A few minutes ago Asus sent an email to HEXUS fanfaring the official introduction of the Arez brand. If you have been following the rumour mill closely you might have heard of this new Asus sub-brand. People were speculating that this brand, and others, will be introduced as a loophole solution to bypass the conditions set out (or implied in) the Nvidia GeForce Partner Program.
Despite its hand being sort-of forced, Asus is very positive about the “bold new identity” it has forged for its AMD cards. The email says that the new brand “underlines the strong working partnership between ASUS and AMD.” That partnership, however, must be a little bit weaker than the one with Nvidia, as it has effectively buckled under NGPP pressure.
Asus reassured us that Arez graphics cards, named after the Greek god of war (but with a 'z' where there should be an 's'), will continue to boast cutting-edge hardware features including Auto-Extreme Technology, Super Alloy Power II, MaxContact, Wing-Blade IP5X-certified fans, and FanConnect II. On the software side, users will be able to enjoy advanced tweaking and tuning thanks to Asus GPU Tweak II and AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition Software.
The new Asus Arez cards will start to become available from May 2018. You can already see the Arez Series graphics cards section populated with 28 products on the official Asus site. Familiar Strix, Dual, Gaming, Expedition, and Low Profile cards are all there, based on GPUs ranging from the Radeon Vega 64, through the RX 500 series, to the entry level R5 and R7 cards.
AMD makes supporting statement
While I have been writing, AMD has emailed HEXUS to welcome the Asus Arez announcement. It says that “over the coming weeks, you can expect to see more add-in board partners launch new brands carrying the AMD Radeon name.” AMD puts a positive spin on the situation by adding that it is working to “reignite freedom of choice,” with these new brands and together they will champion openness, innovation and inclusivity.
Furthermore, four key values will be shared between AMD and its new partners:
- A dedication to open innovation
- A commitment to true transparency through industry standards
- Real partnerships with real consistency
- And Expanding the PC gaming ecosystem
You can read the ‘pledge’ in full on the Radeon Gaming website. The post, written by AMD Radeon Gaming VP and GM Scott Herkelman, concludes with an assertion that AMD will “put premium, high-performance graphics cards in the hands of as many gamers as possible and give our partners the support they need without anti-competitive conditions.” Was that a dig at the competition?
