Crosshair is the brand that kicked off ASUS' coveted Republic of Gamers (ROG) series. The NVIDIA nForce chipset based ROG Crosshair socket AM2 motherboard was the board to have, in AMD's hayday as the leader in CPU performance. Over the years, the Crosshair brand received lesser love from ASUS, as AMD's chipset releases became infrequent, due to the company's slower CPU product development cycle than Intel. With the new socket AM4 platform and its companion AMD X370 chipset for the high-end segment, ASUS is back with a Crosshair branded motherboard, the ROG Crosshair VI Hero. It's interesting that ASUS chose not to give it the "Formula," "Extreme" or "Apex" extensions, and instead with the "Hero" extension it reserves for the $200-230 ROG branded boards.

Nevertheless, the ROG Crosshair VI Hero looks to be one of the most elaborately designed socket AM4 motherboards, and will compete with the likes of the Aorus AX370 Gaming 5 and the MSI X370 XPower Gaming Titanium. Built in the ATX form-factor, the Crosshair VI Hero draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and 4-pin ATX power connectors, and conditions it for the CPU with a 12-phase VRM. The board features a "monochromatic design," so you can deck it up with your own LED lighting. It does feature RGB LED headers, with support for ASUS Aura Sync platform. The board has its own diagnostic LEDs that guide you through the POST sequence. Besides the ROG stylized chipset and CPU VRM heatsinks, the board features plastic I/O shield covers that run the length of the board.

ASUS' new line of PC hardware targeted at gaming iCafes under the Expedition brand grows, with its first motherboard, the B150M Expedition (model: EX-B150M-V5 D3). These products are designed to be durable enough for the rigors of gaming iCafes, at affordable prices, though not as apocalypse-survivalist as the company's coveted TUF series. The B150M Expedition is a socket LGA1151 motherboard with DDR3 memory support. It features two memory slots that support up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1866 memory. The memory slots have an anti-theft feature that lets you screw-in the modules to the slots.

The narrow micro-ATX board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, and conditions it for the CPU with a 7-phase VRM. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, and two PCI-Express 3.0 x1. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gbps ports. USB connectivity includes eight USB 3.0 ports (six on the rear panel, two via headers). Networking is care of a single gigabit Ethernet interface driven by a Realtek RTL8111GR controller. ASUS deployed the gaming-grade Crystal Audio 2 onboard audio solution, with a Realtek ALC887 6-channel HD audio CODEC, ground-layer isolation, audio-grade capacitors, and a headphones amp. The board also features a PS/2 port for legacy input devices. ASUS didn't disclose pricing.

ASUS announced the GeForce GTX 1070 Expedition series graphics card. Based on the company's new Expedition line of durable graphics cards, which made its debut this CES, with the GTX 1050 Ti Expedition, this card is designed with a focus on durability and longevity. Each card on the production line has been stress-tested against the elements for longer than the other cards. This includes 144 hours of continuous stress, 2-hour reboot test (continuous reboots), and 15 hours of 3DMark stress. The idea here is to make the cards fit for the rigors of gaming iCafes, which are popular in some parts of Asia.

The GTX 1070 Expedition comes with a factory OC of 1607 MHz core, 1797 MHz GPU Boost, and an untouched 8.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory, against reference clocks of 1506/1683 MHz. It features a dense aluminium fin-stack heatsink with a single fin array to which heat drawn directly from the GPU is conveyed by a pair of 8 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes. The card draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. Display outputs include three DisplayPorts, and one each of HDMI and DVI. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability information, although it's likely that this card could see a release limited to certain east Asian markets.

Nanoxia is very happy to announce that none other than ASUS was so impressed by the RGB Rigid LED that they certified them with the AURA SYNC label. Meaning, they are perfectly suited to be connected to the 4-Pin RGB-Header of the latest ASUS motherboards, like the Z270E GAMING, the X99 GAMING or the MAXIMUS IX FORMULA. The ASUS AURA SYNC software is perfect to control the RGB LEDs.

The 30 cm long RGB Rigid LED is equipped with 27 ultra-bright SMD5050 LED. Up to 16.7 million different colors can be chosen from, if you use the appropriate software with our RGB Rigid LED bar - like the outstanding ASUS AURA SYNC. It's also easily possible to use various lighting modes, for example strobe-effects, color circles or breathing-pulses.

