ASUS has today announced the ROG Chakram X gaming mouse featuring the ROG AimPoint optical gaming sensor during their ROG CES 2022 livestream. The Chakram X includes the first ROG gaming mouse sensor with a 8000 Hz polling rate and an adjustable DPI of 100 to 36,000 with <1% CPI deviation. The mouse features a newly designed detachable joystick that can operate in analog and digital modes along with 11 configurable hotkeys including four side buttons and 9 zone RGB lighting. The ASUS ROG Chakram X weighs 127 g and will be available to purchase worldwide in Q1 2022.

ASUS has today announced two new full size gaming keyboards during their ROG CES 2022 livestream with the ROG Strix Flare II Animate and ROG Strix Flare II. The keyboards both feature ROG NX mechanical switches available in Red, Brown, and Blue variants paired with PBT Doubleshot keycaps and sound-dampening foam. They also feature a 8000 Hz polling rate and 0.125 ms response time along with dedicated media controls and wrist rests. The ROG Strix Flare II Animate also features a customizable AniMe Matrix LED display along with hot-swappable switches and RGB lighting on the wrist rest. The ROG Strix Flare II Animate and ROG Strix Flare II will be available to purchase in late January 2022 for 219.99 USD and 179.99 USD respectively.

ASUS has today announced two new gaming headsets during their ROG CES 2022 livestream with the ROG Fusion II 500 and ROG Fusion II 300. The headsets both feature the high-resolution ESS 9280 Quad DAC paired with 50 mm ASUS Essence drivers to deliver a virtual 7.1 surround sound experience. They also feature addressable ASUS Aura RGB lighting and integrated beamforming microphones featuring AI noise-cancellation. The Fusion II 500 features extensive connectivity options including 3.5 mm, USB-C and USB-A along with a dedicated game volume chat control wheel while the Fusion II 300 is limited to USB-C and USB-A. The ROG Fusion II 500 (179 USD MSRP) and ROG Fusion II 300 will both be available to purchase worldwide in Q1 2022.

With the current short supply and maybe more importantly, the rather insane pricing for DDR5 memory, ASUS is working on what could be called a quick fix for the problem, an adapter that would allow DDR5 motherboard owners to put DDR4 memory in their motherboards. It's not what we'd call an elegant solution at this point, but it's said it'll be refined before it's ready for retail—if it ever enters the market—since apparently the engineer that developed the adapter doesn't always get to see his projects hit retail, as from our understanding he's responsible for a lot of the more unusual products from ASUS' ROG brand.

That said, considering that a lot of high-end Z690 motherboards only support DDR5, this might be an interim solution that makes sense for a lot of people until availability of DDR5 improves. There's some complexity in making the adapter work though, as not only does it need its own power regulation, since DDR4 memory doesn't have onboard power conversion components unlike DDR5, but there's also the 2x 32-bit vs 64-bit bus to take into consideration as well. On top of this, the DRAM traces are obviously extended, which could lead to instabilities, which is why it's apparently only tested with one type of memory right now, which appears to be G-Skill's Tridentz Royal. A further limitation of the adapter is that it requires a special UEFI version to be installed that allows DDR4 memory to be used, but this might be the smallest issue in this "skunk works" project from ASUS' ROG team.

ASUS is committed to producing the highest quality products and we take every incident report from our valued customers very seriously. We have recently received incident reports regarding the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboard. In our ongoing investigation, we have preliminarily identified a potential reversed memory capacitor issue in the production process from one of the production lines that may cause debug error code 53, no post, or motherboard components damage. The issue potentially affects units manufactured in 2021 with the part number 90MB18E0-MVAAY0 and serial number starting with MA, MB, or MC.

You can identify your part number by referring to the product packaging: Please reference the attached image. As of December 28, 2021, there have been a few incidents reported in North America. Going forward, we are continuing our thorough inspection with our suppliers and customers to identify all possible affected ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboards in the market and will be working with relevant government agencies on a replacement program.

