Alleged Intel Core i9-12900 Appears With ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme Motherboard

We more or less know what the specifications of Intel’s upcoming 12th generation Alder Lake Core i9-12900K are, but little is still known about the processor’s non-K variant, the 12900. That is, until now.

According to Videocardz, evidence of the 12900’s existence made its way online due to what it says was the carelessness of an engineer at the ASUS HQ. Details of the 12900 sprung up on the UserBenchmark site, along with information of the other components it was tested with, chief among them being an ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme motherboard. That, and a single stick of Crucial 16GB DDR5 RAM, clocked in at 4800MHz.

Changes between the 12900K and 12900 are minimal, the main differences being that the non-K variant of Intel’s top-of-the-line Alder Lake CPU isn’t overclockable. To that end, the CPU’s base and boost clock is locked at 2.4GHz and 4.25GHz, respectively. As for its core count, it also retains the same hybrid 16-cores, 24-threads configuration.

Performance-wise, the 12900 scored 114% in the UserBenchmark test, along with a 214 single-core score and 2510 points in the multi-core segment.

On another note, an image of the 12900KF has also leaked, showing both its front and grid array. Again, it shares nearly identical specifications as the 12900K, save for the lack of an integrated Xe graphics core.

Intel is expected to launch its 12th generation Alder Lake lineup sometime next month but did not specify an exact date. However, a recent posting by MSI suggests that that date is set for 4 November.

ASUS Announces ROG Strix Arion S500 Portable NVMe SSD

ASUS officially announced the ROG Strix Arion S500, the brand’s latest USB-C portable NVMe SSD. The product is the brand’s latest accessory, giving consumer yet another ultra-fast storage option.

Specs-wise, the Strix Arion S500 uses a USB-C 3.2 Gen2 port, capable of maintaining sequential transfer speeds of up to 1050MB/s, while the provided storage is an NVMe Gen3 M.2 SSD, with a capacity of 500GB. Further, the SSD itself uses a Phison controller.

Of course, one of the main selling points of the Arion S500 is its weight: unlike the conventional HDD, this portable storage is made from an aluminium alloy. On top of that, the cover also doubles as a heatsink for the SSD, complete with thermal pads for more efficient heat dissipation.

At the time of writing, ASUS did not specify when the ROG Strix Arion S500 will be available. However, the SSD is already up for pre-order on the brand’s official Lazada and Shopee store pages. Price-wise, the SRP is set at RM559.

ASUS Launches ROG Zephyrus M16 Laptop With Intel 11th Gen CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series GPU

ASUS officially revealed its latest ROG Zephyrus laptop lineup recently, which includes both new and refreshed models. Among the latest additions, one gaming laptop that stood out is a redesigned ROG Zephyrus M16.

Cutting to the chase, one of the highlights of the new M16 is its larger screen-to-body ratio display that measures 16-inches, and is crammed into a 15.6-inch body. Moreover, it offers a four-sided, narrow bezel panel that in turn provides a display ratio of 16:10. Adding on to that, the display has a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, plus a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz and 3ms GTG response time. Oh, it’s also Pantone Validated and has a maximum brightness level of 500 nits.

On a side note, the M16’s display also sports a super-slim 2MP webcam, which is nothing short of a feat, given how limited space already is on the panel.

Underneath the hood, the M16 is fitted with the latest 8-core Intel 11th generation Core i9-11900H CPU, a choice between an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or RTX 3070, up to 32GB DDR4 RAM, and up to 2TB of NVMe Gen4 storage. Powering it all up is a massive 90WHr, 4-cell battery.

As for heat dissipation, both the CPU and GPU are connected by six heat pipes, which are cooled by Arcflow fans. Each equipped with 84 blades and feature ASUS’ self-cleaning Anti-Dust 2.0 system. Last but not least, despite all that hardware, ASUS has managed to keep the weight of the laptop under 2kg. Specifically, it weighs in at 1.9kg.

As for how much the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 costs, the brand has yet to specify that detail. However, ASUS will be releasing two SKUs of it, one at the end of June, while the higher-tier SKU will be made available at the end of July.

