Let your ideas be heard - Project Dream Machine by ASUS ROG

[ChasBurkhart]

I add my vote for a display on the (visible) top GPU card edge. Not just another common "GTX GeForce" or "Republic of Gamers" badge with limited LED effects, but some kind of fully user-configurable (RGB, backlight) display - show GTX/ROG logos, or a GPU hardware monitor (clocks, temps, load, etc), or scrolling messages, or any user-customized image which fits pixel limits. Control ROG GPU card functions through ROG_EXT interface, perhaps?
It may seem like fixation on trivial details - but these big glowy GPU badges are the most immediately obvious things people notice when they look through your window - and everybody already knows it's GTX and it's ROG, lol, we want to replace this advertising space with our own custom/theme bling.


USB ports on monitor base. USB ports on side/rear of keyboard.
Plugging in USB headset or USB flash stick or USB sync cable shouldn't involve blindly fumbling around behind the monitor (or PC chassis). Users need a few easy-to-see easy-to-reach USB ports front and center for maximum USB convenience. ASUS could even sell ROG-branded USB hubs which designed to attach to ROG-branded monitor stands, lol.

We are in the age of RGB LEDs. No more fixed red/green/blue/orange/yellow/white LEDs. Who wants to pick (or discard) accessories based on whatever specific LED colour happens to best fit their overall theme, or spend hours modding stupid LEDs to have a matched theme? Anything and everything which has LEDs should be all RGB all the time, without exception.

ROG keycaps would be awesome! Replacing WASD (or whatever) keys to different colours has been a gaming tradition for years. People even sell game-themed keycap packs. Metal (or at least metal-looking) keycaps have always been the ultimate keyboard enthusiast bling. If nothing else, replacing that obnoxious Windows logo with a backlit red ROG logo would be utterly epic.
And the best part is that anyone can own their keyboard and add a lot of personal customization without being intimidated by serious hardware details. I'm certain ROG keycaps would sell.

I'm a bit of a gamer and a lot of a typist. The "within reach" thumb macro keys (below the spacebar) on ROG Strix keyboards are a truly brilliant innovation. I'd like to see more of them (and fewer space-wasting "wrist rests") on upcoming ROG keyboards.

I've noticed most ROG products have (RGB) LED controls, hardware monitor/status displays, etc, but each ROG product is designed as a stand-alone thing with minimum impact on (non-ROG) compatility - and each ROG product relies heavily on software to deliver features/controls to the user.
We don't want more software, more standalone apps or "intelligent" software suites, more driver issues, more bloat, more running processes. We want hardware which does its job and which maximizes performance (while also looking epic, lol).
ROG gear could be designed in a more intercompatible and modular (and, alas, proprietary) fashion. Call it a "ROG bus" if you like, make real use of the ROG_EXT port, integrate things with a sort of "embedded-platform" approach. The OC panel and the GPU card and the mobo RGB should all work in synergy instead of in isolation. More stuff running in component hardware/firmware, less stuff running in BIOS/Windows. Enthusiasts could still retain fine control, beginners could still gain simple/automated overclocks, but the ROG stuff would work even better than it does now (at least when combined with other ROG stuff, but ASUS doesn't need to make any special efforts which enhance non-ASUS products, lol).

Thanks for the support I would have to agree and your ideas are spot on as well Give the Users full control on a hardware level not just software

[seanay00]

Ok so ive had a long think about what ROG doesnt have in the market currently so here are my thoughts...

SSD's!!!!!
-So the RAIDR looked amazing but the performance just wasnt there for the price point, it still didnt stop me from buying one but for others it couldnt really be justified. It's been 4 years since we've seen a PCI-e SSD and i think that time is now! There should be a high end PCI-e nvme SSD from ROG as a standalone product. Another PCI-e SSD that could be done is one the accepts 2x M.2 NVME SSD's in a custom ROG heatsink similar how the XG station is for GPU's do the same thing for M.2. If it looks as pretty as the RAIDR then it'll definitely sell.

