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<strong style="line-height: 21px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: transparent;">ASUS ROG Press Conference: Motherboards</strong></p>
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For at least every Computex I have attended, ASUS have put on a show &ndash; the ROG press conference.&nbsp; This is ASUS&rsquo; opportunity to showcase their gaming range, the updates to the gaming range and is definitely a spectacle for the eyes.&nbsp; This year there are a number of items that certainly pique my interest.</p>
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As expected, the ROG motherboard range we have seen already were showcased &ndash; the Maximus VI Hero, Gene and Extreme.&nbsp; Typically part of this range is the Formula, which was announced today.</p>
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As with the Maximus V Formula, ASUS are carving out a niche for the Formula &ndash; it is the gaming motherboard to have, much like the Extreme is the performance motherboard to own.&nbsp; On the Formula this generation, the most obvious improvement is the Formula Armor.&nbsp; This combination backplate and frontage is designed to help rigidity &ndash; ASUS understand that high-end users going after the Formula are going to be big GPU gamers, where the GPUs can weigh 2 pounds or more.&nbsp; This armor is designed to help make sure the motherboard does not bend when subject to these heavy weights over long periods of time.</p>
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The Formula also improves upon audio, with an upgrade to SupremeFX &ndash; we have the Realtek ALC1150 audio codec for the rear with a front-panel CirrusLogic DAC for 120 dBA SNR, all with improved EM shielding, filter caps and headphone amplifiers for 600 ohm headphones.&nbsp; The heatpipe arrangement in the power delivery gets an upgraded design (codename &lsquo;CrossChill&rsquo;), and the mini-PCIe combo gets an upgrade, with instead of mSATA we have the first M.2 connector on a motherboard.&nbsp; The Formula also comes with 802.11ac as part of the combo card.</p>
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With the ROG motherboard range, ASUS had three models &ndash; over the past few weeks we learned this had improved to four with the Hero.&nbsp; We can now make that range a total of five motherboards, with the announcement of the Maximus VI Impact, the mini-ITX model.</p>
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If our readers remember back to my X79 ROG review of the range and the brand, we had an interview with Kris Huang, the PM for the ROG series.&nbsp; I quizzed him on the possibility of a mini-ITX ROG motherboard, and the response was fairly non-specific.&nbsp; Now it is clear that at the time they had had the idea internally and were developing it into the Impact we see today.</p>
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So with a mini-ITX SKU, measuring 17cm x 17cm, there is little space to provide the more typical &lsquo;gaming&rsquo; features.&nbsp; Despite this limitation, ASUS have provided the Impact with more innovation than you can imagine.</p>
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So it was perhaps predictable that the ROG mITX would have power delivery on a daughter board at right angles to the motherboard, much like what we saw on the P8Z77-I Deluxe.&nbsp; What was not predicted is the SupremeFX Impact &ndash; a long extensive card for the IO with SupremeFX style audio.&nbsp; In this card we get the SupremeFX shielding, high-end filter caps and headphone amplifiers, much like the Formula.</p>
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The Impact also has the mini-PCIe combo card, and I am in the process if this is a model for users&rsquo; own WiFi or if it is the same as the Formula.&nbsp; We also get an additional card for the rear IO with integrated two-digit debug, power/reset buttons and a Clear_CMOS button.</p>
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No word on pricing or release date for either model, but I would expect within a month or two for both to hit the shelves.</p>
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Source: AnandTech
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