ASUS ROG Crossblade Ranger

AMD’s Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) has been around for quite some time already, but it’s only recently that ASUS released the Crossblade Ranger – the company’s first Republic of Gamers (RoG) motherboard that supports both A88X chipset and FM2+ socket. Head past the break to check out our full review of this gaming-centric MoBo.

In terms of the overall design, the Crossblade Ranger looks very similar to some of the Z97 boards under the ROG lineup, particularly the ROG Maximus VII. The FM2/FM2+ processor slot in the middle and is flanked by four (4) one-sided RAM slots on the right and a neatly designed Extreme DIGI+ III VRM on the left which comprises of eight (8) alloy chokes neighbored by 10K Black Metallic capacitors and NexFETTMMOSFETs tucked underneath the two heat sinks.

Other features

Before we reach the end of our review, we want to highlight some of the additional features that come with the Crossblade Ranger which you wouldn’t normally get on a non-ROG motherboard or competing boards in the same class.

This board inherits some of the features that are already present on some ROG boards, particularly those on a higher tier. One of which is the fancy Intel Gigabit Ethernet that’s equipped with ASUS LANGuard, which primarily protects the board from electric surge and improves the overall throughput, as well as GameFirst III which allows user to optimize how the data is being transferred to the PC and allocate more bandwidth if needed.


ASUS RoG Crossblade Ranger specs:
Form Factor: ATX (30.5 x 24.4cm)
Socket: FM2/FM2+, supports AMD A-Series APU
Chipset: AMD A88X
Support for RAID 0 / 1 / 5 / 10 and JBOD
DIGI+ III VRM
10K Black Metallic Capacitors
Alloy Chokes
NexFETTMMOSFET
Memory: 4x DIMM, up to 64GB DDR3 2400MHz (OC)
GPU: supports up to 3-way CrossfireX Technology
Storage: 8x SATA 6Gbps, RAID 0/1/5/10 support
Audio: SupremeFX Formula 2014 (RealTek ALC1150)
Expansion slots: 2x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16, 1x PCIe 2.0 x16
I/O ports: 6x USB 3.0 (4 on the back & 2 mid-board)
8x USB 2.0 (2 on the back & 6 mid-board)
1x HDMI, 1x VGA and 1x DVI-D
5x Audio Jacks + 1x S/PDIF plus 1x TOSLink
1x PS/2 combo port
1x Intel® Gigabit Ethernet with GameFirst III and ASUS LANGuard

The only thing that may disappoint potential buyers is its price. The ASUS ROG Crossblade Ranger is being sold locally for Php8,990 which makes it the most expensive FM2+ motherboard currently in the market. But if you have extra cash to burn, we think that this board should be a good investment.

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