Custom Fan Profiles, Mini-ITX, And Working At Asus
Q. I just built a nice Haswell system with your Asus Gryphon z87 motherboard. In the fan profile for the cpu cooler, I notice that it's not as defined as before. If I choose (silent) the cpu fan spins at 414rpms. on (standard) it's at 450rpms. on (turbo) it's at 515-540rpms. On (full) it's 1250rpms. Why is the fan speed not more spread out?
A. These are pretty standard intervals if you want to define your own fan curve you can do that in the manual fan controls within the UEFI or within AiSuite III / Thermal Radar. Additionally ensure you run the full auto tuning fan assessment to ensure your fans have been properly calibrated.
Q. When I set a fan profile for the CPU fan, the assist fan follows suit. I don't want it to. Can't the assist fan be controlled separately? I have tried in the bios but without luck. It won't even let me change the duty cycle of the assist fan. (bios update maybe?) When I tell the assist fan to be off, (fan-off in the profile) and put the CPU fan to full, the assist fan also goes to full. is this a bug? I want the cpu fan to full and the assist fan to stay off. (not un-plugged.)
A. The assist fan is designed to respond to increase in either temperature zone. You can modify these by manual defining ramping policies either in the UEFI or AiSuite III/ Thermal Radar.
Q. You currently have at 11 FM2 motherboards for the US market of which 9 are Micro-ATX FM2 boards. This APU platform screams small form factor yet ASRock is the only one that currently provides ITX boards. Since over 80% of the FM2 boards offered by Asus are currently Micro-ATX, does Asus feel that this APU platform is better served in Micro-ATX instead of ITX form factor?
A. It has to be viable for us to do on many levels, as I said earlier. If we feel the market for it is big enough to justify the R&D we'll do it.
Q. Why Asus isn't concentrating much on the MiniITX form factor? The Haswell provides immense opportunity for a Mini ITX system which is as powerful as an ATX desktop. There are only a few mobos in the category. Moreover only fewer are available in India! I am planning to build a Mini ITX system based on H87 or Z87. Will there be a reasonably priced Mini ITX based on H87 or Z87? If so when will it be available in India? And does Asus plan for an Android tablet with digitizer stylus (7" to 8" screen size)?
A. We are focusing actually quite a bit on mini ITX and have been producing board in this space for years and across multiple chipsets. Additionally we currently offer the most feature rich mini ITX boards on the market with solutions like our Z87-I Deluxe or Maximus VI Impact. In addition we have AMD solutions like our E2KM1-I Deluxe. With this in mind we are currently continuing to monitor the adoption and feedback of the community.
Q. Does the Asus G750 Series come with Nvidia Optimus Technology?
A. The G750 series doesn't come with Optimus technology.
Q. What is the best perk of being an Asus employee?
A. It doesn't feel like work because we're doing what we love doing :) Being able to test new hardware, liaise with design teams etc. It's great!