ASUS ROG Swift PG32UQX To Launch In May; Will Retail For US$3000

ASUS recently announced that its upcoming ROG Swift PG32UQX gaming monitor will be available for purchase starting from next month. The monitor is technically a follow-up to the PG27UQ, the primary difference between the two is its size and its new panel.

Specs-wise, the PG32UQX is a 32-inch 4K display, but more importantly, it is ASUS’ first gaming monitor to be fitted with a Mini LED IPS panel. On top of that, the display also retains the 144Hz refresh rate and NVIDIA G-SYNC Ultimate anti-screen tearing technology, as well as the Quantum Dot technology that was introduced with the PG27UQ.

There are obviously other aesthetic changes with the PG32UQX. For starters, the display has a higher peak brightness of 1400 nits, along with DisplayHDR 1400 certification. On top of that, it also sports significantly thinner bezels on the sides and top of the panel. As for the stand, the monitor still employs ASUS’ twisted 3-leg stand, complete with an LED projection of the ROG logo.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG32UQX will retail at US$3000 (~RM12308). At the time of writing, ASUS did not specify local availability or pricing.

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Succumbs To JerryRigEverything Bend Test

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 packs a lot of powerful components on the inside. But it may be a phone that you’d want to handle with care. Because as JerryRigEverything points out in a new durability test video, it bends relatively easily under pressure.

The durability test starts off well enough, with the glass over the display only scratching at Mohs level six hardness. That’s about the expected kind of performance from the new Gorilla Glass Victus. But things start going south for the ASUS ROG Phone 5 from there.

As the process continues to the bend test, we see the antenna line being a weak point that gives way to the bending. For some reason, this causes the vibration motor to malfunction. Another bend killed the display, even when the Gorilla Glass Victus remains intact.

Flipping the ASUS ROG Phone 5 to the back, another bend sees the side USB-C port serve as another weak point. This bend shatters the glass back, showing the discrepancy in durability between the front and back glass. While phone makers usually don’t disclose what sort of glass they use at the back, unlike with what covers the display, in this case it’s probably not the Gorilla Glass Victus, judging from the way it shatters.

Of course, no phone is expected to endure that kind of force under normal use scenarios. But as the ROG Phone 5 is a gaming phone, the chances of it happening are higher. After all, emotions do run high in certain situations while gaming.

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Pre-Order Coming To Shopee On 19 March

Almost immediately after it was officially unveiled to the world, ASUS has begun accepting pre-orders for its new gaming phone, the ROG Phone 5 in Malaysia ahead of the phone’s release in April. At that time, the pre-order can only be done through physical dealers but that is about to change later this week as gamers will soon be able to pre-order the device via Shopee.

In today’s announcement, ASUS stated that the ROG Phone 5 pre-order on Shopee will take place on 19 March. That being said, the exact starting time mentioned on the listing is 11:59 PM on 18 March, in case you are really eager to book your unit.

Just like the initial early-bird units, gamers that pre-order ROG Phone 5 through Shopee will also receive ROG Kunai Gamepad alongside their new gaming phone. We have confirmed with ASUS Malaysia that the price of the phone for the Shopee pre-order program also remains as RM 2,999 for the 8GB/128GB setup and RM 3,799 for the 16GB/256GB option, despite the inaccurate figures stated on the listing.

ASUS Malaysia’s representative also pointed out that only 400 units will be made available through the pre-order program at Shopee. For those who are wondering about the higher-end ROG Phone 5 Pro and Ultimate models which will only be available in May, unfortunately, the company has no announcement for them at the moment.

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Goes Official: Features 144Hz Display, Snapdragon 888 and Up To 18GB of RAM

ASUS today has officially taken the drape off the latest iteration of its gaming mobile device, the ROG Phone. Despite being the fourth-generation model, the 2021 release is called the ROG Phone 5 likely because number four is considered unlucky in the Chinese culture.

