Introduction

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.