Realtek in June announced their new family of multi-gig, 2.5 Gbps-enabling chips, to be integrated in all manner of consumer electronics in the short run. The family of controllers are of the integrated ASIC type with self-contained firmware and self-contained, single-chip solutions. The 2.5 G push will be spread out across three chips: the RTL8125 PCIe 2.0 x1 controller for PC applications; the RTL8156 USB 3.1 controller for dongles and docking applications; and the RTL8226 transceiver for routers and switches.

Of course, this isn't as big a jump as could have been done; however, remember that Realtek plays in the high-volume, low cost market, and slower adoption rates in the mainstream market are par-of-the-course. Realtek's 2.5G Ethernet controllers have now been deployed first on ASRock's new Z390 Phantom Gaming series motherboards, and are being marketed as one of the biggest selling points for the new series of motherboards.

The leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, is pleased to announce the launch of the new Intel Z390 motherboard series, and also the Phantom Gaming Motherboards, the latest addition to the company's popular Phantom Gaming line up. These versatile new motherboards support the latest 9th Generation Intel Core processors with socket 1151.

A Blazingly Fast Gaming Network Experience
Fast internet will be the trend of the future, it is certain that the old-fashioned 1 Gbps Ethernet with soon be replaced by the more advanced 2.5 Gbps LAN interface, giving network performance boost to up to 2.5x the speed of old-fashioned gigabit Ethernet. The Z390 Phantom Gaming motherboards will be the first to adopt this new industry standard and provides blazing fast 2.5 Gbps LAN, supporting next generation networking standards, for an unbeatable experience. The intelligent Phantom Gaming 2.5Gb/s LAN platform is designed for the demanding requirements of home networking, content creators, online gamers and users of high-quality streaming media. Also ASRock's Phantom Gaming network software is able to automatically accelerate critical gaming network traffic ahead of other data to provide smoother, stutter-free game performance and give gamers the ultimate competitive edge.

When ASRock teased something new from their new Phantom Gaming brand on social media with a photo that said 2.5x fast, people were quick to speculate this was referring to an AMD Radeon GPU. After all, the Phantom Gaming brand came about very recently with ASRock's debut as an AMD AIB (add-in board) partners for Radeon GPUs, with TechPowerUp giving a review treatment to one that you can read here. Was Vega holding back with some sandbags? Or was it perhaps the rumored Polaris GPU?

As it turned out today, ASRock was instead teasing about motherboards joining the Phantom Gaming brand and the "2.5x fast" instead was referring to these board having an integrated 2.5 Gigabit onboard LAN port, as opposed to the 1 GigE ports on most enthusiast motherboards today. Suffice to say that led to disappointment for many owing to this misunderstanding, but this is still news in that ASRock has deemed the importance of having a higher-tier brand that can be marketed as a competitor to the ASUS ROG, Gigabyte Aorus and more. This motherboard may end up not being AMD-exclusive either, as we do not expect a prosumer socket from AMD until next year, and the timing suggests it may well be an Intel z390 socket board instead. The teaser video is embedded below, although there is not much else to glean from it at this point.

ASRock rolled out its first Radeon RX Vega series graphics cards under its Phantom Gaming series. These cards stick to AMD reference board design, and aren't much to talk about. The ASRock RX Vega 56 Phantom Gaming X sticks to reference clock speeds of 1156-1471 MHz core and 800 MHz memory; while the RX Vega 64 ticks at 1247-1546 MHz core, and 945 MHz memory. Both cards draw power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors; display outputs include three DisplayPorts and an HDMI. The cards could be launched at close-to-stock prices owing to a slump in demand from crypto-currency miners.Many Thanks to ne6togadno for the tip.

A leading global motherboard and graphics card manufacturer, ASRock, announced entering the graphics card market with the Phantom Gaming range - a strong line up of AMD Radeon RX 500 series graphics card in April 2018. Initially, ASRock will roll out graphics card business in various regions based on internal planning. Regions with first priorities are APEC and Latin America. Then ASRock will gradually launch the business in other regions. Thanks for all media friends recently putting attention on our Phantom Gaming graphic card business and giving them massive coverages.