This time around, the ROG Phone 5 can be obtained in three models which can be differentiated through their exterior features as well as memory and internal storage setup. Nevertheless, all three versions still have plenty of components that they share with each other.

Among them is the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor although this time around, ASUS is not using a speed-binned version of the chip for ROG Phone 5. This is simply because the option is not being made available to the company at the moment, according to its response to our query.

To help cool the new Qualcomm’s flagship chip, the ROG Phone 5 is equipped with GameCool 5 solution that apparently features a new layout to help provide higher thermal efficiency according to ASUS. It includes positioning the CPU at the centre of the layout, so that heat can be dispersed evenly throughout the device with the help of a large 3D vapour chamber and a copious amount of graphite sheets.

At the same time, ASUS has also designed a new AeroActive external cooler for ROG Phone 5 that can help shave as much as 10C off its CPU temperature as well as tone down the phone surface temperature by 15C. Additionally, the new cooler also now comes with two customisable buttons that gamers can utilise for their games.

Speaking about game buttons, ASUS continues to equip the ROG Phone 5 with AirTrigger ultrasonic sensors. On the Pro and Ultimate variant of the phone which we are going to discuss a little bit more later in the article, the company has also added another set of touch sensor on their back which generally designed to mimic the L2/R2 trigger buttons on game controllers.

The ROG Phone 5 is also equipped with a 6.78-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display that ASUS has sourced from Samsung. With a refresh rate of up to 144Hz and 300Hz touch sampling rate, the HDR10+ certified display has a peak brightness capability of 1200nits alongside DCI-P33 colour gamut coverage of 111.23%, sub-1 Delta-E rating, and is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

In terms of photography, the ROG Phone 5 Series still features the same camera module from ROG Phone 3 which was also used by ZenFone 7 Pro. It comes with a 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor alongside 13MP ultra-wide and 5MP macro cameras while there is also a 24MP selfie camera on the front side of all ROG Phone 5 Series devices.

ASUS has also retained the front-facing dual speakers for ROG Phone 5 alongside a 3.5mm headphone jack that is being enhanced by an ESS Tech ES9280AC Pro DAC chip. Completing the ROG Phone 5 Series general specifications is a 6000mAh battery that supports a 65W HyperCharge charger which allows the gaming phone to obtain around 73% of its capacity in just 30 minutes.

As mentioned earlier, the ROG Phone 5 Series can be obtained in three different models. Available in Phantom Black and Storm White colourway, the standard variant of the gaming phone features a ROG logo in dotted matrix style with customisable Aura RGB lighting alongside up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 internal storage.

On another hand, the ROG Phone 5 Pro which comes solely in Phantom Black as well as 16GB/512GB configuration is also equipped with a small matrix display called ROG Vision on its back that would output animations during selected system events such as incoming call, X Mode activation, phone charging, and more. Gamers also create up to three custom animations for the display as well.

ASUS will also be releasing the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate that will be available in just Storm White. Similar to the Pro model, it is equipped with 512GB internal storage but with even more memory capacity at 18GB although the company decided to provide this particular model with a monochrome version of the ROG Vision rear display.

As opposed to its predecessor, the new AeroCooler 5 will only be provided as standard for ROG Phone 5 Pro and Ultimate while those who chose to get their hands on the vanilla variant have to purchase it separately. The Ultimate variant will also be accompanied by a ROG Fan Gift Collection boxset that contains a variety of ROG swags such as a cap, face mask, pins, badges, towel, and more.

In terms of pricing, the standard ROG Phone 5 starts at EUR 799 (~RM 3,921) while the ROG Phone 5 Pro and Ultimate will be available for EUR 1,199 (~RM 5,884) and EUR 1,299 (~RM 6,375) respectively. The exact release date for these three models will be different from one market to another but generally, their rollout will begin from this month onwards.

For those who are wondering, yes, ASUS is planning to release the ROG Phone 5 Series in Malaysia very soon. Keep a look at our subsequent report regarding its pricing and release dates shortly. (UPDATE: Here is the pricing for ROG Phone 5 Series in Malaysia!)