Connectors and I/O

Totally ASUS equipped the Sabertooth Z87 with eight angled SATA ports which should be enough for any office PC or gaming system. Right next to the SATA ports there is a USB 3.0 header which has also been angled by 90 degrees. Unfortunately you won't find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons. ASUS also didn't equip the Sabertooth Z87 with a debug display which would have been useful if you should once have issues with one of the components in your system. It is quite common that the last PCI-Express x16 slot is also the expansion slot is the closest to the bottom edge of the board. That has the consequence that the connectors at this place aren't accessible anymore. The Sabertooth Z87 is no exception in this case. On the other hand there is two slots of space between the first and the second full size PCI Express port. This means that an SLI/CrossFire setup will be very well ventilated.

 

Totally you'll find eight fan headers on the ASUS Sabertooth Z87 which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped midrange or even a high-end-system with fresh air. Two of these eight fan header are there to connect the 35 millimeter assist fans to board. The ohter six fan headers are located around the CPU and they're also spread over the board which makes them easily accessible from any position in an enclosure. Furthermore all the fans connected to the different fan headers can be controled via the software you use for the thermal radar.

  

Looking at I/O-panel ASUS equipped the Sabertooth Z87 with four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, four USB 2.0 port, two eSATA 6 Gbps ports, one gigabit ethernet port, an analogue audio panel, an optical out and an HDMI as well as a DisplayPort connector. Furthermore there also is a BIOS reset button.