It's been extensively reported that ASRock's primary motivation behind entering the graphics card market is the crypto-currency wave. The company stitched together a lineup of graphics cards based on AMD Radeon RX 500 series, with its fastest card being the RX 580 Phantom Gaming X. It's now being reported that AMD is preventing ASRock from selling its graphics cards in the EU. The reasons behind the move are unclear, but from what we can tell, ASRock hasn't been given a region-specific permission to sell its graphics cards in the EU. This probably indicates a swelling inventory of AMD Radeon graphics cards from other AIB (add-in board) partners, due to waning interesting in GPU-accelerated crypto-currency mining.

ASRock's Phantom series of graphics cards have been rumored and officially launched for a while now, but actual availability thresholds have been elusive. Now, a hard date has come out of the woodwork: ASRoc's first foray into the graphics card market with materialize with custom designs of AMD's RX 580 and RX 570 graphics cards on April 19th.

The Phantom series of graphics cards are ASRock's own takes on AMD's Polaris silicon. The graphics cards will apparently ship with three distinct operating modes: a "Silent" mode, an "OC" mode, and standard clocks. The Phantom Gaming X Radeon RX 580 8 G will ship with 1,324 MHz clocks on silent mode; 1,435 MHz on OC mode; and 1380 MHz in the standard mode. The second card to be on offer on April 19th will be the Phantom Gaming X Radeon RX 570 8G, with clocks at 1,228 MHz on silent mode; 1,331 MHz on OC mode; and 1380 MHz in the standard mode. Connectivity options for both graphics cards is set at 3x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, and 1x DVI ports. No pricing information is available at time of writing.

When we first reported news of ASRock entering the graphics market with a focus on AMD Radeon GPUs, the story included a theory that crypto-currency mining was the primary driver behind the company's move. ASRock in its press-deck announcing its new Phantom Gaming series graphics cards late Wednesday, inadvertently confirmed that theory. While the cards are branded Phantom "Gaming," the press-deck slide detailing the lineup is prominently headlined "Mining" besides "Radeon 500 Series VGA." Our GPU Database curator also mentions that the cards' designs bear striking similarities to coolers from Chaintech, the OEM that supplies to Chinese VGA brands such as Colorful. Strangely enough, ASRock still went with "gaming" branding, and gave the cards proper display connectors, so it's hedging its bets on both gamers and miners.

A leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, is moving into the graphics card market with the Phantom Gaming range - a strong line up of AMD Radeon RX500 series cards, including the Phantom Gaming X Radeon RX580 8G, Radeon RX570 8G, the Phantom Gaming Radeon RX560 4G/2G and Radeon RX550 4G/2G. "ASRock finally expand into the graphics card field," said Mr. LL Shiu, ASRock Chief Executive Officer. "We are happy and proud to team up with AMD, our strong and reliable partner, and of course we look forward to bringing out more interesting and competitive products in future."

Cards offer advanced performance technology
ASRock Phantom Gaming series promises elegant design, flexibility for power users combined with user friendly control, and of course, outstanding performance. ASRock never compromises on product quality and performance, so these new products are packed with amazing features as well as the best components to ensure they meet everyone's expectations.

ASRock was rumored to enter the graphics card market as per a report by DigiTimes. The motherboard and soon-to-be graphics card manufacturer just released a teaser on their Japan Twitter account that confirms this rumor. The mysterious graphics card in the video belongs to their Phantom Gaming Series. Although the exact model wasn't revealed, DigiTimes's article stated that it's probably an AMD Radeon-based card. From what can be seen from the 30-second long video, the graphics card features a dual-slot design with a black and white theme. The graphics card apparently relies on two fans to provide active cooling and a single 8-pin PCIe connector for power.