Tom's Hardware's AMA With Asus, In Its Entirety

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Planning For Steamroller, Short PCBs, And HTPCs

Q. It's extremely difficult to find blower-style GPU coolers in countries like Australia. Have you considered making reference Nvidia and blower style AMD cards?

A. Our focus is currently on non-reference design and providing superior cooling and acoustics. We want to ensure cool and quiet operation. A blower design generally cannot offer the efficiency need to offer both of these, it has to work much hardware and can be much louder as such we do not use them.

Q. What happened to HomeTheaterGate, will it return?

A. We are always looking at different options but as many users are now using their own media portals we no longer focus on development of HomeTheaterGate. There are number of other options like JRiverMediaCenter, Windows Media Center and XMBC and more than users enjoy with their media centric or HTPC systems. With that noted, we of course continue to evaluate how we can improve the total HTPC/Media Center experience on both hardware and software levels.

Q. Is there an Asus Rampage V Extreme and will it still be LGA 2011? What is the outlook on LGA vs BGA? Will you be forced to abandon the LGA socket and will this be just with Intel or both Intel and AMD?

A. Sorry cannot comment on potential or upcoming product. You will have to keep a watch out for what may come out. Currently we are committed to our Rampage Series Gene, Formula and Extreme. We are continually fine tuning and tweaking and improving performance, compatibility and overall usability via updates of the UEFI and software updates. In regards to any socket questions all we can communicate is that looking at our track record Asus and its motherboard division we are committed to performance and innovation and the flexibility that is offered in the PC DIY space. We are working to maintain this as much as possible and will continue working on boards focused at allowing the flexibility and features that interest enthusiasts.

Q. I just got a 660 GTX DCU 2 OC earlier this year, is the 760 that huge of a jump that I should upgrade?

A. The 660GTX is a very solid card, especially with the latest drivers and when used with the GeForce Experience software. Depending on your gameplay needs and the resolution you are playing this should dictate your upgrade path. The 760 will provide an increase in performance but depending on what you are playing currently and what you plan is for the next year or two you may want to consider all aspects first.

Q. Have you considered SKUs with shorter PCBs for SFF gaming PCs?

A. Yes you can see we have done this with the release of our GTX 670 DC mini which is specifically design for ultra-small chassis. We hope to offer more of these types of solutions especially as we offer an extensive range of motherboards in mATX and mini ITX.

Q. If Steamroller is released for socket AM3+, will your 880G-series motherboards support it?

A. This isn't something that we directly control. AGESA is usually optimized for the latest platform. Any signal line impedance shifts to cater for new DDR3 modules can have an impact in how well a newer processor will interact with an older chipset/platform. Newer boards will have been designed with those specifications in mind. DDR3 voltage requirements have changed considerably over the past few years as has module density and this changes trace requirements. So I cannot give you a firm answer on that. Hope the answer does help, though.

17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Aoyagi
    So I take it Asus is, in fact, not planning to broaden its AMD laptop selection since they didn't respond to the question about that. Unfortunate, I really liked the brand.
    Reply
  • kennai
    On page 8, the first answer is to the second question, and the second question is to the first answer. Was staring at that second answer for like 2 minutes being like, whaaaaat.
    Reply
  • kennai
    On page 8, the first answer is to the second question, and the second question is to the first answer. Was staring at that second answer for like 2 minutes being like, whaaaaat.
    Reply
  • bim27142
    They didn't answer my question. :( :( :(
    Reply
  • Madn3ss795
    I was excited so see any sights of an ITX AMD board from Asus. Sadly all answers led to a big "NO".
    Reply
  • slomo4sho
    Sadly, Asus is too Intel focused to concern themselves with any innovating anything on their AMD lineup.
    Reply
  • vmem
    11057585 said:
    Sadly, Asus is too Intel focused to concern themselves with any innovating anything on their AMD lineup.

    ASUS is a business, and like any good business they're only concerned with MAKING MONEY. this is actually a GOOD THING, they have a clear goal and they know how to go about doing it: make good products that consumers want to buy.

    a huge part of making money and running a business is getting brand recognition, something AMD has been TERRIBLE at until recently. and ASUS made their point clear, they're not favoring Intel, their marketing research simply says there is insufficient demand. this is because when you walk into best-buy or even microcenter, at least 90% of the people shopping there still equate Intel with CPU. when that changes, ASUS will focus on AMD more. it's really that simple
    Reply
  • vmem
    11055330 said:
    Awesome info here... though I'm kinda bummed they had no info about pricing on that 39" 4k monitor. I'm drooling at the thought of acquiring one of those since it's using a cheap VA panel, assuming ASUS doesn't get greedy and charge a ton for it.

    Can't wait to be rid of this 1080p plague.

    I don't think it's a simple matter of greed. they can't price it TOO cheaply, or else their 31" 4K monitor with the nice Sharp panel won't sell. They have to price it appropriately for the quality and the market. if I were to venture a guess I'd say it'll be around $2-2.5K when it comes out.
    Reply
  • lp231
    11057635 said:
    11055330 said:
    Awesome info here... though I'm kinda bummed they had no info about pricing on that 39" 4k monitor. I'm drooling at the thought of acquiring one of those since it's using a cheap VA panel, assuming ASUS doesn't get greedy and charge a ton for it.

    Can't wait to be rid of this 1080p plague.

    I don't think it's a simple matter of greed. they can't price it TOO cheaply, or else their 31" 4K monitor with the nice Sharp panel won't sell. They have to price it appropriately for the quality and the market. if I were to venture a guess I'd say it'll be around $2-2.5K when it comes out.

    From the web, the 31.5" will cost around $3799 to $4000. I expect the 39" to be close to $10,000.

    Reply
  • slomo4sho
    11057620 said:
    ASUS is a business, and like any good business they're only concerned with MAKING MONEY. this is actually a GOOD THING, they have a clear goal and they know how to go about doing it: make good products that consumers want to buy.

    a huge part of making money and running a business is getting brand recognition, something AMD has been TERRIBLE at until recently. and ASUS made their point clear, they're not favoring Intel, their marketing research simply says there is insufficient demand. this is because when you walk into best-buy or even microcenter, at least 90% of the people shopping there still equate Intel with CPU. when that changes, ASUS will focus on AMD more. it's really that simple

    AMD had nearly 50% market share in 2006 which has gradually dwindled to the current ~16-17% which is around a 10% drop from a year ago. The overreaching bias on tech sites over the years have fortified Intel's position as a monopoly over the CPU market and the lack of features such as PCIe 3.0 and Thunderbolt on AMD exemplifies the perception that AMD is inferior to Intel.

    The reality is that AMD has a clear advantage in integrated GPU solutions that would be optimal for small form factors but the lack of hardware and absence of media coverage perpetuates a fallacy that Intel provides the best solution for all computer needs.

    I, for one, will not be supporting Asus since ASRock and MSI continue to provide a much more balanced solutions on both platforms.
    Reply