Overclocking and Conclusion
Overclocking
To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 motherboard, we attempted to push it to known CPU-supported performance parameters with minimal tweaking. While we were able to push the CPU to a 4.67GHz clock speed with a 4.5GHz ring bus speed, we were unable to get the board to run at a base clock speed any higher than 167MHz. When lowered the base clock to its default 100MHz, we were able to push the memory speed to an impressive 3200MHz with the CPU and ring bus running at 4.5GHz. All overclocking sessions remained stable for over 4hrs. System stability was tested running the AIDA64 stability test in conjunction with EVGA's OC Scanner X graphical benchmark running at 1280×1024 resolution and 8x MSAA in stress test mode. Note that 16GB (2 x 8GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2666 and 16GB (4 x 4GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests.
167MHz Base Clock Stats
100MHz Base Clock Stats with 3200MHz Memory
Note that this is is meant only as a quick preview of the board's performance potential. With more time to tweak the settings to a greater extent, pushing to a higher base clock and ring bus speed may have been achievable, in addition to an overnight stability run without issue.
Performance
The Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 motherboard does the TUF series name proud with stability and performance matching that of the upper-tier boards. ASUS also did a phenomenal job in integrating the on-board devices into the board, all performing well within rated specs.
Pricing
As of March 01, the Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 motherboard was available at Amazon.com for $229.99 with Prime shipping. The board was also available from Newegg.com for $229.99 and from B&H for $229.99 with free shipping.
Conclusion
The Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 motherboard is another feather in ASUS' ever-growing hat and represents the best out of their evolutionary Sabertooth motherboard line to date. The board features an updated version of the TUF Thermal armor, offering full board coverage and increased strength over previous iterations as well as the inclusion of tow optional fans in the kit. The amount of integrated features and included accessories is astounding, making the board worth every penny. Did I mention the ability to create a RAIDed PCIe x4 M.2 set? And the on-board M.2 slot as well as the battery remain hidden yet accessible under a removable panel, giving the drive some protection while maintaining the slick look of the board.
As much as it pains me to say it, the Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 did have one potentially troublesome design challenge – the space provided around the CPU for CPU hold down mounts. As shown below, the Noctua NH-D15’s mounting cage could not be mounted in its standard configuration because of fit issues between it and the wall of the Thermal Armor covering the VRM heat sink to the right of the CPU socket. While the cage could be mounted in the horizontal orientation (instead of its default vertical orientation), this could be potentially problematic from some system builds.
Strengths
- Stock performance
- Price
- Overclocking performance and potential
- Board aesthetics, layout, and design
- Dual PCIe x4 M.2 RAID potential
- Inclusion of ASUS HyperM.2 X4 PCIe card
- Accessible PCIe x1 slot under most operating conditions
- Motherboard manual hardware details
- UEFI BIOS design and usability
- Dual GigE network controller performance
- M.2 and CMOS battery placement and hidden access panel
- Innovative QLED indication status interface
Weaknesses
- Incompatibility with Noctua NH-D15 mounting cage in default vertical orientation
- Lack of Application information in included manual – updated version available for download online
- ASMedia controlled SATA port performance
two additional Weaknesses:
two additional Weaknesses: disgusting sli bridge and two small fans 😉
On my Z77 Sabertooth I had to
On my Z77 Sabertooth I had to force the fans off (horribly whiny things even on lowest speed), and the ONLY way was with the Asus fan software (BIOS settings won’t turn off).
Then I upgraded past Windows 7 and discovered no fan software! Luckily the W7 software worked for W8 and W10.
Now I don’t know how quiet the fans are but if at all noisy they need to rethink things.
Slower, quiet Assist fans would be a LOT better than the only two choices:
1. ON – annoying noise, or
2. OFF – no air flow
*I did set my fans to come on if temp goes above 50degC for the chipset (which for me is rarely), as well as 1 minute after turn off, but MOST people probably wouldn’t figure that out easily.
AH but did morry bend the
AH but did morry bend the pins?
Bend the pins on what? I
Bend the pins on what? I don't do that on purpose 😉
How can it say it has quad
How can it say it has quad SLi/CFX support with only 3 PCIE Slots
quad support = 2 x dual GPU
quad support = 2 x dual GPU cards…
I expect Star Citizen to
I expect Star Citizen to eventually support four GPU’s via DX12 fairly efficiently.
Maybe a Pascal card similar to 2xGTX980Ti each, with DX12 using four GPU’s for each frame.
(8GB VRAM per GPU would mean 8GB usable for AFR or up to 32GB usable for SFR)
There must be bins filled
There must be bins filled with SATA Express connectors at their manufacturing facilities they’re just trying to get rid of.
just trying to remind people
just trying to remind people about RAID
The led light on my mouse
The led light on my mouse continues to stay on when I shut down my computer. I tried going in to my BIOS and Ai Tweaker and turn the EPU Power Saving Mode to disabled to Enabled, but that didn’t help. How can I fix this issue?