Provided by: ASUS
No compensation was received for review of this product.
Price Point
Price: $339 USD
Class: Enthusiast
At a price of $339 USD, the ASUS Sabertooth X79 falls in the category of Enthusiast motherboards
Performance
The Sabertooth X79 motherboard performed very well at stock values and was able to push our i7 3960X engineering sample to 4.9GHz with just 1.475 Vcore.
Reviewer's Opinion
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a motherboard that is certified reliable under military specifications. After all, “military class” components sound like something directly taken from a PR’s notebook. Upon opening the Sabertooth X79’s packaging and seeing a certificate of reliability listing the actual tests performed and passed on specific components, I was relieved. It got better after looking at the full layout of the Sabertooth X79 and seeing that it is neatly designed but feature packed. Military themed motherboards currently available seem to take pride in placing a tacky gun or bullet-shaped heatsink over the VRMs and chipsets but thankfully ASUS has a better motherboard design team than that.
The ASUS Sabertooth X79 uses a desert camo color theme on a black PCB base, resulting in a sleek but masculine look. The VRM heatsink is not tall but is substantial, extending via heatpipe to the aluminum fins atop the rear I/O ports where an optional active cooling fan can push hot air downward. Extending the VRM heatsink this way provides clearance for very large aftermarket heatsink coolers. Unfortunately the 8-pin CPU power connector has also been moved toward the top edge of the Sabertooth X79 which caused a bit of a clearance issue when I tried to mount a 240mm dual-fan radiator inside a Corsair Carbide 400R.
Seeing the small fan also concerned me at the beginning since historically, my experience with 40mm fans has never been noise-free. I had an Intel DX58SO motherboard which produced a noise so high pitched it would disturb nearby canines. The optional fan in the Sabertooth X79 however is exceptionally quiet, even at 4000+ RPM plus with TUF Thermal Radar and extensive fan controls via UEFI, any fan attached to the Sabertooth X79 can be tamed.
Having full control over your system’s cooling fan capabilities is essential for the longevity of the components and ensures optimal performance under overclocked conditions. It was, pardon the pun, a breeze to overclock the Sabertooth X79 motherboard. The UEFI for the Sabertooth X79 provides users with a wealth of options and precise voltage controls for the CPU and the DRAM so advanced users can go beyond multiplier adjustments.
I was very much pleased with my experience with the Sabertooth X79 and the only disappointment I found was not on the Sabertooth board, but rather with Intel’s X79 platform. Like the Sandy Bridge P67/Z68 chipsets, there are only two native SATA 6 GB/s ports supported with the extra two SATA 6GB/s ports provided through a third-party controller of ASUS’ choosing. ASUS also added an SSD caching capability similar to Intel SRT specifically through the Marvell 9128 SATA controllers.
Although lacking some of the extra features found on the P9X79 line like Bluetooth and DTS audio, the Sabertooth X79 motherboard instead focuses on supreme reliability under any condition, wet or dry, hot or cold. It does still have the bulk of the new useful X79 features like BIOS flashback, SSD Caching, DIGI+ Power Control and when paired with TUF enhancements like ESD guards, TUF Thermal Radar, TUF Thermal Armor and TUFF Components, you have a recipe for an enthusiast system that is fit for duty anywhere.
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