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Intel have a busy month in April, launching their 3rd generation processors within a couple of weeks time. Today however they release their much awaited Z77 platform, with a raft of motherboards hitting the market from all their partners. Under NDA we have to wait until a later date to publish next generation Core i5/i7 results, so today we will take a look at one of the many boards we have in our labs when paired up with a Core i7 2600k.
The Asus Sabretooth Z77 looks to be another quality product from ASUS and we will overclock it to the limit and pair it up with an overclocked Asus GTX680.
This hasn't been the smoothest product launch for Intel as their Z77 NDA has been breached by some publications clamoring for hits and even some retailers. This means that performance results, detailed photographs and descriptions are already in the wild and have been for many weeks. On Friday for instance many of the UK retail stores such as Scan, Aria and Overclockers decided to launch Z77 sales.
The Asus Sabertooth Z77 motherboard supports Quad SLI and Quad Crossfire and uses an interesting ‘Thermal Armor' cover to enhance cooling and improve reliability under stressful conditions. The Sabertooth Z77 also features ASUS exclusive pioneering Dual Intelligent Processors 3 with SMART DIGI+ Power Control where 2 dedicated chips, the TPU and EPU provide an auto overclock and save energy through optimized power management, significantly boosting performance.
Overview:
Asus Exclusive Innovations:
- SMART DIGI+ Power Control
- Fan Xpert+
- Network iControl
- USB BIOS Flashback
- USB 3.0 Boost
- AI Suite II
Innovations:
- Quad GPU AMD CrossfireX – a flawless architecture accommodating the power of up to four graphics cards
- LudicLogix Virtu MVP – boots responsiveness, improves gaming frame rates by 30-70% and sharpens visual quality
I love the heatsink idea with the cover, but it looks like it might block some of the bigger CPU coolers, hard to tell going on the information but it looks tight near the top of the board.
Great review. So, it did or didn’t OC stable to 5Ghz with the H100?
Thanks for a great review!
I have a couple of questions about this motherboard with a Noctua NH-D14 cooler – firstly if it fits and secondly if the motherboard is able to control the Noctua fan speeds (they are 3 pin fans, not PWM).
yeah 5ghz is stable with one of the samples I have, but they all vary. 4.8ghz is best all round spot with less voltage and a cheaper cooler (for most people anyway).
If you give me a few days ill try with a D14, didnt for the review, but I have one in another drawer.
Great! Thanks =)
Zardon. Any new about the D14, with this board? Its compatible?
I’m getting this board and want to know, would the Thermalright Silver Arrow cpu cooler fit above the TUF Armor? With two 140mm fans attached?
Hi there, the NH D14 fits – but its close. As for the question on the Silver Arrow CPU cooler, I dont have one here, but ill try and get hold of one.
Thanks for the quick answer. Hopefully it will since the D14 fits. But this pic has me really concerned:
http://www.overclockers.ru/images/lab/2010/11/25/391_thermalright_silver_arrow_onmobo_big.jpg
Actually looking at that, it looks as if it would fit. I can’t guarantee it, but I have the board at the same angle on the desk here and it looks as if it would fit fine.
Remember, I know its not ideal, but you can remove the protective shell in a worst case scenario, so the board isnt redundant if there are some fitting issues.
Since the looks of TUF armor are one of the reasons why I want that mobo It would be a waste to remove it. Also I heard that it cools well with the 2 small fans, and I don’t mind a little bit of noise. If the Silver Arrow wouldn’t fit, I’d get a Corsair H100 and normal RAM with heatsinks, so that’s why I wanted to know in advance. According to reviews the H100 is behind by a few degrees and is also more expensive, so I wanna have the Silver Arrow which is currently the best no-maintenance cooler, if it would fit.
Quote: “Quad GPU AMD CrossfireX – a flawless architecture accommodating the power of up to four graphics cards” /Quote
So where do Install the 4 graphics cards?
I see 3 slots
I think they do that, saying quad is possible with two cards, but its actually tri crossfire
did you downclock your RAM to OC? page 4 bottom pic. RAM speed=800 mhz…
Thats 1,600mhz. its how DDR3 memory is reported in those programs Matt.