Board Software

When it comes to software, there's something that upon inserting the DVD that stuck out for me immediately, seen in the image above. The very first thing you see is not from ASUS, but from Google, offering the installation of Google Chrome. I do not approve of third-party offerings like this, and ASUS has done similar before but with Norton, which I do not like much either, but have less of an issue with since OSes don't come with anti-virus software. I kind of feel like ASUS is pushing the use of Chrome on to me, and would much rather make that choice on my own without any outside influence like is offered here. I have no issues with it being offered on the disc with utility installations, but to show only the page above as it does when inserting the disc just doesn't sit well with me. There's nothing wrong with Google Chrome itself, just merely with the way it's offered. Of course, you can click the listings across the top of the window to get to the actual software installations, which I did, but this may not be immediately plain to all users, and hence my problem with it.


The majority of tools offered by ASUS are contained within a centralized interface called "AI Suite". AI Suite is actually just the interface pictured above, with many components accessed by clicking the appropriate buttons shown in the screenshot.


When it comes to tools, there's a huge number of them, which each having a specific functionality, whether it be changing voltages, changing fanspeeds, adjusting the VRM settings, or enabling USB 3.0 boost technologies, each has its own window that pops up when you click the appropriate button.


Sensor and informational tools as well as updating tools each get their own listings as well, as seen in these screenshots.


The informational tool displays motherboard, CPU, and memory information seperately, each on its own tab, useful if you need to get support from ASUS directly, but aren't 100% sure on the components installed. The settings page is a pretty useful tool, allowing you to individually un-install or install each part of the suite, so that if there are parts you do not need, you can remove them to free up drive space.


There is also GPUTweakIt and ROG Game First functionality offered on the driver disc, two tools that help prioritize how your system runs, and can add a bit of a performance boost in some situations. I personally like the ROG Game First tool, one that allows you to adjust network priority with just a few clicks.

ASUS has had a very large and fully-functional software package for some time, and that hasn't changed at all... if anything they've expanded the offerings a bit, some of which I haven't shown here. There's the offered "ROG Connect" utility that can be used to remotely clock your system, even when it's running, but ROG Connect does require a seperate system to run the utility on, so that's not something everyone can take advantage of. Another newer feature is the ability to flash the BIOS without a CPU or even memory installed into the system, with the addition on a FAT-formatted drive. When combined with the screenshot capabilities, it almost seems as if ASUS should include a small affordable USB drive in the box, pre-installed with a backup BIOS, and maybe ASUS should consider replacing the driver disc with a ROG-themed USB stick for software and driver installation, as it would make their ROG board offerings even more appealing to the end user. I only mention this because one of the big things I look for is features that require a user to spend some money on to take full advantage of them, and the BIOS screenshot capability, USB BIOS Flashback, and ROG Connect are all features that require some additional expense before they are really useful. All in all, ASUS's software package is so great that they just cannot include everything needed in the box, especially with the ROG Connect feature, so there are definitely some areas that can be improved, even if they aren't highly critical things that all users will have a use for.