ASUS today announced the ROG (Republic of Gamers) Xonar Phoebus Solo 7.1 PCI Express gaming sound card with precise positional audio and lifelike immersion for gamers. Xonar Phoebus Solo continues to exhibit the previous Xonar Phoebus hardware excellence, including clear 118 dB signal-to-noise ratio, a powerful 600 ohm headphones amplifier, Dolby Home Theater V4, and DTS UltraPC II surround sound.

The ROG Xonar Phoebus Solo sound card features an EMI shield and exclusive ASUS Hyper Grounding technology that significantly reduce the detrimental effects of the electromagnetic interference present inside all desktop PCs. Hyper Grounding technology brings the considerable motherboard expertise of ASUS to audio products, with a multi-layer PCB and high-quality power supply that help eliminate electrical noise from nearby components, resulting in cleaner, less distorted audio. Together with the high-fidelity PCM1796 digital-to-analog converter, the ROG Xonar Phoebus Solo delivers clear and crisp sound with a 118dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which means gamers will hear and experience every audio detail.

TechPowerUp released the latest version of GPU-Z, the popular graphics subsystem information, diagnostic, and monitoring utility, which gives you in-depth information about installed graphics hardware, and lets you monitor various parameters in real-time. With version v0.7.0 of GPU-Z, we focused on adding and improving support for new GPUs.

To begin with, it features support for AMD Radeon HD 7990 "Malta" dual-GPU graphics card, along with support for Radeon HD 8550M, HD 7340, HD 7290, and HD 8670D "Richland" on the AMD front; and GeForce GTX 680MX, GTX 675MX, GT 218, and 9400 GT (rare GPUs), on the NVIDIA front. Voltage monitoring is improved on Radeon HD 7790.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.7.0 | GPU-Z 0.7.0 ASUS ROG Themed

The change-log follows.

First shown to crowds at this year's International CES event in January, ASUS' first enthusiast SSD, the ROG RAIDR, is heading toward a mid-May launch. A few more of its pictures and specs sheets were posted by SweClockers. As detailed earlier, the RAIDR is a compound SSD in the PCI-Express add-on card form-factor, with PCI-Express 2.0 x2 interface (supports x4, x8, and x16 slots). It uses two SandForce SF2281-driven SSD subunits striped in a hardware-abstract RAID 0 configuration. The subunits use Toshiba-made 19 nm MLC NAND flash chips, with 16 KB page size.

The ROG RAIDR supports TRIM command, NCQ and SMART, despite being a RAID 0-based SSD. It is bootable, and supports Windows 8 Secure Boot. Installing an operating system on the drive doesn't require any F6 drivers, as the controller masquerades as a standard AHCI controller and a single disk, with the subunits and their RAID 0 stripe completely abstract. This way, the drive can accept TRIM commands from the OS.

According to the latest global graphics card market share seen by Taiwanese tech industry observer DigiTimes, Palit Microsystems and PC Partner have each surpassed ASUSTek. The two relegated ASUS to the position of third biggest graphics card vendor by volume. ASUS is a vendor-neutral graphics card vendor, selling both NVIDIA GeForce and AMD Radeon graphics cards; while Palit beat it with a predominantly GeForce-based product stack. Although Palit Microsystems is vendor-neutral on paper, it virtually stopped making AMD Radeon-based products.

Palit Microsystems runs two major brands, Palit, and Gainward, which target different global markets, and are seldom found in the same market. PC Partner, on the other hand, runs Sapphire, which focuses on AMD Radeon products, and ZOTAC, focusing on NVIDIA GeForce. Both Palit Microsystems and PC Partners also contract-manufacture graphics cards for other companies. With the surge of Palit Microsystems and PC Partner, ASUSTek is pushed down to the third place in global market-share, followed by MSI and GIGABYTE.

ASUS today announced the compact Xonar U7 USB external soundcard and headphone amplifier, which offers powerful and clear 114dB SNR audio with USB convenience. It incorporates a headphone amplifier, Dolby Home Theater v4 support, plus dedicated microphone and volume controls.

Xonar U7 serves the needs of PC gamers who want to enjoy strong and clear sound via headphones, and is also ideal for listening to music as it produces much more impactful and detailed audio than onboard hardware. Connecting via USB, it requires no standalone power supply and works instantly setup-free with no need to open the PC case.