ASUS today rolled out white color variants of the ROG Strix LC II line of all-in-one liquid CPU coolers that the company debuted back in May 2021. The lineup currently includes two sub-variants based on radiator size—the ROG Strix LC II 240 ARGB White Edition, and the ROG Strix LC II 240 ARGB White Edition. White now makes up the radiator fins, radiator frame, the included 120 mm fans, the Nylon sleeving for the tubes, as well as much of the pump-block. The illuminated ARGB-illuminated ROG logo on the pump-block remains in contrasting piano-black. The functional specs of these coolers remain identical to their black counterparts. A notable functional change compared to the original from May, is out-of-the-box support for Socket LGA1700. The company didn't reveal pricing.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced Rapture GT-AX6000, a high-performance WiFi 6 (802.11ax) gaming router with a striking all-new design. The futuristic ROG Rapture GT-AX6000 gaming router lets gamers connect more devices, and upgrades their gaming experience to the next level. Powered by a 2.0 GHz 64-bit quad-core Broadcom CPU and flagship next-gen Broadcom WiFi 6 chipsets, it delivers wireless speeds up to 6000 Mbps with ASUS RangeBoost Plus for enhanced range, so it's always primed for the biggest battles. Fully customizable ASUS Aura RGB lighting effects make the GT-AX6000 a router that demands to be seen. Built for high-speed throughput to deliver more bandwidth to more devices, the GT-AX6000 features two 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports, and the router supports both WAN and LAN aggregation.

The ROG Rapture GT-AX6000 is a powerful 4x4 dual-band WiFi 6 router that delivers combined speeds of up to 6000 Mbps—1148 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band and 4804 Mbps on the 5 GHz band—which is up to 2.3X faster than a 4x4 dual-band WiFi 5 router. With a combination of 160 MHz channels, OFDMA and MU-MIMO technology, WiFi 6 provides up to 4X-greater network capacity and efficiency in traffic-dense environments, making it ideal for heavily populated networks.

ASUS debuted its second generation ROG Thor power supply series with the ROG Thor 1000 W Platinum II. The design focus with these appear to be low noise and next-gen connectors. ASUS used heavier heatsinks over the various hot components of the PSU, which have double the "volume" (surface area for heat dissipation, as well as heatsink size). These are paired with a 135 mm ASUS Axial-Tech fan that is designed to direct all of its airflow axially. The PSU can sustain fanless cooling up to 500 W load, and 12-15% fan-speed up to 700 W load, with the fan only beginning to ramp up beyond 700 W. This gives the PSU a Cybenetics Lambda A++ noise-rating certification. The switching efficiency is rated 80 Plus Platinum.

Under the hood, the ASUS ROG Thor 1000 W Platinum II features a single +12 V rail design, with most common electrical protections, against over/under voltage, overload, overheat, and short-circuit. The fully-modular PSU comes with connectors that include a 24-pin ATX, two 4+4 pin EPS, one 12-pin Molex microFit 3.0 capable of up to 450 W delivery, six 6+2 pin PCIe power, twelve SATA power, three Molex, and a Berg. The PSU features a monochrome LED display that puts out realtime load, voltage, and thermal monitoring. There's plenty of addressable-RGB LED illumination, which can be controlled via a standard 3-pin ARGB connection. The company is backing this with a 10-year warranty.

Intel is set to launch their 12th Generation Alder Lake desktop processors on November 4th alongside the new Z690 chipset supporting DDR5 and PCIe 5.0. We have recently seen the first of these new Z690 motherboards from ASUS being listed for sale by PC Canada. The listings include TUF, ROG Maximus, ROG Strix, and Prime motherboards but we don't see any mention of Apex or Extreme boards so they may not be available at launch. The models all appear to retail for less than their Z590 counterparts except for some of the Prime series models which will come as a pleasant surprise to many. We are also aware that the VRM design for these boards will receive various upgrades according to a recent report from @Komachi. The Z690 Hero is set to feature a 20+1 phase design with 90 A Power Stages while the lower-end boards will get a 14+1 design.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced an all-new gaming peripherals lineup that channels the minimalist feel of monochrome through a striking Moonlight White color scheme. The ROG Strix Scope NX TKL 80%, tenkeyless mechanical RGB gaming keyboard, ROG Strix Impact II ambidextrous gaming mouse, ROG Strix Go Core gaming headset and ROG Cetra II Core in-ear gaming headphones are all now available in North America in this stunning colorway.

ROG has a long history of weaving Aura Sync into a huge ecosystem of devices to let gamers shine a light on their personalities through their gear - but many players also seek a minimalist look. That's why the ROG color palette is expanding to include the Moonlight White series, providing a commanding counterpart to the signature red-and-black color scheme.

ASUS refreshed the ROG Falchion compact 65% mechanical gaming keyboard with homebrew mechanical switches. The keyboard originally launched in July 2020 with Cherry MX Red switches, and its replacement on the store shelves, the new ASUS ROG Falchion NX, features ASUS ROG NX Red switches. These offer 1.8 mm key travel, and 40 gf minimum actuation force. It retains the illuminated felt-touch panel along the left side that can be used either for scrolling (slide your finger), to cycle between macro maps, and as a battery indicator. The rest of the keyboard's design and feature-set remains the same as the original. ASUS is expected to formally launch the ROG Falchion NX around September 23, 2021.

