During a recent trip to northern California, I stopped by the offices of ASUS and found this motherboard just sitting on the table in a conference room BEGGING to be poked and prodded.  What happens when a motherboard manufacturer tries to target a super reliable motherboard rather than a super tweakable motherboard?

ASUS TUF Sabertooth 55i hands-on: durability not overclockability - Motherboards 9

Apparently you get a certificate proving it.  This document will come with every new ASUS Sabertooth 55i motherboard to validate all the components used in its construction are of a higher quality than nearly any motherboard on the market today. 

ASUS TUF Sabertooth 55i hands-on: durability not overclockability - Motherboards 10

The first in a new series from ASUS known as TUF (The Ultimate Force), the Sabertooth 55i is built using military-grade components and integrates some new technologies in order to make it more stable and reliable than any other motherboard.  This platform is targeted towards the user that wants a system that will give them absolutely NO hiccups.  Though not aimed at the overclocker, my guess is that this board will likely overclock pretty well anyway.

Some of the unique features on this board include heatsinks covered in a ceramic coating (branded CeraM!X, really) that increases surface area for heat dissipation, an included bracket and fan for the memory modules area, military certified capacitors and MOSFETs and more.  This is also the first P55 motherboard that will offer power switching on the PCI Express bus and PCH, not just to the CPU alone. 

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We didn’t get to see the board running or get to play with it yet, so we have a lot more time scheduled with this motherboard in the not too distant future.  It will be interesting to see what kind of market there is for an obviously expensive motherboard that is NOT targeted at the overclocking enthusiast.  Are users going to be willing to pay for stability and reliability?  And can we PROVE that the components on the Sabertooth 55i are actually making a difference?  We will know soon!