General | + | - | |
As expected the ASUS Sabertooth Z87 is a well-built motherobard that comes with a complete feature armada. Like with all Sabertooth motherboards the Z87 model also received the thermal shield. Other than that there is a very decent power design next to other high quality components. These days the Sabertooth Z87 costs 159 Euro, which is quite an attractive price tag for this motherboard. | -
Design - Connectors |
||
Layout | + | - | |
Generally the ASUS Sabertooth Z87's Layout is well thought. Once more very practical are the angled SATA connectors, of which there are six. Furthermore the placement of the PCI-Express x16 slots is well thought an therefore nothing needs to be criticized at this point. There are for example two slots between the first and the second PCI-Express x16 slot. Another thing that is good with this board is the fact, that there as plenty of space between the CPU socket and the heatsinks on the power design as well as between the CPU socket and the DIMM slots. | - Angled SATA connectors - Space around the CPU socket | ||
Performance | + | - | |
Let's first have closer look at overall 3D performance. Calcualting the average of all 3D benchmarks we ran, we see that this board comes in on the 1st spot. Concerning the average of all 2D benchmarks we ran, this board reaches 2nd place, which is excellent again. Combined, this is the fastest board we've had for testing so far. On another note we had a closer look at power consumption, where this board scored average. Since there are quite a few features, or in other words additional chips, power consumption is a bit higher then with smaller mothboards. | -
3DMark 11 - 3DMark Vantage CPU - PCMark 07 - SiSoft Sandra Multimedia - SiSoft Sandra Cryptography - SiSoft Sandra Memory Bandwidth - SiSoft Sandra Cache and Memory Access - UC Bench - Sleeping Dogs low details |
- SiSoft Sandra
Arithmetic |
|
Overclocking / BIOS | + | - | |
As you might have expected from ASUS you get an excellent BIOS which offers not only a boatload of tuning and tweaking options but is also very easy to use. Especially with the entry screen ASUS is trying and also succeeding to add elements which make the BIOS much easier to use also for unexperienced users. For example the feature that the boot order can be changed by drag'n'drop is a neat addition. | - Sheer amount of options - Clear arrangement | ||
Recommendation | + | - | |
Should you be looking for a very solid motherboard that features an aggressive price tag, then the Sabertooth Z87 will be a great choice. Apart from that, this board features a unique design, which if appealing to you, is another reason to decide for this motherboard. | - Enthusiast - Gaming |
||
Rating | |||
We give the ASUS Sabertooth Z87 excellent 5 out of 5 stars. |
Navigate through the articles | |
ASUS Z87-A Review | Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H Review |
|