ASUS Sabertooth 55i Review

ASUS Sabertooth 55i

This badboy is the first in TUF (The Ultimate Force) line of motherboards by ASUS. TUF Motherboards have military standard durability meaning they can take a lot of shit, and will (most likely) not let you down. The Sabertooth board itself has a great layout and rugged features which gives it a legitimate look and the camo colour theme (not tiger theme) is sexual. Combined with some rather impressive performance results this board makes a real winner.
Anywho, Less of Aesthetics this is one of the new Socket LGA 1156 boards making it compatible with Intel’s newest baby the i5 and the i7 processors! The quality of the board is really expressed by the toughness (or TUFness) of its parts, for example the capacitors resistant to shock, vibration, temperature, moisture and salt tested. Salt tested may not seem important but for those who live on the coast your capacitors will survive even if the rest of your computer sadly does not.

Overall I’d give this Motherboard a 4/5 or a 8.5/10 as it does really float my boat.. but you do have to pay quite a bit for the extra quality. But as far as Motherboards go ASUS knocks out another high quality one! Full specifications will follow!

Here are the full specifications.
CPU
Intel® Socket 1156 Core™ i7 Processor/Core™ i5 Processor
Supports Intel® Turbo Boost Technology

Chipset
Intel® P55 Express Chipset

Memory
4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 2000/1800/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel memory architecture
Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
*Hyper DIMM support is subject to the physical characteristics of individual CPUs. Some hyper DIMMs only support one DIMM per channel. Refer to Memory QVL (Qualified Vendors List) for details.
**Please visit www.asus.com or refer to the user manual for the Memory QVL.

Expansion Slots
2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (single at x16 or dual at x8/x8 mode)
3 x PCIe 2.0 x1 (2.5GT/s)
2 x PCI

Multi-GPU Support
Supports NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ Technology
Supports ATI® Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ Technology

Storage
Intel® P55 Express Chipset built-in
6 xSATA 3.0 Gb/s ports (black)
Intel Matrix Storage Technology Support RAID 0,1,5,10
JMicron® JMB363 PATA and SATA controller
1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices
1 xExternal SATA (SATA On-the-Go)
JMicron® JMB322 (DriveXpert Technology) :
- 2 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports (orange and white )
- Supports EZ Backup and SuperSpeed functions
*Drive Xpert function is available only when the hard disk drives are set as data drives

LAN
Realtek® 8112L PCIe Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET2

Audio
VIA® VT2020 10-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Absolute Pitch BD192/24 featuring ENVY HD
- DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC
- Supports Jack-Detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-Retasking
- Optical S/PDIF out port at back I/O
- ASUS Noise Filter

IEEE 1394
VIA® 6308P controller supports 2 x 1394a port(s) (one at mid-board; one at back panel)

USB
14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 8 ports at back panel)

ASUS Unique Features
Exclusive TUF Features
"TUF ENGINE!" Power Design
- 12-phase CPU Power
- 2-phase Memory Power
- 2-phase VTT_CPU Power
- E.S.P. : Efficient Switching Power Design for 3VSB/1.8V/1.05V
- TUF Cap. & MOSFET (certified by military-standard)
"Ultimate COOL!" Thermal Solution
- CeraM!X Heatsink Coating Tech.
- CoolMem!
- T.Probe Technology
- ASUS Fan Xpert
"Safe & Stable!" Guardian Angel
- MemOK!
- Drive Xpert
- ESD Guards
- EMI Eliminator

Special Features
ASUS Q-Connector
ASUS Q-Shield
ASUS Q-LED (CPU, DRAM, VGA, Boot Device LED)
ASUS Q-Slot
ASUS Q-DIMM
ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
ASUS EZ Flash 2
ASUS MyLogo 2
ASUS O.C. Profile
Multi-language BIOS
Back Panel I/O Ports
1 x PS/2 Keyboard (Purple)
1 x PS/2 mouse port (Green)
1 x Optical S/PDIF Output
1 x IEEE1394a
1 x LAN (RJ45) port
1 x External SATA port
8 x USB 2.0/1.1
10-channel Audio I/O

Internal I/O Connectors
3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports
1 x IDE connector
6 x SATA connectors
1 x IEEE 1394a connector
1 x CPU Fan connector
1 x Power Fan connector
2 x Drive Xpert SATA connectors (orange and white)
2 x Chassis Fan connector (1x4-pin, 1x3-pin)
1 x Mem Fan connector
1 x COM port

Front panel audio connector
1 x S/PDIF Out Header
CD audio in
24-pin ATX Power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector
System Panel(Q-Connector)
1 x MemOK! button
1 x Power on switch
1 x Reset switch

BIOS
16 Mb Flash ROM , AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.5, ACPI 2.0a,

Manageability
WfM 2.0,DMI 2.0,WOL by PME,WOR by PME,PXE

Accessories
User's manual
1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
6 x SATA cable(s)
1 x 2-port USB and eSATA module
CoolMem Fan Frame
ASUS Q-Shield
2 in 1 Q-connector
1 x ASUS SLI bridge connector
Support Disc
Drivers
Anti-virus software (OEM version)
ASUS Update
ASUS Utilities

Form Factor
ATX Form Factor
12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm )