Asus OC Station ROG Controller
Introduction
Published: 28th July 2009 | Source: Asus | Price: £110 |
Introduction
Asus are widely known as one of, if not the leading PC component manufacturer for the enthusiast. Recently they have branched out into making there own notebooks so it is nice to see Asus have not forgotten their roots in the less lucrative but no less important enthusiast sector of the market. ROG (Republic of Gamers) is now a well known brand name among the said enthusiasts and is recognised as the pinnacle product of the Asus design team. ROG motherboards are extremely high performing products that cater for the extreme overclocker and thanks to the flexible design, the avid gamer. Sometimes these two paths cross and with gamers wanting more and more power, overclocking has become much more mainstream. Not so long ago, overclocking was a buzz word on the Internet with very few dedicated forums and was treated more of a dark art than a pre-requisite to top end setups.
Fast forward a few years and you will find that overclocking is now widely known among enthusiasts and thanks to the countless improvements to BIOS and support forums, can now be attempted by even the most uneducated of gamers. However, the time it takes to study the dark art and the countless failed attempts when overclocking can sometimes be the downfall of many prospective overclockers. The BIOS, despite countless guides and discussions is still a daunting place to be for the uninitiated. So many people prefer to use software based overclocking utilities. Asus themselves are guilty of providing such products which sometimes work, sometimes not and as anyone who has gone that one step too far while using software based overclocking utilities will tell you, be prepared for corruption and windows repair/re-installs.
Asus have now taken on board feedback from the overclocking communities and have made what appears to be the holy grail of overclocking tools - the OC Station.
Here's what they had to say about this ingenious device:
The Republic of Gamers consists only the best of the best. We offer the best hardware engineering, the fastest performance, the most innovating ideas, and we welcome the best gamers to join in.
In the Republic of Gamers, mercy rules are only for the weak, and bragging rights means everything. We believe in making statements and we excel in competitions. If your character matches our trait, then join the elite club, make your presence felt, in the Republic of Gamers.
The OC Station is a pure hardware-based, bay-mounted device with a large 3-inch display that takes overclocking to a whole new level of ease, accuracy and sophistication. When used in conjunction with ROG motherboards, the strikingly-designed OC Station grants users on-the-fly access to overclocking parameters, ROG-exclusive features, fan speeds, system information and even a photo slide show function.
In the Republic of Gamers, mercy rules are only for the weak, and bragging rights means everything. We believe in making statements and we excel in competitions. If your character matches our trait, then join the elite club, make your presence felt, in the Republic of Gamers.
The OC Station is a pure hardware-based, bay-mounted device with a large 3-inch display that takes overclocking to a whole new level of ease, accuracy and sophistication. When used in conjunction with ROG motherboards, the strikingly-designed OC Station grants users on-the-fly access to overclocking parameters, ROG-exclusive features, fan speeds, system information and even a photo slide show function.
Asus are very excited about this product, as was I when it arrived on my desk. It's been a long time coming and while there are other products on the market that overclock, non are as specific, dedicated or rely on external software sources to run correctly as the OC station.
Let's take a look at the product and see if it lives up to the hype...
Most Recent Comments
Nice review.. dunno if you spotted it or not, but on the 3rd page, 2nd last image.. they've spelled 'launch' wrong 
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.Yeah, some mistakes they and other mfr's make in the BIOS on mobo's are laughable too. Luckily the firmware can be updated so errors like this can be corrected.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='BloomerzUK'
Nice review.. dunno if you spotted it or not, but on the 3rd page, 2nd last image.. they've spelled 'launch' wrong
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OMG ERROR!
Nice review as usual though Rich, it is a bit pricey though, £105 for something that can be done for free?
More rather £105 for convenience.
You've hit the nail on the head there. It's a time saving device(no reboots), something that someone not confident in overclocking can use while following a guide maybe? Worth it to some I guess but the price needs looking at for it to be very popular.
I thought that the ROG stuff came with desktop OC software anyway? Or at minimum the OC Palm is hardly expensive at all and does the same thing.
So do I get a P6 OC Palm for 250, or a Rampage II + OC Station for 360??
So do I get a P6 OC Palm for 250, or a Rampage II + OC Station for 360??
If you deffo want an Asus board then go for the P6T imo. Only go for the deluxe if you want to make use of SAS. No need for the palm if you know what you're doing, nice gadget that it is.
I wonder if they haven't inc the Memory over clocking as there is so many different types of memory they don't what you blowing it and then blaming them.
Its interesting to see this but if you are relay inept user would you buy this. It more of a bling thing like you say but realy most add on ocing apps are as the ground base bios over clocking really is the only option.
This what i more surprised at i have found with memory over clocking windows 7 is much less likely to die on boot than windows xp if its set up correctly. So 1 question is does this peace of equipment work with windows 7 and does it work well.
other wise nice looking and i personally don't think the price is that high considering what it looks like and its really not that bad looking.
Its interesting to see this but if you are relay inept user would you buy this. It more of a bling thing like you say but realy most add on ocing apps are as the ground base bios over clocking really is the only option.
This what i more surprised at i have found with memory over clocking windows 7 is much less likely to die on boot than windows xp if its set up correctly. So 1 question is does this peace of equipment work with windows 7 and does it work well.
other wise nice looking and i personally don't think the price is that high considering what it looks like and its really not that bad looking.
So 1 question is does this peace of equipment work with windows 7 and does it work well.
You can also set the OC station to display your system configuration and as you can see below, the OC station is compatible with Windows 7 64bit using the provided driver.
So I'd take that as a yes
VB
so i presuming you have full retail windows 7 .... before release date. 0_o
He's quoting, but for the record, it is out *cough* there >.<
I am 'evaluating' W7 for MS, (build 7100). I have a legal key - nothing untoward to disclose I'm afraid. I think anyone can download W7 from MS now anyway not just subscribers.
For products like this, future compatability is an absolute must, so I thought it best to test on W7 64bit, even though the OC Station does not officially have a driver for it due to W7 not on official retail release yet but I encountered no issues while using it.
For products like this, future compatability is an absolute must, so I thought it best to test on W7 64bit, even though the OC Station does not officially have a driver for it due to W7 not on official retail release yet but I encountered no issues while using it.
that's good to know.
Cover all avenues esp with the release of the new of OS officially coming out soon ...
Still nice bit of kit bit with the money functions missing but that's no surprise what so ever. Id remove them my self to cover my own ass.
What would be good for the product is the release of the source code or the ability to make you own plug in's so that it can expand its uses even more.
Cover all avenues esp with the release of the new of OS officially coming out soon ...
Still nice bit of kit bit with the money functions missing but that's no surprise what so ever. Id remove them my self to cover my own ass.
What would be good for the product is the release of the source code or the ability to make you own plug in's so that it can expand its uses even more.
CSS Valid
http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/artic...154509442s.jpg
Read on to find out...