Asus Sabertooth Mark1 Review

Asus leader in the manufacture of motherboards, graphics cards, computers and routers. Very recently launched one of the best Z170 motherboards in terms of aesthetics, cooling and TUF components. This is the Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 with its Premium armor and components.

Want to know more about her? Don't miss our review!

We thank Asus for trusting the product for its analysis:

Technical characteristics

Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1

The Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 makes us a gala presentation with a black box. On the cover we find the TUF series logo, the 5-year warranty seal and that it is compatible with all Intel Skylake processors. Already in the previous area we have all the most important features inside.

Once we open the box we find a very complete bundle:

• Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark motherboard 1.Back plate.Instruction manual and quick guide.CD with drivers.SATA cables.Embellishers for rear connections, expansion slots, memory… Hyper M.2 x4.115 card Optional fans.

We do not have to worry about the compatibility with our box, since it is a classic ATX motherboard and dimensions of 30.5cm x 24.4 cm. Its design is very similar to that of the Z97 series that we analyzed at the time. We have armor that covers the entire motherboard, only exposing the memory sockets, PCI Express, and control panel connections. The back also comes equipped. But… What is it for? The main function is to offer a reinforcement to heavy components (graphics cards and heatsinks) and also visually pleasing with its aesthetics.

The board has 12 digital supply phases of which eight are for the processor. It has TUF components: the new Alloy Choke, Ti-Cap and MOSFET certified by the military standard and the Asus Digi + power control. The socket has all its pins gold plated.

Regarding cooling, it has two high-performance heatsinks. The first area is that of the power supply phases, which also includes a duct to enhance the air flow with fans and the chipset that incorporates orange LEDs.

We have a total of 4 DDR4 RAM sockets that allow us to install up to 64GB with serial frequencies of 2400 Mhz. Although in its specifications it indicates that it does not support more speed we have been able to verify that the Kingston Savage DDR4 at 3000 Mhz are 100% compatible with the XMP 1.3 profile.

The distribution of the expansion slots we have three PCI Express x16 3.0 connections. The first two allow us to make up to a Quad SLI from Nvidia or CrossFirex from AMD. It is also accompanied by three connections plus PCIe X1 ideal for connecting any daughter card.

Under the armature we have an M.2 connection accessible . Gen3 x4 with speed up to 32 GB / s, compatible with 42/60/80 and 110 mm formats. I would have liked it to be superficial as it would improve the cooling and access to it.

It has a sound card with AUDIO TUF technology. This design optimizes sound quality, with its shielding reduces interference, as well as including an excellent sound amplifier for high-end headphones.

It has a total of 8 SATA III connections at 6GB / s that two of them share with the SATA Express connection at 10GB / s. On both sides we have more connections to connect fans, and that is that the Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 is one of the best thermal motherboards.

Finally, indicate on its rear panel they are protected by TUF ESD Guards 2 technology that prolongs the useful life against electro-static discharges. It has the following connections:

• 5 x USB 2.0.BIOS FlashBack.HDMI.DisplayPort.2 x LAN.2 x USB 3.0.2 x USB 3.1: Type C and A. Digital audio output.

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i7-6700k.
Base plate:	Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1
Memory:	2 × 8 16GB DDR4 @ 3000 MHZ Kingston Savage
Heatsink	Corsair H100i GTX.
HDD	Samsung 840 EVO 250GB.
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 780.
Power supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2

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To check the stability of the processor and motherboard, we've overclocked up to 4, 600mhz with Prime 95 Custom and air-cooled. The graphics that we have used is an Nvidia GTX780, without further distractions let's see the results obtained in our tests with a 1920 × 1080 monitor.

BIOS and TUF Detective 2

Like the Republic of Gamer series we find an elegant, easy, intuitive and most importantly stable BIOS. It is designed for both beginners and overclockers.

You imagine having all the control of your PC from your smartphone or tablet. Well, it's already a reality… TUF Detective 2 allows us to monitor fans and temperatures from the palm of your hand. How big

Final words and conclusion

Asus has launched one of the best Z170 motherboards on the market but also taking care of the design, the cooling and a great potential for overclocking with two 12-phase power supply. As standard, it allows us to install any Intel Skylake processor, 64GB of DDR4 RAM, M.2 slot and USB 3.1 connection.

In our tests we have achieved excellent results both in benchmark and in games. In the overclock section it has been able to raise an i7-6700k up to 4.6 Ghz (+ 31% speed) with an excellent voltage.

In short, if you are looking for a motherboard with armor design, excellent cooling, quality components, excellent overclocking and a 5-year warranty, the Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 is your motherboard. It is currently in an online store for a price of 249 euros.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ ARMOR DESIGN.	- CONNECTION M.2 IS HIDDEN IN THE ARMOR. WE HAVE TO DISASSEMBLE IT ENTIRE.
+ TUF COMPONENTS
+ ALLOWS THE CONFIGURATION OF SEVERAL GRAPHICS CARDS.
+ OVERCLOCK CAPACITY.
+ M.2 CONNECTION.
+ USB 3.1 CONNECTORS.

The Professional Review team awards him the gold medal:

ASUS SABERTOOTH MARK 1

COMPONENT QUALITY

OVERCLOCK CAPACITY

MULTIGPU SYSTEM

BIOS

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

PRICE

8.6 / 10

THE PLATE THAT BEST COMBINES WITH OTHER COMPONENTS.