Here's a close-up view of the DIMM.2 accessory being included with ASUS Maximus IX Apex motherboard. The DIMM.2 card is a riser designed to decongest the crowded motherboard that has no room for M.2 slots. The DIMM.2 accessory is a PCB with two 32 Gb/s M.2 slots, and a riser interface that's similar to a DDR3 DIMM (so inserting DDR3 DIMMs this slot won't work).

ASUS ProArt series of monitors are designed to look good on a corporate hotshot's desk, and the PA32U is no exception. This 32-inch monitor features a Quantum Dot display panel, which can reproduce 99.5% of the Adobe RGB color-space, 85% of REC.2020, 95% of DCI-P3, and 100% of sRGB. The star attraction here is 4K-HDR support, which is achieved using a full 384-zone direct-LED backlight matrix. The LED driver electronics operate at 1 ms, for more realistic HDR in videos. The monitor takes input from Thunderbolt, in addition to DisplayPort.

ASUS launched its smaller yet more powerful gaming desktop than the VivoPC X, it also unveiled this CES. The Republic of Gamers (ROG) GR8 II is the second generation GR8 compact gaming desktop. It's roughly the size of a PlayStation 4 console, but packs a wallop - Intel Core i7-7700 "Kaby Lake" processor, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB graphics. Also featured is up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory, M.2 PCIe SSD, and an additional 2.5-inch SATA HDD. The chassis features RGB LED lighting elements, which can be controlled using the ASUS Aura Sync software.

ASUS, at its 2017 International CES booth, showed off its VR-Ready gaming desktop for the living room, the VivoPC X. Roughly the size of a PlayStation 4 Pro game console, this desktop meets Oculus Rift premium requirements. Under the hood is a custom-design motherboard that lacks display connectors of its own, so you don't confuse them with those of the graphics card.

Driving the VivoPC X is an Intel Core i5-7500 "Kaby Lake" processor, 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics, and storage options that include M.2 SSDs, and SATA SSDs. The desktop features 802.11ac WLAN, Bluetooth 4.0, gigabit Ethernet (Intel controller), 6-channel HD audio, and USB 3.0 ports that include a type-C port.

NZXT announces today the Noctis 450 ROG, a Special Edition case aimed at dedicated PC Gamers. This ATX mid-tower case is ROG-certified, displays an exclusive Gun Gray finish and features Aura Sync RGB-lighting technology.

"The original Noctis 450 highlighted NZXT's return to bold and daring designs. As we joined forces with Republic of Gamers (ROG) to develop a dedicated case for high-end gaming systems, it felt like the perfect tailored fit to build a Special Edition case. With exclusive aesthetics, ROG certification and Aura sync compatibility leading to new features, Noctis 450 ROG focuses on users aiming at building powerful systems that leverages the Republic of Gamers ecosystem," says Johnny Hou, NZXT's founder and CEO.

NVIDIA today announced the G-SYNC HDR technology. An evolution of the company's proprietary adaptive display sync technology, which keeps the display's refresh-rates dynamically in-sync with the graphics card's frame-rates, G-SYNC HDR, as its name suggests, adds support for HDR (high dynamic range) displays. NVIDIA's partner display manufacturers such as Acer, and ASUS have each announced displays with this technology, which will will be available later this year.

NVIDIA worked with display panel maker AUOptronics to develop G-SYNC HDR. It leverages full 384-zone LED backlights, and a quantum-dot technology. The monitors rely on wide color gamuts, with 10-bit (1.07 billion color palettes) to bring HDR to life. G-SYNC HDR monitors come with support for the HDR10 standard. The year's most anticipated game, "Mass Effect: Andromeda," will come with support for G-SYNC HDR.

At CES 2017, AMD made a statement on their new AM4's platform readiness to market, revealing some of the upcoming AM4 motherboard designs coming to end users for their Ryzen CPUs and Bristol Ridge. All in all, there were sixteen boards being displayed from the major manufacturers, including overclocking and gaming-oriented models. These boards will be the base for system integrator PC designs to come, with at least seventeen SIs coming on board for today's announcement.

ASUS today announced its complete 2017 lineup of Z270 motherboards designed to maximize the potential of 7th Generation Intel Core processors. The new range includes the highly-anticipated next-generation Republic of Gamers (ROG) Maximus IX gaming motherboards - with Maximus IX Apex having already secured its place in history by claiming eight world records and 13 global first places in some of the world's toughest benchmarks.

