We're done

[zzr1400]

I've had enough of being a beta tester for software which shouldn't even be released. Since Armoury Crate was released on an unsuspecting public I've spent more time fixing Armoury Crate issues on my PC than anything else. I've invested time in creating profile after profile, only to have to wait ages for fixes to things that break after an update and sit there wondering when it will start working again, then an update shows up which fixes one thing but then breaks another. It's like watching the slowest and most frustrating game of whack-a-mole being played by the Asus Armoury Crate Developers. It's not just minor tweaks or some part of the functionality of a particular device that breaks ... it's normally the whole device! Just gone and not working at all in Armoury Crate. This has to be the worst piece of sofware that has been written to do the most important of tasks (RGB isn't an important task) such as configuring mouse and keyboard binds, polling rate, etc. If that stuff doesn't work then you're no longer competitive, and thats the reason we bought this stuff in the first place.

What is even more upsetting is that I've invested LOTS of money on Asus peripherals yet the confidence I have that they will continue to work at any point in the future is absolutely zero. The most recent issue being that the updates for my X299 TUF Mark II motherboard simply broke and it refused to update itself with error code 12. The only resolution was to download the uninstall tool and remove everything and start from scratch - which would be about the 5th time I've been forced to do this. Add to that the iCue integration is completely broken and has been that way for almost a month.

If the software to configure the products that I purchased doesn't work reliably and doesn't allow me to configure aspects of that product that I paid extra for, then the hardware itself is "not fit for purpose".

So here's my intended course of action, and I suggest others do the same are else Asus will never get the message that the total absence of QA when developing software is not acceptable :-

1. X299 TUF Mark II motherboard - RGB completely lighting turned off in the BIOS. Pretend RGB on it just doesn't exist.
2. Replaced 32Gb Team Group RGB RAM with Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro - I've already sold the RAM to someone that doesn't care about RGB.
3. About to sell Asus Claymore keyboard on eBay. Have ordered a Corsair K70 Cherry Red to replace.
4. About to sell Asus Spartha mouse on eBay. No replacement as I wasn't using it anyway.
5. About to sell Asus Chakram mouse on eBay. Still looking at options.
6. About to sell Balteus Qi mouse pad on eBay. Still looking at alternatives that include QI charging, but options are limited. Might not replace it at all.

Asus have already missed out on two sales, as I've recently acquired a new headset and managed to get my hands on an RTX 3090 from an AIB manufacturer other than Asus. I'll replace my X299 TUF Mark II in another couple of years time when it's time for an upgrade as it's currently got a Core i9-7900X which will serve me well for a while yet. I'm about to move my entire build into a Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL and so I'll be refreshing all my lighting and fans in any event. I'm never going to buy another core system component which supports RGB as I refuse to be tied into such terrible software eco-systems for aspects of my setup which are so expensive. My CPU is already water-cooled by a custom loop, so if I want to add RGB to my GPU I'll just do it via a waterblock.

I've been an Asus customer for 20 years, either for my gaming needs or for hardware I've needed to acquire for my work as an IT professional. I can't list how many Asus motherboards, laptops and AIB's I've purchased over the years, but I can tell you this, I won't be buying any more. The hardware IS top quality, but if it's so dependant on software to function correctly and if that software is garbage then I'm afraid to say that the quality of the hardware is suddenly irrelevant.

I shouldn't need to have to put myself financially out of pocket by selling off my next-to-useless Asus peripherals, and I've seriously considered returning all of the above items to the various vendors and if a refund wasn't forthcoming then simply raise a "small claim" in the UK courts, but frankly I can't be bothered with this for one moment longer.

Yours Faithfully,
A once loyal fanboi but now an ex-Asus customer

[lordberti]

I'm disappointed too. No PC has ever been error free. Simply pure disaster the software.
I just assembled a new PC and had problems right away, although only the operating system was on it and nothing else, not even AV or firewall.
And Armoury Crate reports error immediately after installation, please restart. WHAT SHOUD THAT.
The only help you get is to uninstall and reinstall. Great on a new system with no other software.
Just really bad. In any other company, such employees would have been fire, for years there has not been an error free software version.