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Testing & Methodology
Before we began testing the Asus TUF Sabertooth X99 the test system was formatted, and Windows 8.1 x64 was installed. When the Windows installation was complete, we fully updated the OS, and installed the drivers necessary for our components. Auto-Updating and Windows Defender were then disabled and we installed all of our benchmarking software, performed a disk clean-up, cleared any prefetch and temp data, and ran the tests. Each test was ran 3 times  then we averaged the three runs and report that average here. If any one run was to far out of range we toss the errant score and run the test again.
Test Rig
| Test Rig “Hexzilla” |
|
| Case Type | CoolerMaster Haf 935 |
| CPU | Intel Haswell-E 5820k 3.3GHz |
| Motherboard | Asus TUF Sabertooth |
| Ram | Kingston Fury 2400 MHz (15 – 15 -15) |
| CPU Cooler | SilverStone Tundra TD02-E |
| Hard Drives | Kingston Preditor 480GB PCI-E SSD (primary OS) 2 x Crucial MX 100 SSD 1 x Two TB Seagate Platter Storage Drive |
| Optical | Asus Quiet Trac BR Liteon DVD Burner |
| GPU | XFX R9 290 |
| Case Fans | 9 Assorted Hi Flow Fans |
| Docking Stations | None |
| Testing PSU | SilverStone Gold S Series ST1500-GS |
| Legacy | None |
| Mouse | Razer Naga Chroma |
| Keyboard | Razer BlackWidow Chroma |
| Any Attempt Copy This System Configuration May Lead to Bankruptcy |
|
Benchmarks
| Benchmarks |
|---|
| SuperPi Mod 1.5 |
| Wprime 1.55 |
| PCMark 7 |
| Cinebench R11.5 |
| X264HD |
| Truecrypt 7.1 |
| Unigine Heaven 4.0 |
| Handbrake |
| AIDA64 |
OK, you win if you live in the Sonoran desert you need dust covers. But if not, it is a gimmick. I have filters on my case for that purpose.
The Sabertooth is a board designed for extreme conditions not your average every day user. It’d dust covers and prevention measures will be of some help but limited help. It just happens to be about the only option for extreme conditions. I’ve worked on machines that came back out of the Gulf War(s) laptop and desktop and you work on them sitting on a tarp because sand and debris will be pouring out, you take them outside and hit them with filtered compressor air. There’s a place for the Sabertooth it might not be your house but it’s one of the favorites of harsh condition motherboards and does in fact outlast other unprotected boards. If your not in that environment then buy an alternative by all means, if you have dust, spider web or other conditions like not planning on blowing the dust out every 6 months then maybe the Sabertooth is for you.