ASUS today announced the PA249Q ProArt Series LCD Monitor, a professional 24-inch display that is factory pre-calibrated for uncompromised color precision, straight from the box. The PA249Q ProArt Series LCD Monitor has a native 1920 x 1200 resolution with 16:10 aspect ratio and features AH-IPS (Advanced High-Performance In-Plane Switching) display technology for a bright and vibrant image with 178-degree wide viewing angles. The PA249Q also features ASUS Smart Contrast Ratio, and ASUS QuickFit Virtual Scale and Splendid Video Intelligence technologies for enhanced image quality.

ASUS today announced availability of ASUS Taichi 31, a sleek Ultrabook with a 13.3-inch dual-screen design that offers the mobile flexibility of a tablet with the performance and features of a notebook. ASUS Taichi 31 features a choice of Intel Core processors and joins the 11.6-inch ASUS Taichi 21, launched in October 2012.

With two Full HD 13.3-inch screens placed back-to-back, ASUS Taichi 31 combines the best features of a Windows 8 tablet and a powerful Ultrabook in a single sleek design. With the same stunning black-mirror finish and slender profile as the 11.6-inch ASUS Taichi 21, ASUS Taichi 31 is as elegant as it is innovative, and packs a host of features that help make light work of any productivity task.

ASUS is ready with its third "Dragon Edition" graphics card, after launching ones based on GeForce GTX 660 Ti and Radeon HD 7850. The GTX 660 Dragon Edition (model: GTX660Ti-DP-2GD5) from ASUS is a premium custom-design implementation that's a couple of notches above its DirectCU II TOP (DCU2T). The card features a cooling solution largely identical to DirectCU II, with the exception of those blue stripes, and an aluminum back-plate to cool memory chips on the reverse side of the PCB. It also features ASUS' Direct Power vGPU passive signal-noise dampener that's found on the company's GTX 670 DirectCU Mini.

The GTX 660 Dragon Edition features GPU clock speeds above those of the DirectCU II TOP, with GPU Boost speed of 1150 MHz (compared to the DCU2T's 1135 MHz). Strangely, despite better memory cooling, it features NVIDIA-reference memory clock speeds of 6.00 GHz, even as the DCU2T offers 6.10 GHz. Based on the 28 nm GK106 silicon, the GeForce GTX 660 feature 960 CUDA cores, and a 192-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. Based on what we learned about availability of the other Dragon Edition cards, it would be safe to conclude that this card will be sold only in the Greater China region (PRC, ROC, HK, MO).

ASUS is working on a variant of its ROG Rampage IV Extreme motherboard for people who've had enough with the red+black color scheme. The Rampage IV Extreme Black, as the name suggests, dons a largely black appearance, with hints of dark-gray; use of red is reduced to a minimum. Components like alternate DIMM and PCIe slots use shades of gray to contrast black. It is otherwise identical to the original. The Black variant could be ASUS' competitive offering to EVGA X79 Black. Based on Intel X79 Express chipset, the ROG Rampage IV Extreme Black supports Core i7 processors in the LGA2011 package, up to 64 GB of quad-channel DDR3 memory, four-way SLI/CrossFire, and a suite of overclocker-friendly features. There's no word on pricing or availability.

ASUS readied its second "Dragon" branded performance graphics card, the first being last year's Radeon HD 7850 Dragon. These cards are typically a notch above DirectCU II OC models, in featuring a backplate, and slightly improved VRM.

The company's new GeForce GTX 660 Ti Dragon, pictured below, features out of the box clock speeds of up to 1150 MHz core, and 6.10 GHz memory. It features 2 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 192-bit wide memory interface. The card's cooling assembly is nearly identical to the company's DirectCU II, with the exception of blue accents, and a back-plate. From the looks of it, the card could feature a GPU electrical noise filter, similar in function to MSI GPU Reactor module. ASUS tells us that the card is specific to the Greater China region, it's unlikely to make it to western markets.

ASUS today announced the GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini, a compact high-performance graphics card designed primarily for small form factor PCs with mini ITX motherboards. The dual-slot card measures just 17cm and features the NVIDIA GTX 670 GPU for DirectX 11.1-compatible gaming. The reference GTX 670 measures 24.13cm, for comparison.

