ASUS Z87 Sabertooth (LGA 1150) Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

At our preferred UK retailers the ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard is retailing for £185.84 and £187.99. In the USA the ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard retails for $249.99 while in Europe this motherboard costs €204.50.

Final Thoughts

We’ve taken quite an extensive look at everything the ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard has to offer and I have to say it is a very impressive motherboard. While the durability and reliability aspect isn’t something you can really benchmark the sturdy construction, high quality components and excellent thermal properties are easy to identify. The ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard is more expensive than a lot of high-end Z87 motherboards but you do get a lot more for your money.

ASUS are targeting quite a niche market because not many people are that concerned with stability, reliability and durability. Very often value for money and performance are the two things at the top of the motherboard priority list. This ASUS motherboard does sacrifice value for money in favour of durability but certainly the performance is not sacrificed at all and is as good as any other high end Z87 motherboard currently on the market. For the vast majority of Haswell K series processors this motherboard is going to be capable pushing them to their limit with high-speed memory. The basic message to take away from this review is quite clear. If you aren’t concerned with having a military-class level of reliability in your system then the ASUS Sabertooth Z87 may not be for you – as you most definitely pay extra for those durability features. However, for those who are maybe put off by the complexity of the Sabertooth’s design and software set-up it is worth noting that the motherboard does give you the flexibility to constantly monitor all aspects of your systems status or alternatively to just forget about it and let it run. Either way you’ve got a really solid motherboard that is going to last you absolutely ages, and if it doesn’t then ASUS have got you covered with a 5 year warranty anyway.

The Z87 Sabertooth also delivers very well in other areas. ASUS provide bucket loads of connectivity in terms of SATA, PCI Express, USB 3.0 and even the audio implementation is fantastic for onboard audio. Realtek’s ALC1150, when implemented properly, has shown itself capable of rivalling low-end sound cards and certainly ASUS have done a great job with the Sabertooth Z87 in terms of audio. The rest of the features we’ve covered are all pretty much mainstays of high-end ASUS motherboards such as the fantastic UEFI BIOS that allows you to customise as much, or as little, as you want.

The only things I might be able to call ASUS out on for not delivering are relatively minor and in most cases not that relevant. For example, the motherboard has no onboard buttons which means any troubleshooting and out-of-case tinkering is going to be a little on the tricky side. Then again most people are going to put this in a case once they’ve got it up and running so what does that matter? Additionally some might be disappointed by a lack of wireless connectivity – there’s no NFC, no WiFi, no Bluetooth and so on. There is of course Gigabit LAN, and let’s face it if you’re buying this motherboard you probably won’t care for that kind of Wireless connectivity. If you do you’ll still be able to connect to your PC via your local home WiFi network and router using the ASUS Remote GO! software package.

Pros

• Clean Aesthetics
• Extensive thermal controls and customisation
• Abundant SATA and USB connectivity
• Rigid and Sturdy Design
• High Quality components
• Well fleshed out software package
• Great accessory package
• High Performance Z87 motherboard
• Solid Overclocker
• 5 Year Warranty
• Excellent UEFI BIOS

Cons

• Lack of Wireless connectivity
• Thermal Armour may obstruct some larger CPU heatsinks
• Bit pricey
• 35mm motherboard fans can get noisy if not forced to a low RPM
• Some may find the Thermal Armour a bit “gimmicky”
• Only one USB 3.0 header

“The ASUS Z87 Sabertooth is a wonderful piece of engineering that brings a breath of fresh air to the motherboard market – it is great to see a motherboard vendor take an innovative approach to motherboard design that focuses on something other than performance (not to say that this doesn’t have performance because it has loads of it!). If you’re looking for a durable, reliable and well built piece of quality computer kit that is going to last you ages then the ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard should be right up your street. The Sabertooth Z87 motherboard is the Swiss Army Knife of the motherboard market.”

Thanks to ASUS for providing this review sample.