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Stormtrooper tower: Asus unveils a gaming desktop under the Strix brand

The Republic of Gamers division at Asus is expanding its family of Strix-branded products once again. The company currently offers laptops, motherboards, graphics cards, and wireless headsets in is Strix portfolio and recently added a monitor, microphone, and gaming mouse. Now, Asus is cramming a powerful gaming desktop into that list in the form of the ROG Strix GD30 packing seventh-generation Intel Core processors and Nvidia GeForce graphics.

Let’s get to the meat of the hardware first:

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Operating system: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5-7400
Intel Core i7-7700
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 2GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 8GB
Memory: Up to 32GB DDR4
Storage: Up to 3TB 7,200 RPM SATA 3 HDD
Up to 512GB SATA 3 SSD
Up to 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD
Up to 512GB SATA 3 M.2 SSD
Optical storage: DVD-ROM drive
DVD-RW drive
Audio: Sonic Studio III HD 7.1 Channel sound
Connectivity: Wireless AC
Bluetooth 4.1
Ports (front): 2x USB 2.0
2x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A
1x Microphone jack
1x Headphone jack
1x 6-in-1 SD card reader
Ports (back): 2x USB 2.0
4x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A
1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C
1x Ethernet
1x 7.1 channel audio
Up to 2x HDMI (depends on GPU)
1x DVI port
Up to 2x DisplayPort (depends on GPU)
Dimensions: 9.055 x 21.65 x 21.25 inches
Weight: 37.47 pounds

As the specs show, this is no small form factor machine you can easily lug across town. It’s a gaming beast living up to the ROG Strix name that sits like a beautiful, futuristic tower on a desktop or flat surface next to the living room’s HDTV. The two Storm Trooper-style front panels are removable as well, enabling owners to rearrange these panels to create six different visual styles. There is also a matching white LED strip stretching horizontally between the upper and lower panels to indicate that the PC is running.

“Transparent side panels that show off the tech inside are now ubiquitous, but the GD30 adds an iron screen with a honeycomb design,” the company said in a blog post. “While the result looks great aesthetically, it also serves a functional purpose by reducing EMI (electromagnetic interference). The results from the ASUS EMI testing lab show that the system’s Radiated Spurious Emissions are lower than not only international safety standards but also internal ASUS regulations, which are among the strictest in the industry.”

Other notable features packed into the new Strix desktop include support for more than 8 million colors and multiple lighting effects on the motherboard, enough space for liquid cooling and a dual-fan radiator, large front and bottom air intakes for superb out-of-the-box cooling, a 120mm red LED-lit export fan on the back, and more. The included Aegis III software keeps tabs on the temperature and performance while giving users complete control over the PC’s cool Aura RGB lighting and fan speeds.

The Asus ROG Strix GD30 is presumably available now in multiple configurations for unspecified prices. The system’s press release says to, “Please contact your local ASUS representative for further information.”

Kevin Parrish
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
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