Introduction and Technical Specifications

The Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 is the latest revision of ASUS much vaunted TUF series Sabertooth line of boards. This board features the new Intel Z97 chipset and promises to pack a wallop…

Introduction

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Courtesy of ASUS

The ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 motherboard is the newest member of thier TUF (The Ultimate Force) series. The board features the Intel Z97 chipset, but keeps the aesthetics and functionality you have come to expect from TUF series boards, and more specifically the Sabertooth line. That does not mean to say that ASUS did not improve the design of the Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 board. The Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 comes with a premium MSRP of $249.99 with features to justify its premium price point.

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Courtesy of ASUS

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Courtesy of ASUS

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Courtesy of ASUS

ASUS used the previous Sabertooth board as a template to design and improve upon the Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1. The board includes the line's signature TUF Thermal Armor board overlay and TUF Fortifier back plate. With the new revision of the Thermal Armor, ASUS integrated two optional fans into its design as well as flow ports above the CPU VRM heat sinks to adjust the airflow through the Thermal Armor. The board is designed with an 8 phase digital power system with alloy chokes redesigned to run cooler than previous generation chokes, 10k-rated Titanium capacictors, and military-grade TUF MOSFETs. Additionally, ASUS integrated on board ESD (elctro-static discharge) protection into the rear panel keyboard/mouse, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, LAN, and audio ports to protect the motherboard and integrated components from voltage fluctuations and power surges.

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Courtesy of ASUS

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Courtesy of ASUS

The ASUS integrated the following features into the Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1's design: six dedicated SATA 3 ports; two shared SATA 3 ports; a SATA Express 10 Gb/s port; dual Gigabit NICs – an Intel I218-V GigE controller and a Realtek GigE controller; three PCI-Express x16 slot; three PCI-Express x1 slots; on-board MemOK! and BIOS FlashBack buttons; and USB 2.0 and 3.0 port support.

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Courtesy of ASUS

Technical Specifications (taken from the ASUS website)

CPU

 Intel® Socket 1150 for the 5th/New 4th/4th Generation Core™ i7/Core™ i5/Core™ i3/Pentium®/Celeron® Processors
Supports Intel® 22 nm CPU
Supports Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
* The Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 support depends on the CPU types.
* Refer to www.asus.com for CPU support list

Chipset

 Intel® Z97

Memory

 4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 1866* / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory *
Dual Channel Memory Architecture
Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
* Hyper DIMM support is subject to the physical characteristics of individual CPUs.
** Refer to www.asus.com for the Memory QVL (Qualified Vendors Lists).

Graphic

 Integrated Graphics Processor
Multi-VGA output support : HDMI/DisplayPort ports
– Supports HDMI with max. resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz / 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz
– Supports DisplayPort with max. resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz / 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz
Maximum shared memory of 512 MB
Supports Intel® InTru™ 3D, Quick Sync Video, Clear Video HD Technology, Insider™
DP 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport compliant, supports DP 1.2 monitor daisy chain up to 3 displays

Multi-GPU Support

 Supports NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ Technology
Supports AMD Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ Technology

Expansion Slots

 2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (Single at x16, dual at x8/x8)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (max at x4 mode, black)
3 x PCIe x1

Storage

 Intel® Z97 chipset :
1 x SATA Express port, black*1
4 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s),
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology, Intel® Rapid Start Technology, Intel® Smart Connect Technology *2

ASMedia® PCIe SATA controller : *3
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), beige

*2: These functions will work depending on the CPU installed.
*3: These SATA ports are for data hard drivers only. ATAPI devices are not supported.

LAN

 Intel® I218V
Realtek® 8111GR
Dual Gigabit LAN controllers- 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) appliance

Audio

 Realtek® ALC1150 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
– Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking
– High quality 112 dB SNR stereo playback output (Line-out at rear) and 104 dB SNR recording input (Line-in)
Audio Feature :
– Absolute Pitch 192kHz/ 24-bit True BD Lossless Sound
– Blu-ray audio layer Content Protection
– Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel
– Audio Shielding: Ensures precision analog/digital separation and greatly reduced multi-lateral interference
– Dedicated audio PCB layers: Separate layers for left and right channels to guard the quality of the sensitive audio signals
– Audio amplifier: Provides the highest-quality sound for headphone and speakers
– Unique de-pop circuit: Reduces start-up popping noise to audio outputs