Small form factor PCs based on mini ITX motherboards are a popular choice for gamers and home users. Their compact cases are much easier to transport to LAN parties than a standard desktop PC, and stylish designs with comparatively low power requirements make them a natural choice for home theater PCs. The ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini is designed to maximize the potential offered by mini ITX motherboards by delivering high performance graphics. It uses an exclusive DirectCU thermal design that combines a heat-spreading vapor chamber and the CoolTech Fan, which provides wide-angle airflow and venting to cool critical graphics card components.

ASUS today announced the P9X79-E WS motherboard, designed to offer highly scalable expandability with seven PCI Express 3.0 slots, with support for up to 4-way NVIDIA GeForce SLI or AMD CrossFireX in x16 links. The P9X79-E WS includes ASUS Dr. Power, which helps prevent sudden shutdowns using power supply health monitoring and event notifications, and new dual server-grade Intel Ethernet. The motherboard features 91% power efficiency, enhanced heat removal, plus high speed storage and data transfers.

The P9X79-E WS has been designed to support powerful and flexible graphics configurations as required by professional users in sectors such as graphic and industrial design, research, and scientific modeling. Customers can opt for 4-way NVIDIA GeForce SLI or AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU setups, install seven single-slot graphics cards, or choose up to four double-deck (2-slot) cards. The high expandability of the P9X79-E WS makes it easy for customers to use PCI Express-based video capture, RAID, and SSD storage components.

ASUS today announced the GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST DirectCU II, which features an overclocked 1085MHz NVIDIA GTX 650 Ti GPU paired with 2GB GDDR5 on a 192-bit interface. The card offers a combination of DirectX 11.1-compatible power and value, expanding the range of ASUS graphics cards that cater to gamers and DIY enthusiasts.

ASUS-exclusive features improve GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST DirectCU II performance. They include the DirectCU II cooler, which maintains 20% lower temperatures than a reference GTX 650 Ti BOOST, long-lasting Super Alloy Power components, and user-friendly GPU Tweak graphics card tuning.

ASUS today announced the SDRW-08U5S-U external DVD writer, a highly portable optical drive with the thinnest form factor in its class at just 13mm. Its design includes a built-in hidden stand that saves space and reduces clutter while enabling dual-stance horizontal and vertical placement. For data protection, ASUS integrates multiple security measures, with password controls and encryption alongside encoded file name functionality. The SDRW-08U5S-U ships in Mellow Metallic, Dusty Rose, and Bright Berry color options.

The SDRW-08U5S-U employs intricate engineering to achieve a very slender 13mm side profile. In addition to making it highly attractive, the form factor contributes to easy mobility and greater usability as the SDRW-08U5S-U can be effortlessly transported and placed, making it a perfect companion for Ultrabooks and other mobile devices.

ASUS kicked off its Radeon HD 7790 lineup with custom-design implementations based on its iconic DirectCU II cooling solution. The EAH7790 DirectCU II /OC, pictured below, ships in two variants, one with stock frequencies of 1000 MHz core and 6000 MHz memory; and an OC variant with 1075 MHz core, and 6400 MHz memory. The cards use the company's dual-slot, dual-heatpipe version of DirectCU II. Based on the 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon, the Radeon HD 7790 packs 896 stream processors, dual tessellation units, 56 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory; and a brand new dynamic-clock technology. The standard variant should be priced around $149.99, the OC variant could charge $10 more.

We got our first glimpse of ASUS' mini ITX-friendly GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini a fortnight ago, when it was pictured installed. The older pictures didn't really provide us with a vanity of the card, until now. Pictured below, is the first press-shot of the 17 cm-long high-end graphics card. The picture reveals a swanky cooler shroud with gloss/matte accents, covering the main heatsink.

The main heatsink appears to be a combination of an aluminum base plate covering the memory chip and VRM, a copper vapor-chamber plate over the GPU, and a radially-projecting aluminum fin array. The contraption is ventilated by a fan unlike anything we've ever seen. Its impeller appears to be a hybrid between conventional top-flow fan, and lateral-flow blower. While ASUS won't tinker with the 6.00 GHz memory clock speed, the core is said to be clocked about 26 MHz higher than reference. Display outputs check out as dual DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. The company is expected to launch this card some time in April.

