14 DAY TRIAL // ASUS, like many other companies, sells fully configured systems in addition to individual hardware parts, so it stands to reason that it would have a gaming line of desktops and laptops.
The company usually straps the ROG logo on the products it deems most suited for people who play computer games (ROG is short for Republic of Gamers).
One of the computers to most recently get that brand is the CG8580 desktop PC, based on a third-generation Core CPU from Intel: Core i7-3770K, overclocked to 4.6 GHz.
As one would expect, the GeForce GTX 680 graphics card, NVIDIA's best single-GPU board to date, is paired with it.
The random access memory capacity is nothing to scoff at either. Even though buyers can choose to get less, 16 GB can be installed.
On that note, one doesn't necessarily have to buy the GTX 680 either. The GeForce GTX 560 Ti, or two of them in SLI, can be selected instead.
We're fairly certain that the motherboard holding all of this together is based on the Z77 chipset. There's no way to be sure though. Whether by accident or deliberately, ASUS did not mention its name.
As for storage, four SATA 3 Gbps and four SATA 6 Gbps ports allow for truly massive HDD and/or SSD capacities. Add to that four USB 3.0 ports and eight USB 2.0 and the limits aren't even worth going into.
Other specs are just what people would expect from a high-end gaming machine: Gigabit Ethernet, DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, front-placed card reader, 7.1-channel audio (with optical S/PDIF out) and two 3.5mm audio jacks.
Finally, three PCI Express x16 slots and two PCI Express x1 slots are present, as are a couple of legacy PCI slots, Realtek ALC892 audio codec (or an optional Asus Xonar DX card).
All the hardware is packed within a case that may or may not impress. The price, unfortunately, has not been disclosed, even though sales should already be underway.