ASUS SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 – Reporting For Duty !

Final Thought & Conclusion

Performance:

The SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 is a top performer. After spending time getting to know the board and it’s capabilities we are beyond curious to see the level of results the overclocking community achieves when pushing the hardware to it’s outer limits and becoming effective with ASUS Pro Clock technology, a dedicated BCLK generator working with the ASUS TPU that does indeed open up an “Exciting new way to boost performance to extreme heights.” From the hardware to the software everything about the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 is performance driven.

Quality:

The quality of the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 is at a level we generally don’t see in motherboards at this price category. This aspect going hand and hand with all others. The SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 is a top performer because the hardware is top quality, the hardware is top quality because of the level of innovation, that innovation has led to a great features, all these aspects combined has produced a solid value, but all those things come back to the base quality of a product, the weakest link in the chain decides the final quality of the result, luckily in this instance our metaphorical chain was forged by Cromwell the Master Smith out of meteoric ore. Metaphors aside the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 is literally one of the highest quality motherboards we’ve seen hit the market.

Innovation:

Being that the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 is the only mother board on the market to feature the TUF thermal armor as well as other features that can only be found with the TUF series, such as a slew of great software, the SABERTOOTH certainly scores high in the innovation category. We classify the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 as a rule maker, as opposed to a rule breaker. ASUS set out on a mission many years ago to create another level of motherboard, the TUF motherboard, since that time they have consistently improved upon the design, a new design, which they are writing the book for, which screams innovation.

Features:

The ASUS SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 has more features than a Saturday night matinee, the list just keeps going on and on. Mind you these are not just superficial options but rather well thought out logical options that truly give the user choices and control. One of the greatest features we enjoyed about the Sabertooth is that all the features work flawlessly. When we went to use a specific feature, they worked with no troubles and did exactly what they are supposed to do, which isn’t always the case in testing, we did not run into any obvious design flaws. We’re also considering the auto OC capability of the Sabertooth a feature, for the entry level end user the Sabertooth’s ability to overclock on its own is like pure gold. Overclocking can sometimes mean hours of trial and error, overclocking on the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 was so easy it almost felt like cheating. For the serious overclockers, smile, every feature is there for you to control and take your system to the pinnacle of its abilities.

Value:

When purchasing a product, especially PC components, it’s nice to know that the company, in this case ASUS, has subjected that product to a more rigorous beat down than you should ever feel inclined to. ASUS smashes, bends, warps, and otherwise destroys SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 motherboards to ensure when it gets to your hands you’ve got a certified TUF product that will last the test of time and countless LAN parties. Value comes in many forms, for us the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 is the full value package, it has functionality, it’s jam packed with logical design, factoring feature availability it’s pretty future proof. Than there is the peace of mind, if in the unlikely event you experience a hardware failure anomaly, (we are fairly convinced we could drop the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 off a building and it still function) ASUS has you covered with a 5 year warranty. How do you put a value on something that is essentially in a class of it’s own? Currently at time of publishing the Sabertooth is on the market for $269 which surprises us as even if the Mark 1 was into the >300$ range we would still recognize it as a great value considering what you get and what it can do.

Summary:

It is truly a joy having the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 in the lab. All around it is an elite product. Packed with features and accessories found nowhere else, top notch hardware, design, and performance make it a gold level product. We are still surprised consumers can get everything the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 has to offer for <$300, $269 at time of publishing. If you are considering a new Z170 motherboard the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 should certainly be at the top of your contender list. We have awarded the Bjorn3D.com Gold award as the Sabertooth is ready to hold it’s own with the top dogs on the market and surpass many in feature level, all while at a price point that we find very reasonable considering the full package and the impression it left on our lab.