Displaying items by tag: Asus

Today marked the day that Microsoft released Windows 8 to the general public. We have tinkered with several builds of Windows 8, but so far we have not been all that impressed with what the guys in Redmond have come up with. Our big issue has been the lack of functionality and usability in the new MetroUI. In our last public coverage we had to switch back to Windows 7 after only three days or testing. So now let’s take another stab at getting Windows 8 running on current hardware, namely our Asus EEE Slate EP121.

So Asus has released the specifications of their next generation Transformers and as we told you they are not getting rid of the Tegra 3 for their HD version of the popular tablet. The original rumor was that Asus was replacing the Tegra 3 for a Qualcomm SoC. In truth we find that Asus is entering the realm of cellular tablets.

The Mobile World Congress kicked off today in Barcelona Spain. This is one of the yearly events that help to shape the mobile technology world. We have already seen some information slip even before the conference kicked off as companies like HTC tried to get the jump on the competition and rumors popped up about Asus’ next generation Transformer.

On Monday of this week there was a rumor that went around the internet that claimed Asus was abandoning Tegra for Qualcomm in their upcoming Transformer line. The rumor cam complete with a fuzzy show of a slide from a presentation. This would seem to confirm the move and to give a confirmation before the Mobile World Congress that is kicking off. After asking around we have found that the real story is something a little different.

Every now and then we like to step back and take a look at the component industry. It has not been that long ago when the number of individual component makers began to dwindle. We have already watched as ABIT, SOYO DFI, FIC, and other motherboard manufacturers have disappeared. These were once great companies and flourished in the heyday of the DIY market (the Super Socket 7, Slot A and 1, Socket A etc.). Now the market is collapsing and we see companies that once only directly sold the pieces and parts for our computers starting to assemble them for us as well. Although the three major players in the motherboard/GPU market all have presence in Europe and Asia only one has truly penetrated the North American market and stands poised to make an even bigger impact there; this is Asus.

Only a few weeks after we showed you the performance of the MAINGEAR Epic180 we have another product from MAINGEAR in the labs. This is their DIY thermal interface material called the MAINGEAR EPIC T1000 (yes it is a terminator reference). The EPIC T1000 is a phase change alloy that changes from a solid to a liquid when exposed to heat. This creates and flow that is capable of filling in any and all pores and lines in both the CPU heat spreader and the head of your cooler (whether it is water cooling, air or other). This, technically can beat even the smoothest thermal paste on the market in terms of fill and also should be able to outperform them in terms of thermal transfer as the head of your cooler and the CPU are almost soldered together for an even and continuous surface contact. So let’s take a look at what you get with this new DIY kit from MAINGEAR and also see if it really can improve performance.

Although the big news in the graphics market is AMD’s 7xxx series GPUs and the lack of Kepler from nVidia there are still things going on with some of AMD’s older Radeon products. One of these arrived in our lab a few days ago and is a very interesting product indeed. This is Asus’ HD 6770 DirectCU Silent. It is pretty much exactly what it says; you get an AMD Radeon 6770 GPU (with 1gb of GDDR5) cooled by a direct contact cooler with no moving parts. This is a great product for people looking to build a silent gaming rig or perhaps a quite HTPC. Of course there are probably going to be tradeoffs with any product like this and it is now our job to find out what they are. So, without too much of a delay let’s take a look at Asus’ EAH6770 DC SL/2D1/1GD5; otherwise known as the HD 6770 DirectCU Silent.

One of the things that make Asus products so enticing is simply the number of add-in features that you get with almost every level of product. I am not sure if all of these features would ever be used by one single consumer, but they are there and all of them work. These little extras can make it challenging to properly review an Asus board (they certainly take more time to test out properly) as most of these are not just simple software adds. With the launching of Asus’ X79 line up the feature list increased as Asus pushed more of the ROG line’s signature items down into the top level of the mainstream products. It makes for some very well rounded products. While we were busy testing out the normal feature set we also had to find ways to cover some of the new items like SSD caching and USB 3.0 Boost for both performance and ease of use. We have already told you about the features, let’s get into the performance numbers and see what we have with the Asus P9X79 Deluxe.

Asus’ Maximus series has always been a great line for the user than demands top notch performance. We have tested them going all the way back to the original Maximus and each one has brought new performance features to the table. As you have seen in our feature and design review the Maximus IV Extreme is no different. We have finished putting the Maximus IV Extreme through our test suite and are ready to let you know how well it works in our lab. So sit back and relax as we walk you through the performance of the Asus Maximus IV Extreme.

CES 2012, Las Vegas, Nevada – We found Asus in the Trump Tower near the top of the building. I honestly think they had the entire floor up there, but we were only there to see a small portion of what Asus has to offer to the consumer. Asus, as most of you know already is one of the leading manufacturers of computer components. They also have their own channel marketing team and make quite a bit more than just motherboards, GPUs, Audio cards and networking gear.