ASUS rolled out its first Republic of Gamers (ROG) branded input device, the ROG Eagle Eye GX1000 gaming mouse. Clad in brushed aluminum and ABS plastic, with a braided weave cable, the Eagle Eye GX1000 features a pseudo-ambidextrous design (side buttons only on its left side), with a total of six action buttons, a scroll wheel, and on-the-fly sensitivity control buttons.

The ROG Eagle Eye GX1000 features a weight compartment, with adjustable weighs in units of 5 g. Its dry weight (without any weights) is 150 g. Under its hood is an 8,200 DPI laser sensor, which can be lowered all the way down to 50 DPI. Overall, the mouse measures 128.5 x 65.5 x 43.5 mm. ASUS dropped in some groovy LED lighting for the scroll wheel, the sensitivity adjustment felt-touch surface (can coarsely display DPI setting), and its rear side. An ROG-branded mousepad is part of the package. Expect this one to be priced upwards of $100.

Just ahead of a skirmish between AMD and NVIDIA in the sub-$200 market segment, which could go down later this month, TechPowerUp released GPU-Z v0.6.9, with tested support for the two contenders: AMD Radeon HD 7790, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti with GPU Boost (refresh). In addition, the new GPU-Z version gets you support for Radeon HD 8870M, GeForce GT 415, and GT 750M. For GeForce "Kepler" family GPUs, DirectX feature-set value is fixed. A number of tool-tips are added to key window elements, such as vendor logo, vBIOS extraction, render test, and screen-capture.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.6.9 | GPU-Z v0.6.9 with ASUS ROG skin

The change-log follows.

ASUS rolled out an optional video BIOS update for its GeForce GTX 680 graphics cards, which lends them GOP UEFI support, letting users take advantage of "Ultra Fast Boot" and "CSM disable" features. To use Windows 8 Secure Boot feature as intended, it's not enough that your PC motherboard supports UEFI, discrete graphics cards should support GOP (graphics output protocol) UEFI, as well. Very few graphics cards at the moment support it, and graphics card board vendors are making efforts on their side to add it.

ASUS' GOP UEFI VBIOS update ships as an executable that updates VBIOS from within Windows (provided it's being run with Administrator rights). ASUS tested the update only on its motherboards. Also, once updated to the UEFI-hybrid VBIOS, the graphics card can't be flashed back to the older legacy one. Risk takers can find the update here. Find more technical information at the source.

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC hardware market, today announced new Vengeance Extreme 8GB dual-channel DDR3 memory kits rated at 3000MHz, the world's fastest rated production PC memory kits. Fitted with low profile "racing red" heat spreaders, the new 2x4GB memory kits operate at 3000 MHz air-cooled, with latency settings of 12-14-14-36, at 1.65V. A Kingpin Cooling memory cooler is included for overclockers who want to use LN2 (liquid nitrogen) to reach memory speeds well beyond 3000 MHz.

The extreme-speed 3000 MHz rating of the Vengeance Extreme memory kits is the result of a rigorous internal four-stage hand-screening process performed by Corsair engineers. This process is passed by fewer than one in 50 memory ICs. Performance qualification is performed on select Intel Z77 based motherboards, including the ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE and ASRock Z77 OC Formula. To hit their rated speeds, the modules require a 3rd Generation Intel Core unlocked processor with an Integrated Memory Controller capable of running 3000 MHz.

ASUS is excited to announce immediate availability of the VivoBook S500 in North America. ASUS VivoBook S500 showcases an attractive, durable, and portable 15.6" design that includes a 3rd generation Intel Core processor for excellent multitasking performance, touch enabled high-definition display, ASUS SonicMaster audio, and hybrid SSD/HD drive options.

ASUS VivoBook S500 is designed with stylish aesthetics, true-to-life sound, and instinctive touch capabilities via the highly responsive multi-point HD touch panel or the oversized touchpad incorporating ASUS Smart Gesture technology. It is ideal for the increasingly cloud-based nature of computing with seamless connectivity options and a slim form factor for easy mobility. True 2-second instant on resume from sleep mode provides near-instantaneous access to Windows 8 and its energy-conserving design allows standby for up to two weeks.