Also included in the lineup are the latest ROG Strix gaming motherboards for style-conscious enthusiast, the all-new ASUS Prime series for everyday customization and tuning, and the latest ASUS TUF boards with 24/7 stability and newly-added overclocking abilities. The ASUS workstation motherboard series has also been updated for the Z270 revolution - and all boards are loaded with exclusive technologies to enable users to extract every ounce of performance from Intel's latest CPUs.

The STRIX series of motherboards for ASUS are characterized by their multi-color (RGB) LED flair over practical mid-segment motherboards. These boards come with headers that simplify RGB LED case lighting using the ASUS Aura software. The company is ready with four such boards, the STRIX Z270H-Gaming and STRIX Z270E-Gaming in the ATX form-factor; the STRIX Z270G-Gaming in the micro-ATX form-factor; and the STRIX Z270I-Gaming, in the mini-ITX form-factor. The Z270H-Gaming is the lighter of the two ATX boards in terms of features, although you still get a 6-phase VRM, two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots with SLI support, two M.2 slots, 8-channel gaming-grade audio, and two USB 3.1 ports. The PCH heatsink has a groovy RGB LED ornament. The Z270E-Gaming leads the series, with a 10-phase VRM, 802.11ac WLAN, reinforced PCIe x16 slots, and RGB LED elements located in a large I/O area shroud that extends into the VRM heatsinks.

The Z270G-Gaming is the micro-ATX offering from this lineup. It has more features than the Z270H-Gaming, but fewer slots than the Z270E-Gaming. You get the same 10-phase VRM, and connectivity that includes gaming-grade audio, USB 3.1 ports, two M.2 slots, but no I/O shroud, and the RGB LED element is located in the PCH heatsink. The Z270I-Gaming is brimming with features, including concealed M.2 slot, a reinforced PCIe slot, 8-channel HD audio, 802.11ac WLAN, four SATA 6 Gb/s ports. RGB LED lighting is care of an LED strip located in the reverse side of the PCB, along the right edge of the PCB.

Here are some of the first pictures of ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) Maximus IX Apex, the company's flagship motherboard based on the Intel Z270 Express chipset. The board has many first-in-segment features. To begin with, it features a non-rectangular PCB, which probably lets you quickly pull the board out of bench-tables. Designed for extreme overclocking, the Maximus IX Apex draws power from a 24-pin ATX, two 8-pin EPS, and one 4-pin Molex. The CPU is wired to three memory slots, two of these are DDR4, and make up the dual-channel DDR4 interface. The third slot is DDR3, and can be enabled at the flick of a switch, for troubleshooting the DDR4 memory OC.

The Maximus IX Apex features four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, from which two are wired to the CPU (topmost slot and third slot), and run at x8/x8 when both are populated. The second and fourth x16 slots are electrical x4 and wired to the Z270 PCH. Although not visible, it's likely that this board features one or two M.2 slots, at the reverse side of the PCB. 8-channel HD audio, Intel gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.1 ports (including type-C), and display outputs that include DisplayPort and HDMI, make for the rest of the connectivity. The board appears to feature a great deal of onboard OC buttons and switches. ASUS will reveal these features when it launches the motherboard a little later this month.

The third Prime B250 series motherboard by ASUS is the B250M-Plus. This micro-ATX motherboard offers most of the features its bigger siblings ship with. The board features the same 7-phase VRM as the other boards. Expansion slots include one each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16, PCIe x1, and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes one 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The board offers 8-channel HD audio (compared to 6-channel on the larger boards), gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0 ports, and display outputs that include HDMI, DVI, and D-Sub. Expect a sub-$100 price.

ASUS is introducing the new Prime family of motherboards positioned between its Pro Gaming series and its mainline series. These are motherboards that share their feature-set from the company's mainline series, but feature black PCBs, and black+red product styling reminiscent of some of its premium ROG motherboards. Here are some of the first pictures of the Prime B250 Pro, an ATX form-factor motherboard priced around the $100 mark. The board could share its PCB design with the Prime Z270 Pro. Based on the Intel B250 Express chipset, the board lacks NVIDIA SLI support, or the kind of CPU overclocking features the Z270 chipset does.

