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The naked metal inside chassis can also be seen from underneath. Asus have included four heavy duty rubber feet to ensure that it won't slide on any surface.
The motherboard is fully loaded … with another four USB 3.0 ports, two more USB 2.0 ports, LAN, SPDIF out and Displayport, DVI, VGA and HDMI output connectors. They also include a PS2 port if you want to use an older mouse or keyboard. The motherboard has onboard surround output, but ASUS have included a higher grade XONAR sound card in the expansion slot directly underneath, above the GTX680.
The bottom expansion port includes a WiFi card, with the supplied antenna in the peripherals box.
The power supply is at the bottom of the case, hidden behind a dark plastic flap with ‘ASUS ROG Series' written in the center. We initially thought there might be a problem running in the power connector, but there is just enough space available. I really do feel the appearance could have been improved dramatically by painting the rear of the case black.
The side panel is removed with two screws and by pressing in on a plastic lever.
Sadly, the interior of the case isn't black either, although we would imagine the potential audience won't be opening this case more than once to perhaps add more memory, or another hard drive at a later date.
At the heart of the system, is an Asetek liquid cooler, keeping the Core i7 3770k in check. The radiator and fan is attached to the rear of the case in an exhaust position.
The graphics card is an Asus branded GTX680, a very powerful card we have reviewed before which will handle any modern game with the image quality cranked to the limit.
The tiny wireless card is positioned just above the 700w power supply which is rated to 88 Plus Silver specifications.
Asus have installed four 4GB Asint branded DDR3 DDR3 memory sticks , without heatspreaders. We know it makes little difference in the real world, but this is really inexcusable in such a high end, flagship gaming system. We have called Dell out on this before too.
This system is fitted with a 128GB Sata 3 Sandisk solid state drive, configured as boot. Asus will be offering these systems with Raid 0 SSD options for improved performance.
Underneath are two 1TB hard drives, ideal for storage and backup purposes.
Internally, I am slightly disappointed with the overall system build, the cables aren't well routed and are all bunched up with a white cable tie close to the motherboard. The PCIe express power cables are also left hanging in plain view. Call me anal, but I wouldn't build a system for a friend and leave it like this.