Even as most motherboard vendors showed off at least half-baked versions of their socket LGA1150 motherboards based on the Intel Z87 Express chipset, supporting 4th generation Core "Haswell" processors; ASUS has been relatively mum. The company doesn't even have a motherboard booth at CeBIT, to begin with. The company did manage to release teaser pictures of three new motherboards, which lead its three consumer motherboard lines: Republic of Gamers (ROG), The Ultimate Force (TUF), and mainline (P9Z87?).

The teaser pictures reveal nothing more than the plaque printed on the center of the motherboard. The first picture below teases what could be P9Z87 Deluxe. Someone at ASUS loves M&Ms. The second picture teases TUF Gryphon Z87. It looks like ASUS had enough of the Sabertooth brand extension. The third picture, dissimilar from the others, is of a new innovation ASUS will introduce with its next ROG motherboard based on the Z87 chipset. It appears to be a device that plugs into one of the motherboard's headers. Probably an external overclocking module akin to EVGA EVBot?

TechPowerUp announced version 0.6.8 of GPU-Z, the popular graphics subsystem information, monitoring, and diagnostic utility, which gives you detailed information about the installed graphics hardware, and lets you monitor key specifications in real-time, such as clock speeds, temperatures, voltages, and video memory usage. Version 0.6.8 introduces support for new GPUs, namely NVIDIA's GeForce GTX Titan, GeForce 505 (GT216), GT 640M, GTX 675MX, Quadro K2000, and K3000; AMD's Radeon HD 7480D, FirePro W8000, V8700, fake HD 6850 (based on HD 6450). GPU load monitoring method on AMD GPUs is improved, and should be more accurate. Several minor bugs were patched.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.6.8, TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.6.8 ASUS ROG Themed

The change-log follows.

ASUS is working on the GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini, a high-end graphics card that's size-optimized for mini-ITX gaming PC builds. NVIDIA's reference-design PCB for the GTX 670 already established that compact (<20 cm long) PCBs are very much possible for the chip. ASUS designed its own short (17 cm long) PCB with a 5-phase VRM, which draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, instead of two 6-pin. This allows you to make do with compact PSUs that only feature one PCIe connector, and avoid wasting Molex cables on the second 6-pin.

What's more interesting about the GTX 670 DirectCU Mini is its cooler, which appears to use a combination of a thick metal plate that draws heat from VRM and memory on the obverse side; and a round aluminum fin-stack, which could be cooled by a single ~80 mm fan. ASUS did not release pricing or availability information, and is still gauging community interest in such a product.

AMD topped off its "Southern Islands" graphics card family with Radeon HD 7990 "New Zealand," although it didn't have a reference design board of the said SKU. Around October 2012, AIB partners PowerColor, VTX3D, and Club 3D each released their custom design Radeon HD 7990-branded graphics cards, which packed a duo of Radeon HD 7970 GPUs, a total of 6 GB of memory, making up for a dual-GPU solution. Among most of these, the GPUs were clocked in the neighborhood of 950 MHz, and memory at 5.50 GHz. ASUS joined the party much later with the ROG ARES II, with 1100 MHz core, 6.00 GHz memory, and liquid cooling, but commands a hefty $1,600. Post GTX Titan, ARES II remains, at least according to AMD, the single fastest graphics card. The company seems interested in standardizing a new set of specifications for HD 7990, which could be priced competitively against NVIDIA's GTX Titan and GTX 690.

Enter the new Radeon HD 7990 "Malta," a new codename, redone specifications (clock speeds), same dual-GPU graphics card, with [hopefully] a competitive price. Its development checks out with AMD's recent statement in its teleconference last month, where it stated that we could see "more HD 7990 action" this year. According to a Technic3D report, AMD is looking to replace the generally accepted 925/950/1350 MHz (core/PowerTune Boost/memory) clock speed standard of the HD 7990 with something over 1000 MHz, probably even 1050 MHz for the core. There is no word on memory clock speed changes, although with its 384-bit wide memory interfaces, we don't imagine the "Tahiti" GPU to be facing a dearth of memory bandwidth. The HD 7990 "Malta" like the HD 7990 "New Zealand," will lack an AMD reference design, so one could expect more custom-design cards by partners. The new SKU could launch some time before July.