ROG BAY RES COMBO.
- Given the fact there are such products like the ARES 3 and the Maximus IX Formula, ROG products with factory waterblocks it would be nice to an ROG bay res to make watercooling super easy if you are buying one of these type products and arent quite setup for a full custom loop. SO it would be a Bay Res combo with a DDC pump, fan control, pump control and maybe one push overclocking that is dailed into system software. And because cases are coming out with maybe only 1 5.25in bay the unit would have to be 1x 5.25in bay high.

ROG Keyboards.
- I was lucky enough to get my hands on a GK2000 Horus last week and it made me think that ROG need to produce more keyboards. The claymore and the GK2000 are amazing products and more keyboards would definitely be welcomed in the gaming community.

ROG CASES
- Now i know ROG do awesome pre built system using amazing ROG cases. These cases should be available for purchase! Not just ROG certified cases but all out ROG cases in all sizes, with some even including the ROG bay res i spoke about earlier. Thus making water cooling a very easy thing to do.

MORE ROG motherboard diversity!
- So the crosshair VI released a couple months ago and i know ASUS are playing it safe releasing the 1 board so see how it went, i think we can all agree it went well. I am hoping that ROG will release a Crosshair VI impact, gene, formula and extreme as the community is screaming out for more AM4 options.
- Also on ROG motherboards, give us more options with regards to PCI-e lanes! Bring back the PLX chip, 4 way benching is what ROG did best and now it has all but gone. Despite it giving a little bit of latency the option to go back to 3 or 4 way benching will be very appealing to alot of overclockers/enthusiasts. I know nvidia stopped their 3 and 4 support but dont forget there are 2 companies that produce GPU's not just one. Give us the option to go all out in overclocking on any extreme motherboard because thats what the extreme was designed for. The APEX was a great step forward in going back to the ROG roots and giving us 4 way benching again would be another great step forward.

Those are my thoughts for now i will update as i write a few more things down that have been rattling around in my head for quite some time

[Raja@ASUS]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Sean. We're working with the water cooling vendors - where it's feasible for us to do so. One of the caveats is that the water cooling vendors aren't setup for embedding electronics into their gear, which does limit what we can do with them. Then there's the tooling costs of asking for something unique. The knock-on costs are rather high, and often, there are significant delays for launch. For designs that are strictly mechanical, its really a matter of keeping costs and performance within expectations, plus time to market.

[ephuber35]

Hello all, first off it's great you're doing this!

Below are a couple of things that I'd like to see in general from Asus

NEW PRODUCT IDEAS:
1. ROG Remote. This would be a hardware way to modify/turn on-off Aura features. right now a lot of tweaking is done through softare but if there was a ROG remote that you could physically use to change things like fan speed, light color, light intensity


GPUs:
1. For those of us that are enthusiast liquid coolers, we would like cards who's warranties are not voided by placing a GPU water cooler on them.
2. Someone already mentioned it but I'll second it, We'd liket to see full cover GPU blocks. The Poseidon card is great but we'd like a full watercooled card.
3. Along the lines of overclocking GPU's, GPU overclocking has been limited to software overclocks at this time. What about the possibility of working with GPU vendors to integrate firmware overclocking on a UEFI BIOS like that of an Intel or AMD platform?
4. Going along with the above, Asus AI Suite has the ability to auto overclock your CPU. How about the ability to auto overclock your GPU at a firmware level? There are a lot of people out there who want to OC but aren't comfortable with manual overclocks. If you could implement a GPU Auto OC function then that would help a lot of users I'm sure.
5. Would like to see GPUs with multi bios functionality. Enthusiast and standard. Enthusias would allow higher power delivery and more tweaking options.

MOTHERBOARDS:
1. Most motherboards nowadays have on-board LED indicator lights for problem codes or CPU temperature readouts. I'd like to see the next evolution of this turn into an on-board LCD display which can display data such as CPU and GPU Temps as well as fan speed.



CASES:
1. Part of this will fall into the LED section below, but I'd like to see Asus work with vendors on their Aura initiative in cases. Internal case lighting is key and a lot of companies are introducing their own RGB strips. However, we aren't seeing a lot of diffused light. I think it'd be great to work with case manufactors to produce embedded LED strips into a case that are diffused. Or offer Aura capable diffused LED's.