Cables, why is it that some people are so fixated about them? We've seen companies like Monster Cable base their entire business around them, yet most people don't even seem to know why they're buying expensive cables. Asus has now joined the club of expensive cable sellers with its new ROG CAT7 Cable, which has started to appear in various markets around the world.

In all fairness, Asus isn't asking for thousands, or even hundreds of dollars for their ROG branded cables, but a 1.5 metre cable will set you back in the region of $22, whereas a longer 3 metre cable comes in at around $37. An ROG branded velcro tie is included in the box as the only accessory. We're not sure that nylon braiding is going to be useful on an Ethernet cable, but Asus is at least using shielded FTP wires (although Asus say STP on their site), which suggests it should be a decent quality cable at the very least. It's worth keeping in mind that CAT 7 isn't recognised by the TIA/EIA as part of the Ethernet standard and offers no real world benefits over CAT 6A on a 10 Gbps or slower network.

Just over a year ago, IKEA and Asus teased that they were working on something together and from October, you'll actually be able to buy the first products. There will be more than 30 new products in total, ranging from "gaming" desks and chairs, to key "gaming" accessories like mug holders and neck pillows.

It's highly likely that the pandemic has delayed these products, since they launched in China back in January, but now it seems like stock should be arriving globally. In total, there will be six product families, although the press release doesn't go into detail of what product is in each product category. The six families are UPPSPEL, LÅNESPELARE, MATCHSPEL, GRUPPSPEL, UTESPELARE, HUVUDSPELARE, which pretty much are all borrowed from various football (soccer to our American readers) terms in Swedish.

EK, is ready to support the market-favorite ROG Crosshair VIII Formula motherboard with a unique, patent-pending liquid distribution VRM Bridge. The EK-Quantum Momentum VRM Bridge ROG Crosshair VIII Formula D-RGB is a purpose-engineered connection piece that bridges the existing integrated CrossChill EK III VRM cooling and the CPU water block into a single entity. The ROG Crosshair VIII Formula is the carrier of the iconic Maximus motherboard series, while the EK-developed VRM Bridge solution will help bring out its full potential.

The EK-Quantum Momentum VRM Bridge is the only off-the-shelf solution that will bridge multiple liquid cooling components with a unique mounting mechanism. It is specially made for the ROG Crosshair VIII Formula, and upgrading from any previous motherboard will be easy since you'll be able to reuse any of the existing AMD AM4-socket-compatible EK-Quantum Velocity CPU water blocks.

ASUS today has extended their hybrid-cooling technology to NVIDIA's top-tier graphics cards by officially listing ROG Strix LC versions of NVIDIA's RTX 3080 Ti to market availability. Initially only offered in AMD's RX 6000-series lineup, the new cards from ASUS feature a hybrid cooling system and aggressive aesthetics. The cooling system in itself features a hybrid air and liquid cooling solution: a single fan in the graphics' card shroud is responsible for cooling the VRM subsystem and 2.5-slot aluminium heatsink, while the GA-102 chip at the heart of the RTX 3080 Ti is handed a more premium way of offloading heat via a watercooling solution - itself guaranteed by a 240 mm radiator and dual 120 mm fans. As is par for the course these days, there's an RGB bonanza in both the shroud and the radiator fans.

ASUS is introducing a vanilla, NVIDIA-reference clock version (the ROG Strix LC RTX3080Ti-12G Gaming, at 1,665 MHz) and an OC version (ROG Strix LC RTX3080Ti-O12G Gaming) which ups the reference clocks to 1,860 MHz. Both cards feature custom-engineered PCBs, and power delivery is handled by 3x 8-pin connectors. I/O is taken care of by 3x DisplayPort 1.4a and 2x HDMI 2.1 connectors. Expect pricing to completely disregard MSRP and to float according to market conditions - which while much improved in recent weeks, still carries the added chaff of months of mining and scalping demand.

ASUS today released the ROG Strix XG43UQ Xbox Edition, a large 43-inch monitor that's designed for competitive gameplay in the living room. The monitor comes with a native resolution of 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels), and is capable of 144 Hz refresh-rate, and has DisplayHDR 1000. ASUS worked with Microsoft to optimize the monitor for the Xbox Series X/S consoles, and packed the monitor with an "Xbox Mode," which optimizes it for Xbox gameplay. Other features that add to its gaming prowess include Extreme Low Motion Blur (ELMB) Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, and 1 ms response time (MPRT). The VA panel features a matte anti-glare surface. Display inputs include DisplayPort 1.4, and two HDMI 2.1.

