Skip to main content

Asus announces new ROG monitors and a desktop designed for VR

Launched in 2006, Asus’ Republic of Gamers range has since established itself as one of the premier brands targeted at the PC gaming enthusiast. This week, the company is using CES 2016 as a platform to showcase some of the products set to release over the course of the line’s tenth anniversary year.

Headlining the announcement is the ROG GT51 gaming desktop, the winner of a 2016 CES Innovation Award in the hotly contested Gaming and Virtual Reality category. The rig boasts a sixth generation Intel i7-6700K processor that’s complemented by one or two Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X cards in SLI.

A high-spec internal cooling system has been designed to ensure that the GT51 won’t overheat, even during particularly mammoth gameplay marathons. The system also features a USB 3.1 Type-C port on its front panel, as well as an eye-catching ATX chassis with custom lighting effects.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Given that this is a desktop aimed squarely at video game enthusiasts, Asus has made sure that it offers plenty of overclocking options for users chasing optimum performance. ROG Turbo Gear makes it possible to overclock the system with just one click, while the ROG Band offers access to powerful functionality including Shadow Drive.

Asus ROG XG2 external docking station
Asus ROG XG2 external docking station Image used with permission by copyright holder

Asus is also fielding a new selection of monitors, extending its MG Series. The company plans to release a 24-inch and a 28-inch display as part of the range, both of which will boast a 4K UHD 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, and access to functionality like GameVisual picture profiles and Ultra-Low Blue Light Filter technology.

The 24-inch model is being sold on its IPS panel, which Asus describes as having ‘outstanding’ color fidelity in addition to wide viewing angles. Meanwhile, the 28-inch display counteracts ghosting and motion blur with an impressive one millisecond response time.

Finally, the ROG XG Station 2 looks to allow notebook gamers to supplement their portable play with a desktop-standard graphics card. Users simply need to insert a compatible card into the dock and plug it into their laptop to enjoy noticeably improved performance in the latest video games — and the XG Station 2 even charges your laptop while it’s in use.

More information on the wide array of ROG products announced at CES 2016 is available from the official Asus website.

Brad Jones
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…
The Asus ROG Ally just got a game-changing update
Asus ROG Ally handhelds side by side.

Asus' ROG Ally is one of the best handheld gaming PCs you can buy, and now it's getting even better. Asus is updating the handheld with AMD's Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF). This is a driver-level feature that adds frame generation to the majority of DirectX 11 and 12 games, which should vastly improve performance.

We've seen AFMF in action on AMD graphics cards previously. The feature launched late last year for desktop and mobile AMD graphics cards, but the ROG Ally oddly didn't support the feature. Asus' handheld uses the Ryzen Z1 chipset, which includes both an AMD processor and graphics card, but it uses its own specialized driver. Because of that, it didn't receive AFMF support right away.

Read more
This new VR headset beats the Vision Pro in one key way and is half the price
Pimax Crystal Super and Light VR headsets appear on a dark background.

While the Apple Vision Pro offers ultra-high-resolution displays with 23 million pixels, the staggering $3,500 price might inspire you to look for Vision Pro alternatives.

Good news: Pimax just announced two new VR headsets, including a budget model that costs as low as $799 and a more advanced version starting at $1,799. Both are based on the design of one of the best VR headsets currently available -- the Pimax Crystal that launched in May 2023 for $1,599 -- but come with a serious upgrade in terms of resolution.
Pimax Crystal Super

Read more
Asus’ forgotten ROG Ally is now totally worth the money
Starfield running on the Asus ROG Ally.

Asus' ROG Ally Z1 wasn't very good when it released. As you can read in our ROG Ally Z1 review, the handheld was way too expensive to justify at its $600 launch price, with the much faster Z1 Extreme model coming in for only $100 more. That's changing with a big price drop.

Best Buy currently has the , and although it's technically on sale, it's hard to imagine the price will go back up any time soon. The Z1 Extreme model, for example, has been available for around $100 less than its $700 list price for weeks, following the announcement of the Steam Deck OLED.

Read more