Now here is something to really get you excited on a Monday morning – motherboards!  No really, I mean it this time.  A press release on the ASUS website (that has since been curiously removed) mentions an as-yet-unreleased motherboard with some very interesting features that I thought were worth speculating on.

First, the ASUS-provided spec sheet from that press release:

ASUS is prepping phone-based PC overclocking for future motherboards - Motherboards 3

Unfortunately there were no images of the new motherboard, so we’ll just have to picture that in our mind.  But here is what was most interesting:

ASUS will be debuting the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Maximus III Extreme, a bleeding-edge, P55-based motherboard that enables users to tweak system settings wirelessly over Bluetooth via a mobile phone.

That’s right…tweaking the overclocking settings of your motherboard using a cell phone.  For users that aren’t already familiar with the ROG Connect feature on the P55-based Maximus III Formula, it allows users to connect their systems to a notebook (or another PC if handy) via an included USB cable in order to change BIOS settings, monitor temperatures and more from the remote machine.  Even when the system was powered off, the application running on the secondary computer could change the BIOS settings and options before the next reboot.  That is indeed a very cool feature!

ASUS is prepping phone-based PC overclocking for future motherboards - Motherboards 4
The current Maximus III Formula motherboard with standard ROG Connect features

Well the new feature coming on this future motherboard goes one step further and will allow you to connect to your PC and adjust its settings while monitoring its speeds and temperatures via Bluetooth to a cell phone.  From the press release:

Perhaps the most innovative addition to ROG Connect, however, is RC Bluetooth, a feature which allows users to review the status of their systems’ hardware and tweak parameters wirelessly from a Bluetooth-enabled PDA phone. RC Bluetooth is also capable of performing standard Bluetooth functions, such as stereo music playback, Skype messaging, Internet access via a Bluetooth phone, and mobile phone or PDA synchronization. All it requires is the press of a button located on the rear I/O panel to toggle between overclocking and standard modes.

Nice!  I don’t have a lot more information about the feature that I can share at this time but I do know that the application will be made available for Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android.  What about the iPhone?  Well you’ll never guess, but apparently Apple’s application approval process is taking longer than expected (go figure).  Now if ASUS can add in WebOS, I’ll be a happy camper.  The ability to keep an eye on your system and adjust settings remotely at all was exciting but doing it on your phone is something extra that we honestly hadn’t even been anticipating.  Not only that, but with integrated Bluetooth on the motherboard you will be able to use A2DP compatible headphones for music, Skype, etc.

The rest of the Maximus III Extreme looks to be just as impressive; it will support up to 5 PCIe x8 connections so while it doesn’t mention it in the specifications, I assume it has to be using the NVIDIA nForce 200 PCIe bridge as well as the P55 chipset.  The board will also have support for SATA 6G and USB 3.0 technology (which if you haven’t read about yet you really should) to round out a hell of an enthusiast offering.  This is definitely a board worth keeping an eye out for.