Update Jun 25th: ASUS listed the monitor for USD $1,399, with October 2021 availability.

ASUS today released the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Spatha X gaming mouse. A successor to the original ROG Spatha from 2016, the Spatha X is a wireless mouse optimized for MMO gaming, with its 12 strategically positioned programmable buttons. Connectivity includes 2.4 GHz wireless, and USB 2.0 wired connections. The design of the Spatha X appears unchanged from the original. What's new is the updated 19,000 dpi sensor (compared to 8,200 dpi on the original), and updated ROG Micro switches that are rated for up to 70 million clicks (compared to 20 million clicks on the original). You get a magnetic charging dock that lets the mouse recharge when not in use. On a full charge, you can get up to 67 hours of gameplay off the mouse, with the RGB off. When it releases around June 24, the ROG Spatha is expected to be priced around $150.

ASUS today rolled out the ROG Strix GS-AX5400, a dual-band Wi-Fi router optimized for online gaming. The 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) router offers a combined bandwidth of up to 5,400 Mbps, with 160 MHz channels. It has in-built logic to prioritize game traffic and reduce latencies. The VPN Fusion feature lets you simultaneously use a VPN and normal connection, so only specific apps use VPN, or specific apps use direct connection. This should come handy for gamers, as network traffic from games could use direct Internet for low latencies, while everything else is routed through your VPN service for anonymity.

Both the WAN upstream and four downstream LAN Ethernet ports are 1 GbE. The latest Wi-Fi protection standards are supported. Under the hood, is a triple-core processor with 512 MB of memory. The router's body features an RGB lighting element that can be controlled through the router setup page, or even synchronized over Aura. The company hasn't revealed prices, but we expect this to be one of ASUS's more affordable gaming-grade routers.

When NVIDIA's Ampere GPUs first stormed onto the scene, the GeForce RTX 3090 created an entirely new category of performance for the highest-resolution, highest-refresh-rate graphics and most demanding GPU compute tasks on the market. Now, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti brings much of the power of that revolutionary graphics card to a wider audience. The RTX 3080 Ti's massive complement of CUDA, RT, and Tensor cores teams up with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory to create a potent package that's tailored for gamers first. And in the hotly contested midrange of the market, the RTX 3070 Ti brings more CUDA, RT, and Tensor cores to bear for mainstream systems.

ASUS has taken advantage of these new, more powerful GPUs to create custom designs that serve up high clock speeds, low temperatures, and whisper-quiet noise levels. The ROG Strix LC GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is our first Ampere card to use a hybrid liquid-cooled design for incredible performance potential, while ROG Strix and TUF Gaming versions of both the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti deliver distinctly different takes on air cooling.

EK, is introducing another addition to the EK-Quantum Vector series of active backplates. EK-Quantum Vector Strix RTX 3080/3090 active backplate is made to complement the existing EK-Quantum Vector Strix RTX 3080/3090 water blocks and actively cool the backside of ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090 GPUs. The EK-Quantum Vector Strix RTX 3080/3090 Active Backplate comes with a new terminal that replaces the stock terminal arriving with the Vector water block and links the water block and Vector Active backplate into a single unit. This way, the whole enclosure requires only one inlet and one outlet, removing unnecessary additional tubing and reducing clutter. It is the ultimate aesthetic and performance solution that finds your GPU sandwiched between two water blocks, allowing maximum cooling.

The brand new Vector Active Backplate directly cools all PCB hotspots found on the backside of the GPU core and VRM (voltage regulation module). In the case of Strix RTX 3090, the VRAM located on the backside is being cooled, while the PCB on RTX 3080 GPUs is being cooled around the front-mounted VRAM. Cooling liquid is channeled over all these critical areas.

Ahead of its launch later this month, notebook OEMs are beginning to tease their upcoming gaming notebooks powered by 11th Gen Core "Tiger Lake-H" mobile processors that come in core counts of up to 8. ASUS will be hosting a media event tomorrow (May 11) launching its first "Tiger Lake-H" notebooks, which probably follows Intel's own public unveiling of the new processors. The teaser video to the ASUS event reveals at least two notebooks under the company's ROG Zephyrus brand, the Zephyrus S17, and the Zephyrus M16.

