card with the unit ( similar to the supreme fx module ) but based on our Xonar based audio hardware providing users with a higher quality solution than what comes on motherboards as well as providing amplified headphone out and amplified microphone. This would then be easy to either use or not use depending on the choice of the user.

Is this a solution you would be interested in seeing?

4. Legacy connections on ROG boards? Overall we have moved away from placing IDE or Floppy connections so i think that covers most complaints but what about other connections.

Such as PS2, PCI

We have considered leaving these as some gamers and users like using the PS2 port instead additionally some benchers sometimes like being able to use a old generation PCI card.

5. Fan Controls and sensors and headers. I think we have actually made strides more so than any other vendor in this dept. I know many consider Abit to have defined the best of the best, but as some have noted they are no longer an option. We are looking to really ensure a strong set of options on the hardware and software/bios side.

With our current P55 solutions and upcoming solutions this has been a strongly voiced opinion from me and ASUS ACI. We currently have a number of options present along with a high count of fan headers (on ATX ROG boards). You have the ability to set target temperature and min and max fan cycles. This is the best that could be integrated in our current P55 solutions due to GPIO limitations of the controller but we have made a focus to push forward on upcoming board and includes controllers that allow for more options and more settings and allow independent fan control for the CPU and Chassis. We are also looking at options for minimum and maximum voltage for the as well. I think shortly we will offer the best fan controls available. Additionally i would like to confirm on people like the ability to have the temperature probes on the ROG series of boards? I also assume people think that the sensors should always come included with the board if this is a feature.
6. Bios options and updates. There has been the opinion that multiple bios updates are something that is bad. I think there needs to be a clear understanding that there is a difference to refinement and support of a bios and board that just releasing bios updates because we are fixing issues.
No board ever can be 100% perfect but we spend a lot of time before production to ensure the bios release is solid and performs to the expectations of what we hold the segmentation for that board. There are always cases of in the field back that of course we consider, test and weight and may incorporate into our bios. I see this as a strong suit for us in the fact we are continually releasing bios updates trying to best support possible in whatever context the update relates to. As I have previously communicated I am considering opening a official thread on certain key boards to have bios input for things we may be able to incorporate or consider for that board. Please let me know if this is something you think the community would be interested in.



With those main points out of the way below i will note features users agree are not needed.

CPU Level UP ( this is a feature in the bios that allows novice overclockers to select a CPU overclock via the name of the CPU ) an example is going from a 750 to 870 without knowing anything more than that.

Memperfect ( this was a memory testing utility built into the bios additionally it allowed attempted to set you memory in relation to what you defined for your BCLK ). I think the idea of having a memory testing application in the bios is fine but the additional aspects of the feature are not needed.

Any type of additional hard drive controllers? ( speeding HD ) although does mean not have additional feature hardware controllers like SATA6G? Which are not native to X58 or P55.

Game First Packet Priority software?




Features to keep

Dual Bios (swappable)
LCD Poster (along with ROG Connect)
Probe it multimeter reading
On board switches (what switches do you always want to see on the board) just power and clr cmos and reset or other as well?
Q- Connector
Q-Shield (padded and emi reducing i/o shield) additionally maintain backlight shield
Q-LED ( like debug code ) quick 4 point led display for faults related to the CPU, Memory, Graphics or boot device. We feel this is easier than reading debug codes (although we understand some users still want it).


I think this covers a good amount of what has been detailed. I will wait for any other specific feedback in concerns to things that should be incorporated or considered before submitting my next round of feedback. As always thank you for your time and effort and input. Please enjoy the rest of your day.

1. That would be a good idea especially if you intend to contend with boards that use digital pwn, and as CryptiK already stated, please bring back the pwn temp monitoring.

2. Go with whatever has the best cooling, if it happens to be individual heatsinks that would be the best route.

3. I would say go with whatever you guys can do to make it the best sound available to us for the least amount of money. If we want to get a high-end sound card we wont be limited because you guys threw in a $60 sound card addition that isn't much better than onboard sound. But I do like the addition of a xonar instead of that POS X-fi that comes with the boards currently.

4. I think the best bet would be to remove all legacy items except for a single PS2 slot. There are alot of people out there who use PS2 keyboards and I dont think that a single slot would cause any problems.

5. If you guys could get it right and allow a nice amount of voltage into the fan headers you could make fan controllers a thing of the past. If I could run my san ace fans on the motherboard headers without fearing that I would blow something out that would be great, especially if I was able to control the fan speed while in my OS.

6. I really have no problem with alot of bios updates if they are tweaking a particular problem, but make major bios updates as well and note that the ones that are just tweaking things are infact tweaking, and the major ones are actually major bios updates.

Not needed features:
I'd say none of those are really needed. Especially the port forwarding program. If someone knows what port forwarding is for gaming, I'm sure they would be able to figure it out on their router if they really wanted to turn it on.

[Dyn0miteMat]

Please please please make a good ROG 890 (amd) chipset board with Red/Black colors. My whole rig is red/black (amd/ati's colors) and yet every board is either crazy carnival circus clown colored (gigabyte, I'm looking at you), or just random colors (most that would fit better with an intel build, being blue/white/black). And it seems that all the intel boards I like are black/red

[BenchZowner]

Priceless...

I wonder why they're offering that superb "Live tech support" thing when they always tell you to call the hotline ( and yes, wait 30 minutes on the phone like an id*ot )...
Issue 1, reply - please call blah blah blah
Issue 2, reply - please call blah blah blah
Issue 3, reply - please call blah blah blah

I'm impressed!

Submitted a technical support inquiry about the missing accessories & Dirt 2 coupon 2 days ago... and here's their... proper reply



Good job Asus!

[kgtiger]

Sux getting the run around.
Has your hardware supplier been able to work this out for you BenchZowner?