Republic of Gamers

Every engineer at ASUS knows that ASUS will eventually succeed.

They have that confidence, and they have that determination.

But no matter how hard they racked their brains, they probably never imagined that success would come so quickly and so suddenly.

Late 1991, the last few days after Christmas.

Ted Hsu and several other engineers from the startup team packed their bags and boarded a flight to California.

Go to California! See GAMENOVA!

They didn't know what they would be discussing, but one thing was certain.

This is a test, and an opportunity!

Whoever can seize this opportunity will be qualified to board the rapidly moving ship that is GAMENOVA.

Marin County, Northern California.

"Starting from here, roughly to... let me look at the map, it's about this location, roughly 1,500 acres of land. If you can persuade the neighboring farmers to sell their land, you can probably expand to over 2,000 acres." Lucas and Lin Lixin sat in a small Golf cart, pointing at a map.

Marin County is separated from San Francisco by only the Golden Gate Bridge.

Unlike Silicon Valley Bay Area, where high-tech companies cluster together, this area features vast pastures and low hills.

It boasts abundant green spaces, offers exceptional privacy, and is also incredibly conveniently located, allowing for quick travel to and from the San Francisco Bay Area.

"2,000 acres... it still doesn't feel like enough."

Lin Lixin compared several plots of land on the map and pieced them together.

Damn it, Skywalker Ranch is a whopping 2,672 acres, and it's still expanding these days.

"... This is just the beginning, Lin. If you expand too much, the subsequent development will become a problem."

"Alright, it's close to the Delta, so it's quick to get anywhere except Los Angeles. Okay, let's keep it here."

Lin Lixin gazed into the distance.

It is indeed a good place.

Realizing there was no point in delaying any longer, he made the decision decisively. Acquiring the land as soon as possible would allow construction to begin sooner.

Despite its enormous size, this place is essentially a huge ranch; it's not even residential land.

Compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars that a wafer fab can cost for even a small amount, this is incredibly cheap.

For approximately 30 million US dollars, one could acquire over 2,000 acres of land in the surrounding area.

Even with subsequent construction and map expansion, the total construction expenditure will likely not exceed $200 million.

More importantly, this expenditure is gradual, rather than a one-time investment like that of a wafer fab.

For a behemoth like Gamenova today, it's truly a piece of cake.

Thus, GAMENOVA's new headquarters was acquired at Lin Lixin's order.

Trevor, the current president of the Umbrella Corporation, packed up his belongings and moved his tents over overnight and began planning on the spot.

Miscellaneous expenses related to land transactions, including legal fees, surveying and environmental investigations, water rights and passage rights, etc.

All these chores were dumped on Sam and Trevor.

Search "" on Bing to see the latest updated chapters of this book! As for Lin Lixin, he has returned to his current headquarters.

He still has a few guests to meet.

"Gentlemen, thank you for waiting. How was your rest yesterday?"

Lin Lixin pushed open the door and entered the reception room.

The answer to this question was self-evident from the dark circles under their eyes.

Looks like they haven't adjusted to the time difference yet.

"Mr. Lin!"

After a brief moment of surprise, the group quickly came to their senses.

ASUS has not yet entered the period of rapid expansion that began after 1993.

This group of people, though called the founding team, is actually a research and development team composed entirely of engineers.

Hsu Ted, who was in the lead, carefully placed a briefcase against the side of the soft sofa. Lin Lixin's gaze fell on it, and he exchanged a glance with Xu.

Is it the one I'm thinking of?

"Uh, sir, these are Cache386/33 and ISA486/25, products independently developed by ASUS."

Having received instructions, Xu placed the briefcase on the Table, opened it, and took out the two motherboards inside.

Complex, green-skinned, and riddled with slots.

Some of them are chipsets used to control memory, some are chipsets used to control peripherals, and others are chipsets with different functions such as power management.

The slots were even more bizarre, densely packed together on one side.

This is a microcosm of motherboards in this era.

Motherboards in the 1980s and 90s had not yet developed the mature northbridge and southbridge chip designs that would become the standard in later generations.

Instead, these chips, each with its own function, are assembled on the same PCB.

The dense array of structures actually creates a unique industrial aesthetic.

This is a Cache386/33. As the name suggests, it's a special motherboard designed for Intel's 33MHz version of the 80386.

Unlike other products on the market, it has a unique design, featuring a full 32KB of L2 cache.

For the processor, this naturally provides it with another intermediate step besides the fastest cache, L1 cache, and memory.

It's not as fast as L1, but not as slow as memory, which is just right for meeting some moderate needs.

Well...

It's ugly, but it's beautiful.

The reason it's considered ugly is because Lin Lixin has seen modern motherboards and knows just how elegant future motherboards will be.

Their very existence is itself a work of art.

