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Asus Z87 Sabertooth Motherboard Review (w/ Intel i7 4770k)

Dirt Showdown is the latest title in the franchise from Codemasters, based around the famous Colin McRae racing game series, although it no longer uses his name, since he passed away in 2007.

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We configured the game to use high quality image settings, as shown above. We use the built in benchmark to get accurate, repeatable results for these specific tests.

We like to use settings that enthusiast users would adopt themselves. No one plays the latest Direct X 11 titles at 1024×768 with low IQ, especially with this expensive flagship hardware.

Both Core i7 systems are running at 4.5ghz on ASUS motherboards with 2,400mhz memory and the same GTX670 graphics card. It is not completely scientific, but as close as we can match. We use the built in benchmark to get accurate, repeatable results for these specific tests.
dirt showdown
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The 4770k comes out on top, by a small margin. This wouldn't be noticeable in the real world.

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12 comments

  1. Terrible Terrance

    Is the tuf armor not restrictive though? seems to block a lot of the spots id like to get access too.

  2. THe previous generations of this board have been superb, ive owned a few. My last one failed when I spilt coke over the top of my case and a bit of it hit the pcb. my own fault.

    Not got the cash right now for an upgrade but will be later in the year. this is top of my list.

  3. Not really that exciting a board – but rock solid. I want to see the ROG versions.

  4. ITs a great board, what are you talking about Anusha. Its a more laid back colour scheme, hardly matters, most of it will be covered in a system build.

    I do want tsee the ultra high end asus boards though.

  5. 4770k is a bit of a let down unless I couldnt afford a graphics card.

    overall nice board, but im happy with my 5.0ghz 3770k

  6. 4770k is a flop. Intel are clearly focused on the mobile platform now and power reduction rather than moving forward in the high end and giving people a huge step up. anyone with a 3770k wont need to move,unless for some reason they need onboard graphics !

    disappointing CPU launch, but great motherboards from the guys. I like how they have ditched the old SATA standard now instead of 3 or 4 useless ports for SSD.

  7. 4770k isn’t that bad, but I agree, its not a huge step forward. it may help those peoplee who buy a lower end processor and cant afford a graphics card, but who the F*CK will want a 4770k for onboard graphics performance? its irrelevant really.

    Ive seen a lot of reviews today and there seems to be a huge variance on the overclocks, which would suggest the new manufacturing process isn’t quite at the level it should be. ill stay with my 3570k for a while longer as its working well with the 7950 I have.

  8. How can it support Quad-SLI with only three PCI slots?

  9. @ Billy. some nvidia cards have two GPU’s, so two of them in a pairing – quad SLI.

  10. Example…..:

    2x GTX 690 = 2×2 GPU = Quad-SLI
    4x GTX Titan = 4×1 GPU = 4Way-SLI

  11. I guess the motherboard manufacturers will be really pi55ed about the “huge” sales coming their way lol. If I were them I’d play a little with Intel for the next chipsets. Intel is going down as they follow their ambitions rather the market. They should let ARM alone and focus on the categories that made them what they are.

    It’s really scary reading about all that heat coming off and about that 100i that can hardly keep up at 4.5GHz+. What about the box cooler??!

    A board packed for OC is an useless piece of cr0p when OC is impossible. Now it’s AMD move, if they have a single ace up their sleeve they’d better be pulling it. It’s time…