Since its inception in 2006, the Republic of Gamers has pursued a mandate to push boundaries to deliver a better gaming experience. We started with motherboards, spread to virtually every DIY desktop component, and have been building hardcore gaming laptops for more than a decade.

The smartphones in that early era barely qualified as such, but they started a revolution that transformed the computing landscape. We watched closely as these digital sidearms became increasingly capable gaming machines and all-around computers, and we saw how developers harnessed their growing power to take mobile gameplay and graphics to the next level. We also gained insight from esports professionals, regular players, and game developers on how mobile gaming devices could be improved.

There are two kinds of desktop CPU platforms. The mainstream tier runs from two cores up to eight, and it's great for gaming and general use. Its high-end sibling takes everything up a level with more cores, more memory channels, and more bandwidth for graphics and storage. A considerable upgrade in every regard, this high-end desktop platform appeals to power users, content creators, and prosumers who want to blur the line between desktop and workstation. AMD's Threadripper CPU is the latest addition to the desktop's heavyweight division, and it walks into the ring with an entourage of SocketTR4 motherboards in tow. This guide explains the ASUS and ROG family to help you pick the best X399 motherboard for your high-end desktop or gaming PC.

All of our X399 boards share core DNA that includes one-touch overclocking, refined cooling control, and improved RGB lighting. Yet they each have their own distinct flavor as well. The ROG Zenith Extreme brings Threadripper into the world of premium dream PCs with provisions for custom liquid cooling and 10G networking. With the Strix X399-E Gaming, hardcore gamers can build stylish rigs with power to spare for high-quality streaming. And then there's the Prime X399-A and its well-rounded foundation channeling the professional side of the platform's prodigious power. Which X399 motherboard should you buy for your build? Let's find out.

Wi-Fi Alliance, the nonprofit organization that promotes Wi-Fi technology and certifies the interoperability of different Wi-Fi products, has announced that it has begun the certification process for the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WiGig, otherwise known as the 802.11ad standard - a complement to the higher-range ac standard currently emplyed. WiGig is sure to stir the wireless ecosystem, in that it brings to the table multi-gigabit speeds - up to 8 Gb/s - with low latencies. because of that, this technology is sure to see widespread adoption - due to it allowing wireless connections with data rate characteristics close to wired ones, it might be the first step towards wireless VR and AR experiences, with more applications in the area of wireless docking, multimedia streaming, gaming, and networking. According to a 2013 survey from ABI Research, the 60 GHz Wi-Fi chipset market is forecasted to be worth more than $1,500 million until 2018.

Netgear, Inc., the leading provider of networking devices that powers today's smart home, introduced the Nighthawk X10 AD7200 Smart WiFi Router, the industry's first -and fastest- router for media streaming and instant backup. The Nighthawk X10 Smart WiFi router combines a powerful 1.70 GHz Quad Core processor - the fastest processor in a home router - and Quad-Stream Wave 2 WiFi architecture plus next generation high speed 802.11ad WiFi, so you can enjoy blazing-fast combined wireless speeds up to a furious 7.2 Gbps. The latest MU-MIMO technology supports simultaneous streaming, while 160 MHz doubles WiFi speeds to mobile devices. Four patent-pending external Active Antennas amplify Nighthawk X10 WiFi signals to maximize range and throughput.

"The superior capabilities of '802.11ad will greatly enhance the user experience when dealing with applications that require the transferring of large amounts of data. 802.11ad also provides approximately one-tenth the latency as compared to 802.11ac, which is absolutely critical for applications like virtual reality or augmented reality," said Michael Thelander, President of Signals Research Group.

TP-LINK, a leading global provider of consumer and business networking products, today announced the availability of Talon AD7200, the world's fastest router with the latest, most powerful wireless technology available, 802.11ad. Talon AD7200 routers run a new 60GHz band that reaches speeds significantly faster than Gigabit Ethernet. Users can now download 100 photos in less than a second, an HD movie in less than 40 seconds and a full 4K movie in less than eight minutes-all over an interference-free home wireless network. The Talon AD7200 is currently available at Newegg.com, Fry's Electronics and Micro Center retail stores.

"With the Talon AD7200, we've bringing consumers the fastest Wi-Fi ever made," said Lewis Wu, executive vice president of TP-LINK USA. "We're excited to see the response from our customers when they are able to stream and download 4K movies in the blink of an eye, or transfer huge files and photos in seconds. It's a completely different experience than most of us are used to from our network, and we're excited to deliver this innovative technology to the world for the very first time."

Acer today announced the new Switch Alpha 12 2-in-1 notebook with Windows 10, which delivers a heightened level of mobility with Acer LiquidLoop cooling, excellent performance, and an ultra-slim, flexible notebook-to-tablet design that is both elegant and sturdy - helping people do more.

The new Switch Alpha 12 is the industry's first fanless 2-in-1 notebook to use a 6th Generation Intel Core i7, Core i5 or Core i3 processor. It is powered by Windows 10, which is off to the fastest start in Windows history, with more than 270 million active devices.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, today introduced the iNAND 7232 storage solution, a new, advanced embedded flash drive (EFD) optimized to deliver best-in-class imaging performance and superior storage capacity in flagship mobile devices. Available in capacities up to 128 GB, the iNAND 7232 storage solution enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to introduce smartphones, tablets and other connected devices that feature ample storage to meet the needs of increasing consumer content while providing data-rich application experiences and next-generation digital photography capabilities.