LEDs:
1. As the RGB LED's continue to evolve, I'd like to see more support for 5 pin hybrid LED strips such as the cablemod hybrid strips.
2. Diffusion a lot of the time makes RGB's so much better as you know because you diffuse your RGB's on your components already. What about developing a product like an RGB diffuser? Or, develop diffused RGB LED strips of your own.


FANS:
1. I know Aura SDK was just announced and you are partnering with vendors to implement but how about Asus developing their own case/radiator fans that were RGB controlled through Aura.


SOFTWARE:
1. It's a small detail but everything is RGB now, what about being able to choose the color theme of the actual AI Suite Program?


I'm sure I'll think of more but this is a start thanks again guys!

[solinear]

Over the past five years I've purchased 4 ROG laptops. I made the mistake once of getting an Alienware laptop, which turned into a RMA nightmare (5 times before I gave up and left it on a shelf, broken again) and I don't plan on going anywhere else any time soon.

What I want from a laptop is very close to my g752VY, with a few exceptions:

1) top of the line processor (7820 is what I have right now and I'm ok with that)
2) Top of the line graphics (1070 is what I have now and again, ok with that)
3) Blu-Ray (this came with a DVD, so I took the Blu-Ray out of my old g752)
4) 64 GB of RAM. I'm a computer guy and run VMs for test lab work, so large amounts of RAM are necessary. My g752VY had to be upgraded from 16GB.
5) Another video port. HDMI plus DV is great, but I'd rather have another DV or HDMI port, if possible.
6) 17.3" OLED screen - 1080p or 4k is fine, but having an OLED screen is HUGE to me. I would happily burn $5k to replace this computer next week.
7) 2TB SSD (2x 1TB SSD is fine)
8) 2TB HDD (yep, I want lots of space and some of it being slower is fine)

I have 14 computers in my house that are all personal use. Only two are desktops (Streaming PC and Media PC), the rest are all laptops, so I'm very much a "Desktop replacement" advocate and outside of a few purposes, I don't see a reason to get anything else. Disregarding the whole "Make it thin and sexy" thing that every maker out there is doing is the reason why ASUS is destroying all the other gaming laptop makers. I am ok with a large laptop, as long as it fits into my laptop bag. When gaming, I want to destroy my opponent and I don't want to lug around some asinine external video card box to do it (thanks Alienware and Razer).

No compromises gaming and computing power. That's what ASUS gives me with a ROG laptop. So please, partner with LG or whoever and get some 17.3" OLED screens.

[Raja@ASUS]

Thanks for the ideas. Keep em flowing!!

[Bahz]

Over the past five years I've purchased 4 ROG laptops. I made the mistake once of getting an Alienware laptop, which turned into a RMA nightmare (5 times before I gave up and left it on a shelf, broken again) and I don't plan on going anywhere else any time soon.

What I want from a laptop is very close to my g752VY, with a few exceptions:

1) top of the line processor (7820 is what I have right now and I'm ok with that)
2) Top of the line graphics (1070 is what I have now and again, ok with that)
3) Blu-Ray (this came with a DVD, so I took the Blu-Ray out of my old g752)
4) 64 GB of RAM. I'm a computer guy and run VMs for test lab work, so large amounts of RAM are necessary. My g752VY had to be upgraded from 16GB.
5) Another video port. HDMI plus DV is great, but I'd rather have another DV or HDMI port, if possible.
6) 17.3" OLED screen - 1080p or 4k is fine, but having an OLED screen is HUGE to me. I would happily burn $5k to replace this computer next week.
7) 2TB SSD (2x 1TB SSD is fine)
8) 2TB HDD (yep, I want lots of space and some of it being slower is fine)

I have 14 computers in my house that are all personal use. Only two are desktops (Streaming PC and Media PC), the rest are all laptops, so I'm very much a "Desktop replacement" advocate and outside of a few purposes, I don't see a reason to get anything else. Disregarding the whole "Make it thin and sexy" thing that every maker out there is doing is the reason why ASUS is destroying all the other gaming laptop makers. I am ok with a large laptop, as long as it fits into my laptop bag. When gaming, I want to destroy my opponent and I don't want to lug around some asinine external video card box to do it (thanks Alienware and Razer).