The Prime Z270 Pro draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, and conditions it for the CPU with a 7-phase VRM. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16 wired to the CPU, a second x16 (electrical x4) slot wired to the PCH, and two each of PCI-Express 3.0 x1 and legacy PCI slots. Storage connectivity includes two M.2 slots, from which one is 32 Gb/s (bottom), and the other 16 Gb/s (top); and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The board offers two USB 3.1 (10 Gb/s) ports, one USB 3.0 type-C port, two USB 3.0 type-A ports on the rear panel, and four USB 3.0 ports by headers. Display connectivity includes HDMI, DVI, and D-Sub. ASUS also has a stripped-down variant of this board, called the Prime B250 Plus. It lacks USB 3.1 ports, and the heatsink over the CPU VRM.

German PC enthusiast "Crashtest" clinched a sweet combo of an AMD A12-9800 "Bristol Ridge" socket AM4 APU with an ASUS A320M-C entry-level micro-ATX motherboard, for 200€. Pairing it with 8 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2133 memory, the platform was put through the AIDA64 test-suite. In the memory front, the platform performs on-par with older platforms at comparable DDR3 bandwidth. The K15.6 integrated memory controller isn't producing the kind of memory bandwidth as the Core i7-6700K with dual-channel DDR4-2133 memory from AIDA64's internal reference bench table.

In the CPU-related tests, the APU has about the same performance as its predecessors, such as the A10-7850K. The chip features two "Excavator" x86-64 CPU modules, making up four cores, and is clocked at 4.20 GHz. There are performance upticks seen in tests such as Hash and VP8, where the chip likely benefits from new instruction sets.More results follow.

Over the weekend, gamers began testing the new DirectX 12 renderer of Tom Clancy's "The Division," released through a game patch. Testing by GameGPU (Russian media site) shows that AMD Radeon RX 480 is about 16 percent faster than NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, with the game running in the new DirectX 12 mode. "The Division" was tested with its new DirectX 12 renderer, on an ASUS Radeon RX 480 STRIX graphics card driven by Crimson ReLive 16.12.1 drivers, and compared with an ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB STRIX, driven by GeForce 376.19 drivers. Independent testing by German tech-site ComputerBase.de supports these findings.

ASUS today announced the Republic of Gamers (ROG) XG Station 2 external graphics enclosure. A successor to the pioneering XG Station by the company, which launched way back in 2007, this box has the connectivity to drive high-end graphics cards, and expand connectivity of your machine. The enclosure features a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, and two 6+2 pin PCIe power connectors, with which it can supply the card with up to 500W of power. Its power supply can further provide up to 100W of power to recharge your notebook. The internal power supply meets 80 Plus Gold efficiency rating.

The ROG XG Station 2 connects to your notebook or desktop using Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gbps). It uses this bandwidth to drive not just the graphics card, but also a gigabit Ethernet controller, and a 4-port USB 3.0 hub. You can supplement the main Thunderbolt connection's bandwidth with an additional USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) connection to your host machine. This isn't necessary, but ASUS claims it will improve performance. The enclosure opens up at a vertical seam like an oyster, letting you easily install your graphics card. The walls of the enclosure are perforated, but a trio of 70 mm fans actively ventilate it. The enclosure also features RGB LED lighting, which can be managed using ASUS Aura software. ASUS plans to sell the ROG XG Station 2 from Q1-2017.

Want SLI to work right on your GeForce GTX 1080, GTX 1070, or TITAN X Pascal without having to spend $50 on a fancy SLI bridge with an LED light-show you don't need? Look no further than the "no-frills" NVIDIA SLI HB bridge by ASUS. The bridge is just a fiberglass PCB with SLI slots where you'd want them, and simple ASUS ROG branding printed on the PCB, nothing too fancy. The bridge comes with 60 mm or 2-slot spacing (1 slot between two dual-slot thick graphics cards). The bridge will be sold separately for a fraction of the price of the company's LED-lit bridges; as well as being part of some of the company's upcoming motherboards' accessory packages.