USB Ports

 Intel® Z97 chipset :
6 x USB 3.0/2.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue, 4 at mid-board)

ASMedia® USB 3.0 controller :
2 x USB 3.0/2.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue)

Intel® Z97 chipset :
8 x USB 2.0/1.1 port(s) (4 at back panel, black, 4 at mid-board)

Special Features

 TUF Features:
TUF ENGINE! Power Design :
– 8 + 2 Digital Phase Power Design
– TUF Components (New Alloy Choke, Ti-Cap. & MOSFET; certified by military-standard)
– ASUS DIGI+ Power Control Utility
Ultimate COOL! Thermal Solution :
– TUF Thermal Armor with Flow Valve
– TUF Thermal Radar 2
– TUF ICe
Safe & Stable! Guardian Angel :
– Dust Defenders
– TUF Fortifier
– TUF ESD Guards
ASUS Exclusive Features :
– MemOK!
– AI Suite 3
– Ai Charger+
– Anti-Surge
– ASUS UEFI BIOS EZ Mode featuring friendly graphics user interface
– USB 3.0 Boost
– Disk Unlocker
– Turbo LAN
Interactive HomeCloud
– Media Streamer

– ASUS O.C. Profile
– ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
– ASUS EZ Flash 2
– ASUS USB BIOS Flashback
– ASUS UEFI BIOS EZ Mode
– Multi-language BIOS
– Push Notice
ASUS Q-Design :
– ASUS Q-Shield
– ASUS Q-LED (CPU, DRAM, VGA, Boot Device LED)
– ASUS Q-Slot
– ASUS Q-DIMM
– ASUS Q-Connector

Operating System Support

 Windows® 8.1 86×64
Windows® 8 86×64
Windows® 7 86×64

Back I/O Ports

 1 x DisplayPort
1 x HDMI
2 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
4 x USB 3.0 (blue)
4 x USB 2.0
1 x Optical S/PDIF out
5 x Audio jack(s)
1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button(s)

Internal I/O Ports

 2 x USB 3.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 4 USB 3.0 port(s) (19-pin)
2 x USB 2.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 4 USB 2.0 port(s)
1 x SATA Express connector: , compatible with 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports
1 x TPM header
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s)
1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)
1 x CPU OPT Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)
4 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (4 x 4 -pin)
3 x Assistant Fan connector(s) (2 x 3 -pin, 1 x 4 -pin)
1 x S/PDIF out header(s)
1 x Thunderbolt header(s)
1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector(s)
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector(s)
1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP)
1 x System panel(s)
1 x DRCT header(s)
1 x MemOK! button(s)
3 x Thermal sensor connector(s)
1 x Clear CMOS jumper(s)

Accessories

 User's manual
Accessory Guide
ASUS Q-Shield
4 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s)
1 x SLI bridge(s)
1 x Q-connector(s) (2 in 1)
2 x Accessory Fan(s) ( 35 /40 mm )
1 x TUF 5 Year Warranty manual(s) (by region)
1 x TUF Inside sticker(s)
1 x Accessory Package(s):
– 3 x PCIe x16 slot dust cover(s)
– 2 x DRAM slot dust cover(s)
– 3 x PCIe x1 slot dust cover(s)
– 2 x Short fan screw(s)
– 4 x Long fan screw(s)
– 3 x Thermistor cable(s)
– 1 x back I/O dust frame
– 1 x back I/O dust grid
– 1 x connector dust cover collection (On board USB 3.0, DVI, HDMI, DP, LAN)
– 2 x On board USB 2.0 connector dust cover(s)
– 8 x back I/O USB 2.0 connector dust cover(s)
– 7 x On board SATA connector dust cover(s)
– 1 x SATA Express conector dust cover(s)
– 5 x Audio connector dust cover(s)

BIOS

 64 Mb Flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.7, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0, Multi-language BIOS,
ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3, My Favorites, Quick Note, Last Modified log, F12 PrintScreen, F3 Shortcut functions, and ASUS DRAM SPD (Serial Presence Detect) memory information

Manageability

 WfM 2.0, DMI 2.7, WOL by PME, PXE

Support Disc

 Drivers
Anti-virus software (OEM version)
ASUS/TUF CPU-Z
ASUS Utilities

Form Factor

 ATX Form Factor
12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm )
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