Asus' First FM2+ Based ROG Motherboard Is Coming Soon
Asus' ROG CrossBlade Ranger, the first ROG board with an FM2+ socket, is coming to shelves soon.
Asus is announcing the availability of its first FM2+ based Republic of Gamers (ROG) motherboard. This is the CrossBlade Ranger, which we first saw at Computex 2014.
We already knew that bit about the socket, along with most other details about the motherboard, but it is good to see that it has all become official and that you will be able to give your AMD APU some ROG love soon. The ATX-sized motherboard comes with the A88X chipset onboard with support for both AMD A-Series APUs and Athlon processors. Wired to the CPU socket are four DDR3 memory slots, which will allow you to install up to 64 GB of RAM. For PCI-Express expansion there are two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots--which will only run at 8x each when both slots are populated, just like the Intel counterparts.
Being an ROG motherboard, it will still come with a lot of ROG features. It will have better onboard audio in the form of Asus’ SupremeFX technology, Gigabit Ethernet, better VRM circuitry and bigger heat sinks, as well as advanced overclocking features and fan controls. The motherboard is also compatible with the ROG dual-bay front panel.
So, who is this motherboard for, you might wonder? Well, budget builders often choose to build systems with AMD's CPUs or APUs simply because it can be a lot cheaper than a comparable Intel build. Building such a system with an ROG motherboard will bring you those ROG features, and while it will cost a little more, you will get the ROG build quality and stability, as well. The market for this board might not be big, but it will make sense for some people. Remember, a lot of people jumped on the Haswell bandwagon, not because of the performance, but because of the platform that the motherboard vendors were providing.
Pricing for the motherboard is set at $159.99, with availability slated for this month.
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Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.
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TheMentalist This title is dumb. Asus has realeased many AMD ROG motherboards, back in the days we had Crosshair based on the AM2 socket. This is the first one for the FM2+.Reply -
bgunner BS this is the first AMD based ROG motherboard! Asus has many ROG motherboards that you can use for AMD chips and chipsets. I personally have built with them. THis may be the first ROG board for the FM2+ socket but not for AMD.Reply -
hannibal Yep.. there has been many AMD based ROG motherboards. I by my self am using Asus Crosshair IV Formula from many years ago...Reply
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bgunner There are AM2 AM2+ AM3 and AM3+ ROG motherboards, I think the editor missed something when approving this title.Reply -
DRosencraft I suppose it's something, but like they said at the end, it appeals to a rather small group even in e enthusiast sector. I don't think a lot of enthusiasts are gonna want an drop down from an AM3+ board just to say that have an ROG board. And I don't know that there are really any appreciable changes changes to the chipset to entice current systems to want to switch out for a new board.Reply -
rolli59 It would be nice if they had a CPU made for the socket that would warrant such a fancy board.Reply -
Novuake So spending more on a motherboard than on a CPU has always been foolish...Reply
Asus ROG has always been overpriced, one in ten people that get them do not ever use the "functions" it provides.