Computex 2016 – ASUS Announces ROG Avalon DIY PC, New Motherboards, Desktops & Laptops

At the annual Taiwan event, Computex opens up its doors for a world of new products. To begin with, we take a look through ASUS’ latest creations that will find their way into the market over the next year – and there are quite a few cool new concept pieces, too.

While we weren’t able to attend Computex this year, something we’re most saddened by, it doesn’t mean we can’t report on what’s going on. As we are barraged by press releases, ASUS announced a rather intriguing concept piece as part of its Republic of Gamers branding, with the ROG Avalon DIY PC.

ROG Avalon

ROG Avalon is a break away from the standard ATX form factor, in an attempt at integrating the chassis and motherboard as a single unit. Rather than simply plugging components into a motherboard, it has dedicated positions within the chassis. This is meant to remove the need for obtrusive cabling, while keeping the components easy to access. The rear panel is also meant to be modular, so that you only provide the connectivity you need, rather than a blanket of ports, when you only need two.

At this time, ROG Avalon is a concept piece with few other details at this time, but it highlights a different take on PCs. It does introduce certain limitations that might put off builders; namely, you can’t upgrade the motherboard since it is the chassis. However, this may not be the case if the motherboard is modularized in such a way as to allow the core module (CPU, RAM and Chipset) to be replaced, with the PCIe connectivity and power infrastructure built into the chassis. We’ll be keeping an eye on this concept as it develops.

ROG Rampage V Edition 10

An X99 based motherboard for Intel Extreme Edition and high-end CPUs that use the LGA2011 socket, the Rampage V Edition 10 is a 10th anniversary celebration motherboard for ASUS’ ROG brand. With more lights, bells and whistles than you can possibly fit on a board, the Rampage V will be turning heads in more ways than one.

With onboard lighting controllers that can be programmed from the new Aura software, there’s a fair amount of bling available – it kind of feels like the 90s all over again, but with more LED and less Cathode. There are headers on the board that will work with a variety of third-party lighting strips as well; because you can never have enough light. On the less extravagant side, there is the usual array of premium overclocking hardware, such as the programmable voltage regulators, power stability and frequency selectors.

An assortment of premium connectivity is included, too. SupremeFX Hi-Fi audio, dual Intel Gigabit Ethernet with GameFirst – low latency QoS software for games. The I/O shield also got an overhaul, so it’s not that flimsy metal sheet that bends and pops out unexpectedly. On board there are U.2 and M.2 slots for storage, as well as headers for USB 3.1 and 3×3 WiFi.

Desktops and Laptops

The externally water-cooled GX700 has a new bigger brother, in the form of the GX800. These brutes are not exactly portable, but they should be suitable for a LAN PC. The updated model now comes with overclockable K-Series Intel CPUs, and NVIDIA SLI GPUs. For that kind of heat, the external water dock is pretty much required, so the GX800 is going to be on the pricey side. The keyboard makes use of RGB backlit MechTag switches, or Mechanical Tactile Advanced Gaming. Whether these switches are truly mechanical is another matter.

The miniature desktop Tower, the ROG G31 Edition 10, is another 10th-anniversary special, that comes with optional GeForce GTX 1080s in SLI, and one-button overclocking. To keep the thing cool is 3D vapor-chamber cooling and a selection of discrete fans, also keeping the G31 quiet, too. It looks very similar to the external GPU dock, the ROG XG, that we saw at CES.

ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 1936MHz-Overclocked

While the GTX 1080 has only just come out (check out our review here, and overclock guide here), third-parties are already at work on overclocked variants of NVIDIA’s latest GPU. ASUS’ ROG Strix GTX 1080 has an overclock of 1936MHz right out the gate, but doesn’t state if this is the base-clock (which would be impressive) or the turbo clock (slightly less impressive). However, these cards are not about just the overclock, but the coolers they come with as well. The new GTX 1080 Strix makes use of a three-fan design, so it’s going to be on the long side, but will keep the GPU up to 30% cooler over the reference design (or is that Founders design now?). It also features Aura supported LED lighting, such as that used by the Rampage V board listed above.

For those on the lookout for a new 24″ monitor as well, ASUS has something a little different in the works, the Swift PG248Q which features not only NVIDIA’s G-SYNC technology for smoother animation at lower frame rates, but the monitor can be overclocked to a rather extreme 180Hz refresh rate. Not much else is known at the moment, but it’s probably safe to say that it has a base refresh rate of 144Hz, so it’ll be seriously expensive.

That wraps up some of ASUS’ press release for Computex so far, but there is likely more on the way, so stay tuned.