Asus has unveiled a new gaming PC that can be configured as a mammoth powerhouse of a desktop, and which comes with some very smart (and usual) features.
Called the ROG GT51CA, it comes with a wearable ROG Band that uses Near-Field Communication (or NFC). This can provide access to the 'Shadow Drive', a hidden space on the hard drive reserved for data that you want to keep away from prying eyes, with a tap.
The band can also be used to turn on the PC's overclocked mode, providing a burst of power by moving your wrist close to the tower.
Reaching for the Skylake
In terms of specs, Asus is offering the machine with an Intel Core i7-6700K Skylake processor overclocked to 4.6GHz, or you can plump for a slightly lesser Core i5-6600K overclocked to 4.3GHz.
And if you want to go for the maximum in terms of graphics power, it's possible to specify up to twin GeForce GTX Titan X graphics cards (with 12GB of RAM each) in SLI. Or you can simply plump for a single Titan X, a GeForce GTX 970 or GTX 980.
For system RAM there's 16GB of DDR4 2133MHz memory overclocked to 2800MHz on board – and you can have up to 64GB if you wish. In terms of storage Asus is offering a pair of M.2 PCIe 512GB SSDs in RAID 0 (or you can specify a single SSD along with a spinning disk of up to 3TB if you need more space).
Cool as several cucumbers
The GT51CA is cool in every sense as its CPU benefits from a liquid-cooling system, and the case offers various clever tricks on this front.
They include dedicated air channels which draw in air to help further cool the graphics card(s), and the power supply has its own isolated airflow design to help keep internal temperatures down.
Another point of interest is an ESS Sabre headphone DAC and amplifier built into the front audio jack, which offers what Asus claims is 'audiophile-grade sound'.
Both pricing and the date of availability of the Asus GT51CA are still to be confirmed.
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