The M16 looks to be the more compact of the two, with styling characteristic of past generations of ROG Zephyrus notebooks. The lid-mounted LEDs now come in color. while the S17 is a whole different beast. The teasers reveal an elevated keyboard+touchscreen on the lower half of the clamshell. The gap between this elevation and the base probably opens up additional vents to cool the processor and GPU underneath. This could be the notebook from ASUS's lineup that uses the 65-Watt Core i9-11980HK, the 8-core/16-thread beast that can tick at speeds of 5.00 GHz.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced that Strix XG43UQ, the world's first HDMI 2.1 gaming monitor, will be available in May. Strix XG43UQ features a 43 inch 4K panel with up to a 144 Hz refresh rate and 1 ms moving picture response time (MPRT). It also includes Display Stream Compression (DSC) technology. The HDMI 2.1 port enables gamers to enjoy 4K 120 Hz gameplay on the latest consoles.

The inclusion of AMD FreeSync Premium Pro technology ensures smooth HDR visuals with low latency, while ASUS Extreme Low Motion Blur Sync (ELMB Sync) works simultaneously with variable refresh rate technology to eliminate smearing and motion blur for fluid and responsive gameplay. Strix XG43UQ has a maximum brightness of 1000 nits - more than three times that of OLED TVs. The monitor has a two-tone black and white finish with an all-white rear cover, and it features Aura Sync lighting technology for synchronised light effects with other Aura-enable components and peripherals.

Here are some of the first pictures of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16, a high-end 16-inch gaming notebook in development, characterized with its tall 16:10 aspect-ratio display. This display will come in two resolution options—2560 x 1600 at 144 Hz and 1920 x 1200 at 165 Hz. Both displays support 100% DCI-P3 coverage, and are mounted via a 180-degree hinge. Things get very interesting with that's alleged to be under the hood. The 2021 ROG Zephyrus M16 is powered by 11th Gen Core "Tiger Lake H45" processors, with the top SKU powered by the 10 nm Core i9-11900H, an 8-core/16-thread beast. Graphics options go all the way up to the GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile. A PCI-Express 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD is also included. Given its early listings on Amazon, one can expect launch of these notebooks to be right around the corner.

ASUS today launched a trio of custom-design AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics cards. These include the RX 6700 XT DUAL, the TUF Gaming RX 6700 XT OC, and the top-of-the-line ROG Strix RX 6700 XT O12G. All three a factory-overclocked cards, and while the company didn't disclose the clock-speeds, one can make out how the three stack up—the ROG Strix at the top, the TUF Gaming OC next, followed by the DUAL. The company will also sell reference-design RX 6700 XT cards. The ROG Strix RX 6700 XT O12G leads the pack with its latest-gen DirectCU III cooling solution that's featured across its custom RX 6000 and RTX 30-series lineup; which features a large aluminium fin-stack heatsink, a trio of the latest-gen Axial-Tech fans, a blinding amount of RGB bling, and the strongest VRM setup among the three, which pulls power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and other goodies such as dual-BIOS, RGB and case fan headers.

The TUF Gaming RX 6700 XT OC is next up, along with its acclaimed TUF Gaming cooling solution that exposes much of its heatsink's bare-metal, through an airy metal shroud; and uses a trio of Axial-Tech fans. This card pulls power from two 8-pin PCIe connectors, much like the ROG Strix, but is expected to have a slightly downsized VRM, and lower factory-overclocked speeds. You still get dual-BIOS. Lastly, there's the RX 6700 XT DUAL, slotted in the company's sober-looking PRIME family of motherboards and graphics cards. It features a more compact board design, with a lighter aluminium fin-stack heatsink that uses only a pair of Axial-Tech fans. This card pulls power from 6-pin + 8-pin connectors. All three are expected to launch on March 18, 2021.

With NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 30-series lineup of GPUs, laptop manufacturers are offered a wide variety of GPU SKUs that internally differ simply by having different Total Graphics Power (TGP), which in turn results in different clock speeds and thus different performance. ASUS uses NVIDIA's variant of GeForce RTX 3080 mobile GPU inside the company's ROG Zephyrus Duo (GX551QS) with a TGP of 115 Watts, and Dynamic Boost technology that can ramp up the card to 130 Watts. However, this doesn't represent the maximum for RTX 3080 mobile graphics card. The maximum TGP for RTX 3080 mobile goes up to 150 Watts, which is a big improvement that lets the GPU reach higher frequencies and more performance.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you manually applied vBIOS that allows the card to use more power? Well, Baidu forum users are reporting a successful experiment of transforming their 115 W RTX 3080 to 150 W TGP card. Using GPU vBIOS from MSI Leopard G76, which features a 150 W power limit, and applying it to the ROG's Zephyrus Duo power-limited RTX 3080 cards is giving results. Users have successfully used this vBIOS to squeeze out more performance from their laptops. As seen on the 3D Mark Time Spy rank list, the entries are now dominated solely by modified laptops. Performance improvement is, of course, present and it reaches up to a 20% increase.