Audio, SAS Storage, And Our Wrap-Up
Q. Will there be any Z87 boards that will use the Z77 color scheme?
A. As of right now we have no reason to go back to the blue color scheme.
Q. Why do you put Creative Labs software on your boards when you have the Asus Xonar product range?
A. A couple of reasons: 1) Some users don't want to dedicate a PCIe slot to a soundcard. 2) In polls people asked us for the software as part of the package.
Q. Why is there not more push for water-cooling north bridge/south bridge/ cpu on AMD and Intel based Asus boards.
A. Watercooling south/northbridges is very much a niche market and isn't really necessary for these components. On the AMD side, we have to consider costs and what the market is willing to pay - anything we add on our side increases prices for you.
Q. Are there any plans for some newer AMD AM3+ motherboards anytime soon, maybe some more lower tier boards with a new look and PCIe 3.0?
A. Things are always being developed. If we feel there's an update required we'll make one :)
Q. Why are you sticking to SATA on all motherboards when there is also SAS? SAS is more stable than SATA in general and at the same time it is fully compatible with SATA products. Is this something you might consider doing?
A. It's not outside the realms of possibility - if the performance fits and we can see a market. No promises on this stuff though. Thanks for the feedback.
Q. If Asus offers sound cards, why haven't there been any motherboards advertised yet with Asus sound processors on them? I would see it as an added value or at the very least, a nice option, to buy an Asus motherboard with built in Asus Xonar sound processing.
A. It all adds cost. Ramp it too far and you start infringing upon the other side of the argument. That is, a discrete card can be kept and used on other motherboards. We have to keep balance between features and what people want to pay. The upcoming Maximus VI Formula features a dedicated DAC (Crystal Semiconductor) and has 120db SNR. That's going to be the best sound solution found on a motherboard ever.
Wrap-Up
As a heads-up, stay tuned to news and articles for the announcement of our next AMA which will be coming next week on Tuesday! Thanks again to all for making this a great success!
-The Tom’s Hardware Community Team