ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard review - Introduction

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 06/03/2013 07:43 AM [

Asus Intel 8 series motherboard platforms

We review, test and benchmark the ASUS Sabertooth Z87 series motherboard. The Z87 TUF themed mainboard is intended for Intel's 22nm Haswell processors on that all new Socket LGA1150. It is a mainstream to high-end segmented product amongst the ASUS Sabertooth series that comes with some nice features and decent overclock potential.

TUF, short fot The Ultimate Force - you know in the 2nd revision of the TUF motherboard series I figured, naah, that plastic shield is not going to work out. In the 3nd revision ASUS even left it out likely due to comments from the media. Just like the Z77 release, it's back though and in full effect as both the top and bottom side are now shielded. This is the Intel Z87 chipset based TUF (The Ultimate Force) motherboard from ASUS and yeah it's a handsome motherboard alright, if its your taste of course. Z87 is the Intel chipset predominantly released for Haswell based processors, generation 4 of the Core processors. The accompanying motherboards will have a slightly altered feature set. Next to processor support the changes for Z87 primarily can be found in more native USB 3.0 support as well as an upgrade towards PCie gen 3 PCIe x16 slots and multiple SATA 6 Gbps ports. The end result is an extraordinary motherboard on a black and green ceramic design whilst being armed some nice features.

The new Sabertooth Z87 now has a new designed set of Thermal Armor. If you wonder what that is, it is the heat plastic shield on top, meant to direct air flow and keep the motherboard's components protected and better cooled. New though is a backplate that secures the board against bending and bowing when installing expansion. The Sabertooth Z87 has been designed to deliver “rigorously-tested TUF cooling and durability” and utilize high-durability components such as Japan-made 10K Black Metallic capacitors, which support 20% greater extreme temperature tolerance and five times the lifespan of generic capacitors used in other motherboards, according to ASUS. This article is a full review of what you may expect from the TUF series Sabertooth Z87, a series designed for high durability and efficient cooling with Intel's 4th-generation processors.

Have peek after which we'll dive right into the photo shoot.

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ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard review
We review, test and benchmark the ASUS Sabertooth Z87 TUF series motherboard. The Z87 enthusiast themed mainboard is intended for Intel's 22nm Haswell processors on Socket LGA1150.

ASUS Sabertooth Z77 review
We review the ASUS Sabertooth Z77. Z77 is of course the Intel chipset predominantly released for Ivy Bridge based processors. This article is a full review of what you may expect from the TUF series Sabertooth Z77, have peek after which we'll dive right into the photo shoot.

ASUS Sabertooth Z77 preview
We preview the ASUS Sabertooth Z77 TUF. Z77 is of course the Intel chipset for the upcoming Ivy bridge based processors. These motherboards will have a slightly altered feature set and thus support them new upcoming apples from Intel. Good to know however is that Z77 also supports Sandy Bridge Socket 1155 based processors, that's right your favorite Core i5 2500K and Core i7 2600K will be perfect for these motherboards as well. The changes for Z77 primarily can be found in native USB 3.0 support as well as an upgrade towards PCie gen 3 PCIe x16 slots.

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX review
The TUF series (The Ultimate Force) Sabertooth 990FX is what we'll be placing under our microscope today, styled in the very same color as the earlier models with the ceramic design we see a lot of resemblances. But hey no tactical jacket anymore though. This AM3+ motherboard will be powered by a 10-phase Digi+ VRM. Socket AM3+ will support the Bulldozer based Zambezi FX Series Processors which launch later. The Sabertooth 990FX will come with four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel memory up-to DDR3-1866 MHz straight from the EFI BIOS. What you'll also notice is that the TUF (The Ultimate Series) has four PCI-Express 2.0 x16 PCIe graphics card slots based on what you use the slots for of course. Interesting fact is that this motherboard series now is SLI compatible.