No compromises gaming and computing power. That's what ASUS gives me with a ROG laptop. So please, partner with LG or whoever and get some 17.3" OLED screens.

I'm just curious, what would be the maximum weight and thickness of the laptop you would be willing to accept with all of the specs mentioned above?

[Korth]

Some of the competition <ahem, MSI and EVGA> sometimes sells mobos and GPU cards in red, yellow, green, blue, black, etc - you specify which colour(s) theme you prefer, even though it sometimes costs a little more.

ROG always comes in blood red and black. I realize that the specific style and (colour) theme is part of ROG branding. Immediately recognized as ROG. Exclusively available from ROG. Proud to be ROG.

But many people want pure black on black. Some people want gold on black, Tron green on black, whatever. And they want it on a specific product (motherboard model, GPU card model, etc) - they've already chosen that product after much careful thought/impulse/budgeting and they don't really want to buy the "Black Edition" product instead simply because it clashes less with the build theme they'd prefer. So many times I have seen ROG customers woefully lament the fact that their *perfect* ROG motherboard has the "wrong" colour(s).

If there's a customer demand for more variety - and apparently some willingness to pay more to get it - then why not sell it? I'm sure a "blue" ROG product would still be instantly recognized as a ROG product - if/when there is product ambiguity, gamers will make the effort to learn exact brand whenever they're impressed by the style/spec/performance.

I do understand (quite well!) the challenges inherent in manufacturing and distributing/shipping different flavours of each product. But the internet can magically deploy items to peoples' homes (or to their local hardware vendors), it's really not that hard to do anymore.

...

And perhaps also learn a lesson from Corsair's marketing. Each time you buy a major Corsair product (complete chassis, costly PSU, RAM kit, etc) you get a few coupons in the box which are redeemable for a few dollars or a few percent off other (but related) Corsair products (like chassis fans, PSU dust-filters, RAM coolers, etc). Lose a few dollars on the accessory item sale instead of losing the entire sale to a competitor.

Some customers are brand purists: all ROG all the way, they want to proudly display every logo and sticker and badge they can get. More ROG = more brag and swag.

Other customers are brand users: ROG is trusted for being the "best" and for pushing maximum performances ... but other brands are compelling, too, and whichever items appear "better" (and/or cheaper) will win out over ROG as often as not.
Gotta be proactive and gotta offer bribes - because that's what the competition is doing. Some gamers upgrade whole platforms every season, but most gamers only buy new mobo or PSU or GPU parts every few years and some of these get hooked away from ROG by things like coupons.

[Skunk]

I will chip in with my thoughts from a small form factor perspective, as that has been growing in popularity lately and something I know quite well.

System:

- Raja, we talked about this some at CES when we met. I'd like to see PIO-style motherboard with the PCI-e slot at a right angle on the opposite side of the motherboard. This would eliminate the need for a PCI-e extension (short ones go for $35-40 and longer high-quality ones, like 3M, go for $80) and orient the video card cooler in the same direction at the CPU cooler. This allows the orientation of the computer to be laid down without a need for ventilation on the bottom. I have plenty more ideas for how this design could be made to be extremely flexible to suit a variety of video cards, storage, and cooling components in very efficient packaging. A pre-built or barebones kit offers a path to market for this style, and I'm sure if the motherboard is standard for a PIO, there will be cases designed and made for it.

- Another option would be to join the Micro-STX bandwagon that ASRock is pushing and has the SFF community excited...albeit a reserved excitement. The reservation is because the MXM video cards are VERY expensive right now, as there is no real commercial market for them. However, were ASUS jump in with ASRock, that could very well increase demand volumes to where MXM cards are comparable to AIB's. There are already custom cases being made for the limited quantities of ASRock boards.