"From North America to China, consumers are demanding higher and higher capacity storage," said Christopher Bergey, SanDisk's vice president and general manager of Mobile and Tablet Solutions. "Our iNAND 7232 storage solution not only enables mobile OEMs to cost-effectively deliver the robust storage mobile users want, it is also our most advanced embedded storage solution to date. It leverages new, innovative application-level storage architecture and SanDisk's latest 15 nanometer flash storage technology to enable outstanding application experiences, terrific 4K Ultra HD video capture and digital photography experiences never before possible in flagship smartphones."

Intel Corporation CEO Brian Krzanich today announced a series of mobile platforms including the company's new low-cost system-on-chip (SoC) for phones, phablets and tablets, a global LTE solution, innovative personal computing experiences, and a range of customers for mobile device and network infrastructure offerings. With technologies that span silicon, software and security, Krzanich said Intel was one of the few companies able to deliver solutions end-to-end, for devices, the network and the cloud.

The announcements include the Intel Atom x3 processor series, Intel's first integrated communications SoC solution for the growing value and entry device markets, and the five-mode Intel XMM 7360 LTE Advanced solution, designed for performance and worldwide coverage. In addition, Krzanich highlighted joint efforts with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Huawei to address the demand for new telecommunications, cloud and data center services, improve network efficiencies, and accelerate the industry's move toward a software-defined infrastructure.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, today introduced the iNAND 7132 storage solution, the most advanced embedded storage solution from SanDisk to date. Designed for use in flagship mobile devices, the iNAND 7132 storage solution features SanDisk's new iNAND Accelerator Architecture with SmartSLC technology, an innovative new storage architecture that quickly and intelligently responds on-demand to mobile users' needs and gives superior experiences to the most data-intensive applications. Available in capacities up to 64GB, iNAND 7132 storage solution enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to introduce a new generation of high-capacity smartphones, tablets and connected devices that offer exceptional user experiences.

"iNAND 7132 is the perfect high capacity storage solution for the next generation of smartphones, tablets and smart devices," said Drew Henry, senior vice president and general manager for Mobile and Connected Solutions at SanDisk. "Featuring our new iNAND Accelerator Architecture with SmartSLC, our best-in-class iNAND 7132 storage solution delivers amazing performance for faster burst photography and 4K Ultra HD video capture, supports the newest 802.11 standards with ease, and enables blazingly fast data side-loading."

Qualcomm Incorporated today announced that it has taken two major steps to enable the industry to deliver multi-gigabit wireless with 60 GHz technology for mobile, computing and networking devices. First, Qualcomm has completed its acquisition of Wilocity, a leader in development of 60 GHz wireless chipsets based on the IEEE 802.11ad standard, also known as WiGig technology. Second, the company is delivering a family of tri-band platforms that combine Qualcomm Atheros, Inc.'s Wi-Fi and WiGig solutions to significantly increase performance and enable cutting-edge wireless applications.

The initial tri-band platform is a reference design based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, which is the world's first mobile platform designed to support WiGig to enable applications such as 4k video streaming, peer-to-peer content sharing, networking, wireless docking, and backing up entire media libraries in seconds. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

DisplayLink, the leading provider of USB Graphics technology, today demonstrated support for 4K Ultra HD displays over both USB and WiGig connections at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF 13) at the Moscone Center, San Francisco. DisplayLink's 4K demo comes as 4K monitors and televisions are rapidly becoming available from industry leaders such as Samsung, LG, and ASUS. Using DisplayLink based USB adaptors, users can easily add 4K monitors to PC or Macs that don't have native 4K outputs. Further, multiple 4K monitors can be supported. This vastly increases the available attachable market for 4K monitors.

"Many thought 4K over USB wouldn't be achievable" said John Cummins, VP Sales and Marketing at DisplayLink, "So we pushed the bar further, enabling Ultra HD 4K for both wired and wireless connections. DisplayLink's latest chipset enables users to easily add 4K displays with a single USB adapter or via new wireless technologies such as WiGig (80.211ad). The resolution increase is staggering when used in a business setting for data graphing, spreadsheets, and finance. Upcoming 4K chips will be completely backward compatible with the DisplayLink installed base, enabling business users to easily expand their notebook, tablet, or existing DisplayLink enabled solution to 4K Ultra HD."

IEEE, the world's largest professional organization advancing technology for humanity, today announced that the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Board has approved the IEEE 802.11ad-2012 amendment to provide data rates up to 7 Gbps, more than 10 times the maximum speed previously enabled within the IEEE 802.11TM standard. With the improvements introduced in IEEE 802.11ad, this amendment is a perfect complement to the existing IEEE 802.11 standard, acting as the foundation for tri-band networking, wireless docking, wired equivalent data transfer rates and uncompressed streaming video.

The IEEE 802.11ad specification adds a "fast session transfer" feature, which enables wireless devices to seamlessly transition between the 60 GHz frequency band and the legacy 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. The ability to imperceptively move between the bands ensures that computing devices are always "best connected," enabling them to operate with optimal performance and range criteria.