ASUS

One of the companies out there that always has surprising products just has to be ASUS. They shocked us with their excellent Xonar soundcard series, the Matrix and Formula graphics cards... and then even our primary Core i7 graphics card test system is totally pimped up with their Rampage II Extreme motherboard. Sure they cost a rib and a leg, but man... what fine gear that is.

Let's have a look at what they had on display shall we?

If you're a proud owner of ASUS' flagship ROG motherboard then here's a wonderful product for you. The ROG OC Station is a one of a kind device that grants users on-the-fly access to overclocking parameters, ROG-exclusive features, fan speeds, system information and even a photo slideshow function. To overclock your ROG board all you have to do is connect ROG OC Station to your board and change various parameters.

That's it. The purely hardware-based, bay-mounted device with a large 3-inch display takes OCing to a whole new level of ease, accuracy and sophistication, reports ASUS.

Pure hardware-based OC control
* Real-time access to system voltages, frequencies and fan speeds
* Intuitive user interface with 3" TFT-LCD display
* Temperature monitoring for critical components
* Alarm thresholds with audio alerts
* Stylish design with adjustable faceplate (tilts upward 30 degrees)
* Mounts in two 5.25-inch bays
* Seamless integration with ROG CPU Level Up and ASUS EPU-6 Engine
* Photo slideshow function

It's really a fun device as you overclock the system by turning that big knob. I think ASUS Benelux has a sample lined up for us, so we hope to have it reviewed soon.

So here we have the new mATX form factor ASUS Maximum II Gene. Of course everybody is awaiting P55 based motherboards for Core i5, but there is still a market for P45 based motherboards and Core 2 CPUs. After all, the platform cost for a X58 + Core i7 + DDR3 memory is far more than buying a P45 based motherboard + Core 2 CPU + DDR2 memory. With the economy the way it is value is becoming more and more important. And face it that is a sexy motherboard.

Nifty cool feature... if we zoom in a little, do you see that MemOK button in red? If you have memory issues e.g. have installed new memory and want to prevent a CMOS clear, hit that switch, your memory will be configured optimally automatically. It will first read the SPD, if that could be better... this function overrides it and will set up the memory optimally.