Sunday, October 1st 2017

ASUS Motherboard Segmentation Explained - "Prime" Series takes Backseat

With its new Intel 300-series chipset-based motherboard family, ASUS is redoing the segmentation of its various motherboard brands, with the objective of avoiding too many similarly-priced products that bloat the lineup and confuse buyers. The company articulated its segmentation using a triangle (pictured below). At the bottom of this triangle is the mainline "Prime" series, and interestingly, the TUF (The Ultimate Force) series. The TUF series has until now been attributed to moderately expensive motherboards that are designed with very high durability. They are now relegated to the bottom of ASUS' product-stack, targeted at first-time builders and entry-level gamers. These boards are still built "tough" in that they feature high-grade components, but not as many CPU VRM phases as some of ASUS' more expensive boards.

Another revelation is that the company's mainline "Prime" series, which has served as the bedrock of the company's motherboard lineup before sub-brands such as ROG came along, is now entry-mid range, with just two SKUs based on the Z370 chipset. The Prime Z370-A is recommended for those users who want to cut through the marketing clutter and pick a board that maxes out this platform without too many frills. This move also ends the possibility of higher Prime-series SKUs such as "Deluxe" and "Premium," which were previously associated with SKUs bursting at the seams with onboard connectivity options.
The "Republic of Gamers" (ROG) brand has a clear sub-division, with boards featuring just the "ROG" moniker next to brands such as Crosshair (AMD MSDT), Maximus (Intel MSDT), Rampage (Intel HEDT), and Zenith (AMD HEDT), making up the upper-end; and the Strix brand making up the upper-mid range bulk. The ROG Crosshair, Maximus, Rampage, and Zenith sub-brands will get extensions such as "Ranger," "Hero," "Formula," "Impact," "Gene," "Extreme," "Code," and "Apex;" while the ROG Strix brand will be sub-divided as Strix-E (topmost), Strix-F (second-best), Strix-G (micro-ATX), Strix-H (entry ATX), and Strix-I (mini-ITX). Some of these SKUs may get the "AC" extension denoting a WLAN module with 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.x.
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33 Comments on ASUS Motherboard Segmentation Explained - "Prime" Series takes Backseat

#26
hyp36rmax
eidairaman1Well this sucks!

My The Ultimate Force Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 pushed this CPU to 5.0GHz, very rugged. Now the Tuf line is bottom barrel stuff, poposterous!


Lets add more confusion with Strix which the word looks stupid, is it pronounched Stricks or Strikes? Then sub categories for products.

I honestly felt TUF sounds better than Strix.

IIRC ROG has been around longer than Prime
This seems to be Z370 only. Intel X299, AMD AM4 probably do not apply here.
Posted on Reply
#27
EarthDog
The TUF line was never really that. It was more PHYSICAL protection and gimmicks than it was more robust hardware...
Posted on Reply
#28
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
EarthDogThe TUF line was never really that. It was more PHYSICAL protection and gimmicks than it was more robust hardware...
Not with my board difference compared to current tuf...
Posted on Reply
#29
EarthDog
Intel. ;)

Tuf 990fx was one of the few good amd boards out. :)
Posted on Reply
#31
StrayKAT
Who are the TUF boards targeted towards? If it's physical and not necessarily robust hardware, I assume these aren't server oriented.
Posted on Reply
#32
Hood
eidairaman1Not with my board difference compared to current tuf...
EarthDogTuf 990fx was one of the few good amd boards out.
That's strange; nearly half of Newegg confirmed owners say this board is the worst in their experience, with BIOS problems, dropped SATA ports, CPU fan issues, no POST, lock-ups, etc. Many bought or RMAed several of them, only to experience repeated failures, and many vowed to never buy another Asus product after the nightmare customer service experience. You must of gotten one of the good ones, half of them weren't so lucky. I do extensive research before buying anything, and I made up my mind years back to avoid all TUF boards, even though I like the design concept. All TUF boards seem to have the same quality control issues, regardless of platform. The "military grade component" marketing ploy is a joke, like MSI's dodgy offerings (a brand I definitely won't buy again). Most of my boards are Asus, and they've held up well over the years. But I'd never risk buying a TUF board, unless it got much better reviews than the hundreds I've read. I'm glad you guys didn't get burned, but many others were very disappointed.
Posted on Reply
#33
Toothless
Tech, Games, and TPU!
Still the only brand I've ever had issues with. Change the names all they want I personally won't buy them.
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