ASUS has announced that it’s bringing the ROG (Republic of Gamers) Crossblade Ranger, the company’s latest and first AMD FM2+ motherboard, to the Philippines.
The Crossblade Ranger is equipped with a slew of ROG-exclusive features including the company’s Auto Tuning technology which automatically fine tunes your processor’s frequency, ratios, and voltage for the best balance of performance and stability. The Crossblade Range is also compatible with ROG’s Front Base dual-bay gaming panel so users will be able to not only monitor their system’s performance and stability but they’ll also be able to boost their computer’s performance with just one click.
ASUS has also equipped the Crossblade Ranger with the latest version of the company’s gaming audio technology – SupremeFX 2014. SupremeFX 2014 on the Crossblade Ranger includes features like ELNA audio capacitors and eight-channel gold-plated audio outputs as well as technologies like Sonic SenseAmp, Sonic SoundStage, and Sonic Radar II. According to ASUS, Sonic SenseAmp “automatically detects analog-audio front-panel (AAFP) headphone impedance and adjusts the built-in amp accordingly” while Sonic SoundStage applies pre-set audio settings that are optimized for different popular game genres including FPS, racing, combat, and sports games. Lastly, the Sonic Radar II software, which was specifically designed for first-person shooters, gives the user an on-screen overlay which shows the direction and origin of in-game sounds.
To improve network performance for gaming, the Crossblade Ranger is compatible with the company’s ROG-exclusive GameFirst III software which optimizes the motherboard’s built-in Intel Gigabit Ethernet card to prioritize game-data packets. The Crossblade Ranger also features LANGuard technology which improves connection throughput and protects the computer from electrical surges from lightning strikes and static-electricity discharge.
Lastly, the Crossblade Ranger is also equipped with KeyBot which turns any ordinary USB-based keyboard into both a multimedia and gaming keyboard. With KeyBot, users will be able to not only control their media and launch applications but they’ll also be able to create and assign macros to specific keyboard keys.
Pricing & Availability
The ASUS ROG Crossblade Ranger will be sold at an SRP of Php8,990 and will be available at select retailers sometime in mid-September. Additionally, all ASUS ROG Crossblade Ranger motherboards come bundled with a free ROG mouse mat.
ASUS ROG Crossblade Ranger Specifications
Processor/CPU Socket
- AMD FM2+ Socket for AMD A-series / Athlon Series processors
Chipset
- AMD A88X FCH (Bolton-D4)
Memory
- 4 x DIMMs, up to a maximum of 64GB, DDR3 2666 (O.C.)
- Supports AMD Memory Profile (AMP) memory
Expansion Slots
- 2 x PCI Express 3.0*/2.0 x16 slots (red, single x16 or dual x8/x8 mode)
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (black, maximum x4 mode)
- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots
- 2 x PCI slots
*Only FM2+ processors support PCIe 3.0
Graphics (VGA)
- Integrated AMD Radeon R/HD8000/HD7000 Series Graphics in the A-Series APU
- Multi-VGA output support: HDMI/DVI/RGB port
- Supports HDMI with maximum of resolution 4096 x 2160 at 24Hz and 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz
- Supports DVI-D (DVI) with maximum resolution of 2560 x 1600 at 60Hz
- Supports RGB (VGA) with maximum resolution 1920 x 1600 at 60Hz
- Maximum shared memory of 2GB
- Supports AMD Dual Graphics technology
Multi-GPU
- AMD 3-way CrossFireX technology
Storage
- 8 x SATA 6Gbit/s connectors with RAID 0, RAID 1,RAID 5,RAID 10 and JBOD support
Networking/LAN
- Intel Gigabit Ethernet with GameFirst III and ASUS LANGuard
USB
- 6 x USB 3.0 ports (4 on back panel, 2 mid-board)
- 8 x USB 2.0 ports (2 on back panel, 6 mid-board)
Audio
- ROG SupremeFX Formula 2014 8-channel high-definition audio
- SupremeFX shielding technology
- ELNA premium audio capacitors
- Content protection for full-rate lossless playback of DVD Audio, Blu-ray DVD, and HD-DVD audio content
- Jack-detection, multi-streaming, front-panel jack-retasking
- Optical S/PDIF-out port on back panel
Dimensions / Form Factor
- ATX, 12 x 9.6in (30.5 x 24.4cm)