ASUS today announced Xonar U7 MKII, a high-quality USB sound card and headphone amplifier. The compact Xonar U7 MKII is an upgraded version of the acclaimed Xonar U7 and features true 7.1-channel,192kHz/24-bit high-definition (HD) surround-sound output for incredible audio performance. Xonar U7 MKII comes with ASUS Sonic Studio, a software utility with an intuitive single-screen interface that provides complete control over a wide range of audio features, and Sonic Radar Pro, a feature for gamers that visually maps in-game sounds in first-person shooter (FPS) games to provide a competitive advantage.

ASUS Xonar U7 MKII retains the compact USB-powered design that was a highlight of the original Xonar U7 and delivers true 7.1-channel, 192kHz/24-bit HD audio, outperforming most available USB-powered audio devices. With a high-quality Cirrus Logic CS4398 digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and exclusive ASUS Hyper Grounding technology, Xonar U7 MKII has a 114dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), ensuring ultra-pure sound for the best listening experiences. The small size of Xonar U7 MKII takes up minimal room on a desk, and makes it easily portable, so laptop users can enjoy great-sounding audio anywhere.

ASUS today announced BRT-AC828, an ultra-fast AC2600-class dual-band 802.11ac wireless router with a four-transmit, four-receive (4x4) antenna configuration. BRT-AC828 is packed with all the networking features that are vital to growing companies, whether they are new start-ups or longer-established enterprises.

ASUS AiRadar combines beamforming with the four external antennas to ensure reliable, powerful and ultra-fast Wi-Fi - with combined speeds of up to 2534 Mbps - throughout the workplace, allowing users to concentrate on growing their business. For fast and resilient internet connectivity, BRT-AC828 features dual Gigabit WAN ports that offer up to 2 Gbps aggregated bandwidth, with automatic failover in the case of interruption to one of the internet connections. Other business-focused features include an easy-to-configure secure Wi-Fi portal for customers, simplified device management using Device Grouping, and a RADIUS server for secure authentication and easy user administration.

BitFenix announces the Shogun Chassis. During Computex 2016 we showcased four of our brand new chassis, which also included Cape. With the input from some of the world's renowned enthusiasts, we have developed and tweaked the Cape to be an extremely desirable chassis with many novel features. Strength, Power and Absolute Control makes you a champion. Carrying on the theme of simplicity from our famous Shinobi Chassis, Shogun is the newest flagship design model from BitFenix. The all new BitFenix Shogun is the most capable command station that gives you the edge in the battle for victory. May it be performance or looks, Shogun is the best of both worlds. With the top level aesthetics, novel features and extreme compatibility BitFenix Shogun is one of the most advance and user friendly chassis in the market.

Finally putting the lid on all of ASUS' leaked and detailed motherboards, comes, the PRIME Z270-A, which doesn't belong to a special, bang-and-whistle-filled product line, and is just concerned with getting the job done. It clads itself in a simple and appealing white and gray color-scheme, and is expected to keep most of the important features in ASUS' more expensive product lines.

The PRIME Z270-A comes with ASUS' 8+2+2 Phase Digital power design, fed by an 8-pin connector, that features 10K black metallic capacitors, MicroFine Alloy Chokes, NexFET PW (Power) block MOSFET and DIGI+ Power Control Utility for real-time adjustment, courtesy of the new ASUS Extreme Engine Digi+ technology that improves CPU stability and overclocking. It features four DDR4 DIMM slots that can support up to 64 GB of memory with speeds of up to 3866 MHZ (O.C+), and expansion slots on the motherboard include three PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16/x8/x4 electrical), four PCIe 3.0 x1 and dual M.2 slots that deliver up to 32 GB/s transfer speeds, with the PCIe slots being armored for higher resistance.

Moving on from the Strix series, ASUS' TUF Z270 Mark 1 has also been detailed. Designed around so-called military standards purported to ensure longer stability and extreme durability, the new TUF Z270 motherboards incorporates features such as Tough Inside, Thermal Armor, TUF Networking, TUF Audio, Ultimate Cooling, 24/7 Durability and high speed transfer. This motherboard is one of ASUS' most premium and feature-packed products, so you should expect to pay a pretty, pretty penny for it, if history - and pricing history in particular - is anything to go by (and it usually is).

The LGA 1151 socket supports the latest 6th and 7th generation Intel Core processors, with the MARK 1 sporting an aggressive heatsink design that features ASUS' AURA RGB technology and a full cover TUF Thermal Armor and Fortifier shield. The chassis of the board houses a 40mm fan that offers significant cooling performance to the VRMs.