Its beauty stems from its ingenious design concept.

This board clearly demonstrates why ASUS engineers were able to build up the industry so quickly after leaving Acer.

"That's interesting."

Lin Lixin took the board and, using his Power of WAAAGH!, downloaded the drawing into his mind. The layout of ISA486 was similar, also having its own style.

"Do any of you have any plans to make game circuit boards? I mean, a motherboard specifically for arcade machines or game consoles."

"Design a motherboard for the ATHENA Processor?"

Xu had clearly done his homework beforehand and quickly guessed the general idea.

"Hmm... yes and no, probably in the short term, but in the long term I hope to build a brand targeting hardcore gamers, whether it's game consoles or PCs."

Lin Lixin stood up and took a piece of Nova Radeon from the display case.

"Take our reference NR graphics card, for example. As you all know, any legitimate manufacturer can customize its circuitry after obtaining authorization."

This isn't exactly a trade secret.

In fact, the mainstream consumer-grade graphics cards on the market right now are still made by those companies that produce rebranded graphics cards.

After GAMENOVA produces the reference design cards, some manufacturers will make custom modifications, such as reducing the original 1MB of video memory to 512KB or cutting the power supply.

This is in exchange for lower costs and lower selling prices.

Of course, there are also manufacturers that make customized cases, focusing on selling emotional value. "We hope to have a similar solution in the motherboard field, a professional motherboard specifically for enthusiast gamers, with more flexible and powerful power management and other functions. I call this project..."

Lin Lixin took out a stack of pre-bound booklets from the drawer and placed them on the table.

[ROG]

[Republic of Gamers]

"Republic of Gamers..."

Xu swallowed hard, solemnly took the document, and flipped through two pages.

He had only turned the first few pages when he felt a chill run down his spine.

Inside were complete architecture diagrams and design drafts of some motherboard integrated chips.

According to Lin Lixin's plan, he will design two sets of integrated chips specifically for the motherboard.

It integrates its various semiconductor businesses, including the recently acquired and currently being absorbed innovative sound cards.

If his plan comes to fruition, future motherboards will undergo a significant evolution.

The original complex array of multiple chips will be condensed into just two chipsets, the "Southbridge" and the "Northbridge." Simultaneously, the motherboard will also feature a complete and flexible BIOS, encompassing advanced functions such as power management, frequency management, and memory management.

Just like its name suggests.

This is a product exclusively for gamers.

"In fact, we just encountered a minor hardware problem not long ago."

Lin Lixin continued, briefly describing the cylinder shrinkage problem they had encountered earlier.

"Have you ever thought about how wonderful it would be if... if the motherboard could monitor the CPU's temperature, voltage, and other data in real time?"

Well, compared to real modern motherboards, what we're showing you now is really just a drop in the ocean.

It can only be considered the very first step in the evolutionary process.

But for engineers of this era, this was simply incomprehensible.

But if we're talking about who can do this in this era, it really is only GAMENOVA.

Although ATHENA cannot compete with Intel in general computing.

NEC is not as good at cost control in memory chips. It seems that in every semiconductor field, they are always the gatekeeper of Tier 1, always in second place.

But looking at the world, the only company that can truly assemble all these technologies is GAMENOVA itself.

Self-developed CPUs, self-developed GPUs, self-developed DRAM, acquired sound cards, communication partnerships with Motorola, its own gaming ecosystem, its own deep submicron wafer fab...

In addition, there's ASUS, which is about to acquire a stake.

In fact, GAMENOVA has already assembled most of the major modules.

Only the final northbridge and southbridge chips are missing to perfectly connect everything together.

ASUS is the final piece of the puzzle.

This is also an important step for GAMENOVA in its modernization process in the semiconductor industry.

"Then... it's a pleasure to work with you."

The wheels of history slowly turn forward.

While no one was paying attention, Gamenova quietly accomplished another major feat. While Wintel was still basking in its victory, Gamenova had already subtly extended its reach into the IBM compatible market.

By the time Intel realized that ASUS had already dominated the motherboard market and Gamenova had taken over the graphics card market, it was too late.

For every hardware unit Wintel sells, GAMENOVA can sell a motherboard, a graphics card, and of course, a few memory modules.

Meanwhile, Linus was diligently perfecting the Linux system, perfecting this newcomer destined to succeed NeXT-STEP and become the new generation of server systems.

NEXUS continues to cultivate the internet field, constantly eroding the market with its free Nmail email service.

On the Sony side, Ken Kutaragi finally gained a foothold and saved the PlayStation project from the brink of disbandment.

Atari's Tramiel is also putting in his best efforts to prepare for his final dance.

The roaring 1990s, amidst silent undercurrents, finally ushered in the new year.

"Now... it's time to prepare for the new game."