When a system builder has the opportunity to vary their design, a number of factors can come into play. Some want performance, aesthetics, low noise, small form factor, or a long term system. For that last one, ASUS offers the TUF range (The Ultimate Force) of motherboards with 5 year warranties and engineering to warrant it. Today we have the latest member of the group aimed at the high end platform for review, the ASUS TUF X99 Sabertooth.
An increasing element of recent motherboard design is control. Enthusiasts want access to everything, and the ability to adjust and monitor it all becomes a high priority. This means more temperature sensors, upgraded fan controls, the ability to see what's in the system while in the case, and by extension the ability to run in lower power modes for long periods of time without worrying about the elements or at high power modes at long periods of time also. ASUS first introduced the TUF line back with X58 to answer this question, and we've reviewed several models since. The newest iteration to the concept is the X99 Sabertooth.
Straight away, the body armor is hard to miss. This is designed to allow the motherboard to take up to 10kgs of mass without warping, and we recently toured the ASUS HQ to see the armor being twist/torque tested.
This is paired with dust guards for all the PCIe slots, onboard headers and ports to avoid the buildup of dust or sand (depending on your location). The armor doubles as an aesthetic cover, with ASUS pursuing a military-esque camouflage design as a subconscious need to a military-grade philosophy (although others might argue it doesn't actually come with military certification). Underneath the cover ASUS claims to use server grade components that are tested to a higher standard beyond that of standard motherboards - this all contributes to the ability to offer a 5 year warranty (in most regions) over the standard 3 year warranty for a motherboard.
This is combined with 10 temperature sensors on board and 10/11 fan headers allowing for both DC and PWM control. Users can also add three temperature sensors using the bundled thermocouples for other elements in the system build. Using the bundled software, the fans can be set to dynamically react to the different temperature sensors (or a ratio combo therein) and redirect the airflow to where it is needed. The body armor helps direct airflow around the power delivery as well, with an option small fan for the rear panel. The software interacts directly with ASUS’ ‘TUF’ chip onboard to provide the interaction and control.
Aside from the longevity and monitoring aspect of the system, the X99 Sabertooth also has a pair of USB 3.1 ports provided via an ASMedia ASM1142 controller, dual Ethernet (Intel I218-V and Realtek 8111GR), an enhanced Realtek ALC1150 audio codec solution, a single SATA Express port and M.2 PCIe support. It is worth noting that the use of the M.2 slot disables the final PCIe slot. The M.2 slot is also the first recipient of ASUS’ Hyper Kit which allows for conversion from M.2 to U.2 (the new name for SFF-8639), which we test in this review with an Intel SSD 750 drive. Elsewhere on the board, a Thunderbolt header is provided for add-in cards, and a TPM header for enterprise scenarios.
The TUF range of motherboards from ASUS typically doesn’t push the boat in terms of over-the-base functionality, but incorporates a set of measures to aid the lifespan of the system instead. As a result, it is nice to see USB 3.1 and the Hyper Kit support above the normal, alongside the extra fan/temperature control rather than an overclocking focus. It still ends up on the cheap side of X99 as well, coming in at $310.
Most motherboards are ultimately sold in pre-built systems of low and mediocre quality, filling in the cheap system hole when businesses need several hundred systems and don’t want to pay a cent more than they have to. As a result, anyone that has had to dig through a computer components bin knows that quality can be low, design can be shoddy and aesthetics are the ultimate afterthought. The X99 Sabertooth isn’t likely to change any of this, especially aimed more at the home-build and one-off system designs, but it tackles each of these areas. Taking it out of the box and the first thing to notice is the combined weight and rigidity provided by the Thermal Armor.
The Armor is still ultimately a plastic design, but it uses a hard plastic interconnected through the board with metallic elements. A pure steel (or aluminium) design might not be so cost effective and weigh as much as a chassis. But the armor does cover up a lot of the motherboard to avoid dust but it also gives a clean overall look. The bits of the PCB we do see are either clean such as the socket area, or heavily in use such as the bottom of the motherboard.
The X99 Sabertooth isn’t designed to be a bastion of overclocking, but the use of the OC socket and upgraded components is designed to help improve frequencies. For fan headers, this board has a total of 10, all 4-pin, with a side fan header as well in the top left. As long as the cables reach, each header should be fully configurable.
The Sabertooth comes with sets of PCIe, DRAM and port guards such that when not in use they can be cordoned off and restrict dust/sand entering the ports. On the right hand side we get a USB 3.0 header in-between the fan headers, followed by the SATA ports. The board has 10 SATA ports, six RAID capable and four non-RAID, and despite the image above it only has one SATA Express port. It looks like it has two, but only the top SATA Express extra part works.
Below the chipset is the M.2 slot, hidden until a screw is removed and revealed. This is an M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, affording a full 32 Gbps bandwidth for devices up to 110mm. As part of this review, ASUS also sent its Hyper Kit which changes the M.2 to a U.2 connector for the Intel SSD 750:
In order to enable the drive, the appropriate BIOS switch has to be used. In this orientation, the drive can be booted from, but the OS has to be installed via a UEFI install. This means there has to be the appropriate boot profile in the OS, which most modern versions of Windows have (though my Windows 7 SP1 install did not).
