Computex 2009: Hardware Preview

Asus OC Station

Asus’ latest addition to its Republic of Gamers brand is actually a peripheral, rather than a new motherboard. The OC Station is a more advanced version of the OC Palm that was bundled with a few X58 boards; however we're told the OC Station will only come as an optional purchase.

The OC station fits into two 5.25in drive bays and comes with a braided cable that plugs into a USB port and GPO pin-outs on compatible RoG motherboards. USB is used only for power and while the OC Station is driverless, we did notice a couple of the features required some additional software.

There's also a Molex plug at the rear to power four 3-pin fan sockets, while the front houses a 4in LCD that is controlled by the right hand knob and the three aluminium buttons underneath. The whole thing is large and fairly stylish - there are places where it looks a little plasticky, but this is to make the cost more approachable.


For those who store their PCs on the floor, Asus has included a tilting option for the front panel too – by pressing the facia in it hinges to face upwards so the LCD is easier to see if you’re sitting on a chair and it’s sat below.

Compatibility ranges all the way back to about the Maximus II Formula from last year according to Asus, or any motherboard that has a blue USB pin-out with a group of six black pin-outs labelled 'GPO' right next to them.

The OC Station can read temperatures, voltages, fan speeds, and can basically perform the same features as any in-Windows overclocking and system monitoring software can The memory timings can’t be changed for example, but the option to overclock on the fly still exists and enabling pre-set overclocking profiles is available too, just as with the TweakIT function on previous boards.