Components:

- Aftermarket Poseidon cooler (especially for Dual-GPU). More people want to shove more powerful components into smaller cases. Managing thermals in small form factor is difficult, hybrid air/water coolers definitely can help there, increasing the thermal dissipation area. Other vendors have offered aftermarket coolers for cards like the Titan in the past; no reason I see why ASUS couldn't do the same with a hybrid air/water cooler that would be a unique offering.

Side rant - Just please be mindful of the size of the cooler (this goes for all GPU coolers in general)...ASUS is good about recessing the PEG's, but the area over the CPU and memory could also be cut down to allow for lower profile to recess the terminal for the G1/4" fittings. The thickness is also getting a bit excessive...competitors are able to out-cool the monster Strix without needing to go beyond 2 slots width. The length needs to be cut down...in a review, the cooling capacity of a competitors 1080 Mini was more than adequate and could potentially cool a 1080 Ti, even.

- Impact boards...for X370 and Z370 chipsets. Just do the I/O correctly:
- Z370 - Thunderbolt as well as U.2 for Optane
- X370 - expose the SATA Express PCI-e lanes as a x4 PCI-e 3.0 M.2 (M-Key) for a second M.2 storage device at full speed
- Ethernet - something like Tehuti Networks TN4010 MAC + Intel X557-AT PHY for a power efficient and cost effective 100/1000/10G interface
- USB 2.0 header - lots of devices still use this and nobody has made an internal USB 3.0 hub (maybe ASUS making an internal USB 3.0 hub could mitigate this...the silicon is already availble with the external units)
- TPM - many people go with SFF for portability reasons; therefore security should be higher priority and TPM can help with that
- Apex-style voltage regulation components with high-quality 8-phase (high phase switching frequency) for the CPU
- Expose all USB ports through back I/O and headers
- Minimum 8 10K thermal probe headers (can be through expansion card)...if you're implementing a feature, as you have in the past, let it be able to be used to handle everything

[Bahz]

Some of the competition <ahem, MSI and EVGA> sometimes sells mobos and GPU cards in red, yellow, green, blue, black, etc - you specify which colour(s) theme you prefer, even though it sometimes costs a little more.

ROG always comes in blood red and black. I realize that the specific style and (colour) theme is part of ROG branding. Immediately recognized as ROG. Exclusively available from ROG. Proud to be ROG.

But many people want pure black on black. Some people want gold on black, Tron green on black, whatever. And they want it on a specific product (motherboard model, GPU card model, etc) - they've already chosen that product after much careful thought/impulse/budgeting and they don't really want to buy the "Black Edition" product instead simply because it clashes less with the build theme they'd prefer. So many times I have seen ROG customers woefully lament the fact that their *perfect* ROG motherboard has the "wrong" colour(s).

If there's a customer demand for more variety - and apparently some willingness to pay more to get it - then why not sell it? I'm sure a "blue" ROG product would still be instantly recognized as a ROG product - if/when there is product ambiguity, gamers will make the effort to learn exact brand whenever they're impressed by the style/spec/performance.

I do understand (quite well!) the challenges inherent in manufacturing and distributing/shipping different flavours of each product. But the internet can magically deploy items to peoples' homes (or to their local hardware vendors), it's really not that hard to do anymore.

...

And perhaps also learn a lesson from Corsair's marketing. Each time you buy a major Corsair product (complete chassis, costly PSU, RAM kit, etc) you get a few coupons in the box which are redeemable for a few dollars or a few percent off other (but related) Corsair products (like chassis fans, PSU dust-filters, RAM coolers, etc). Lose a few dollars on the accessory item sale instead of losing the entire sale to a competitor.

Some customers are brand purists: all ROG all the way, they want to proudly display every logo and sticker and badge they can get. More ROG = more brag and swag.

Other customers are brand users: ROG is trusted for being the "best" and for pushing maximum performances ... but other brands are compelling, too, and whichever items appear "better" (and/or cheaper) will win out over ROG as often as not.
Gotta be proactive and gotta offer bribes - because that's what the competition is doing. Some gamers upgrade whole platforms every season, but most gamers only buy new mobo or PSU or GPU parts every few years and some of these get hooked away from ROG by things like coupons.

This is some excellent feedback, thanks for sharing your thoughts. We'll definitely share this with our product teams.