Using the Hyper Kit also affords another issue, especially when a second GPU is being used that has a heatpipe along the bottom such as the ASUS GTX 980 Strix:
Because the heatpipe is blocked from its normal area by the connector, the card is not fully in the PCIe slot and does not lock down. When tested with the card vertical, we didn’t have an issue and all the pins in the slot were connected, although having the card horizontal would mean it should be fixed firmly to the PCIe bracket on the case.
On the bottom of the motherboard we get the front panel audio header, a Thunderbolt header, a COM header, three of the fan headers, a TPM header, another USB 3.0 header, two USB 2.0 headers and the front panel header. Note that sometimes the text on the bottom does not always line up with the port due to lack of space. It is also worth noting on the top of this image is the supplied rear IO fan which is an optional addition included with the motherboard but up to the consumer to manually add.
The rear IO panel also has dust protectors included in the box.
The rear panel has four USB 2.0 ports, a TUF Detective USB port (connect with a smartphone and use an app to get system information), a USB Flashback/BIOS reset button, two USB 3.1 ports via an ASMedia ASM1142 controller, four USB 3.0 ports via a hub, an Intel I218-V Ethernet port, a Realtek 8111G Ethernet port and audio jacks.
There are a number of promotional slides to go along with some of ASUS’ features which are included with the following gallery, such as extra electrostatic protection.
ASUS TUF X99 Sabertooth
Price
US
Size
ATX
CPU Interface
LGA2011-3
Chipset
Intel X99
Memory Slots
Eight DDR4 DIMM slots supporting up to 64 GBUp to Quad Channel, 2133/2400 MHz
Video Outputs
None
Network Connectivity
Intel I218-VRealtek 8111GR
Onboard Audio
Realtek ALC1150
Expansion Slots
3 x PCIe 3.0 x16- 40 Lane CPU: x16, x16/x16, x16/x16/x8- 28 Lane CPU: x16, x16/x8, x16/x8/x41 x PCIe 2.0 x4 (in x2)1 x PCIe 2.0 x1
Onboard Storage
6 x SATA 6 Gbps, RAID 0/1/5/104 x S_SATA 6 Gbps, no RAID1 x SATA Express1 x M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4)* M.2 Shares bandwidth with final PCIe slot
USB 3.0 / USB 3.1
2 x USB 3.0 Headers (Chipset)4 x USB 3.0 Rear Ports (Chipset via Hub)2 x USB 3.1 Rear Ports Type-A (ASMedia ASM1142)
Onboard
10 x SATA 6 Gbps Ports1 x SATA Express1 x M.2 PCIe2 x USB 3.0 Headers2 x USB 2.0 Headers10 x Fan Headers1 x Fan Breakout HeaderTPM HeaderCOM HeaderThuberbolt HeaderMemOK Button3 x Thermistor PointsFront Panel HeaderFront Audio Header
Power Connectors
1 x 24-pin ATX1 x 8-pin CPU1 x 4-pin XPU
Fan Headers
1 x CPU (4-pin)1 x CPU OPT (4-pin)4 x CHA (4-pin)4 x ASST (4-pin)1 x ASST_FAN5 (4-pin breakout)
IO Panel
4 x USB 2.04 x USB 3.01 x USB TUF Detective1 x Ethernet (Intel I218V)1 x Ethernet (Realtek 8111GR)2 x USB 3.1 Type-A (ASMedia ASM1142)Audio Jacks (Realtek ALC1150)BIOS Reset button
Warranty Period
5 Years
Product Page
Link
Two clear features standout with every TUF motherboard – the number of fan headers and the extended 5-year warranty.
ASUS’ BIOS implementation has been getting a good reception as of late. The trend for motherboard vendors is towards having both a simple mode and an advanced mode for new and seasoned users respectively, although there is a gap between what level of interactivity each mode should have (and how it is implemented). Ultimately one of the purposes of moving from the standard ‘BIOS’ to a graphical ‘UEFI’ several years ago was to improve interactivity rather than being a simple list of options – that is still to be realized, but we are getting there. For clarity, we use BIOS is an overall term for the F2/Del entry system into the CMOS, although the latest editions also fall under the EFI (extensible firmware interface) definition as well.
The first screen up on entry is the EZ mode. This features a significant amount of information: the motherboard name, the BIOS version, the CPU installed, the frequency of that CPU, the total amount of DRAM installed, the speed of that DRAM, a graph of CPU temperature (helpful if you forget to plug in the CPU fan), the CPU voltage, the motherboard temperature, a breakdown per-module of the DRAM installed, a button to enable XMP with a couple of clicks, a breakdown per-port of the SATA drives installed, the ability to enable RST with one click, a breakdown per-fan of the fan speeds, a graph showing the fan profile of the CPU fan header, a button to enter fan controls, a quick system tuning option, a configurable boot priority list and at the top a button for an EZ Tuning Wizard. As the guy that fixes hardware at home and for family, this is the information you need on entry to help diagnose issues without looking in the case.
Most of the interactivity from a BIOS comes from the fan controls, and here ASUS offers a two point gradient settings for its fans. Users can either use the presets or do a manual configuration as shown above. Any settings applied in the operating system software override these, although the BIOS settings take into account any situation when the OS software is not present/fails.
The EZ Tuning Wizard at the top of EZ Mode allows new users to configure a quick overclock or RAID array by following the on screen commands. For the overclock, the system asks the type of usage (gaming/everyday use) and the cooling being used:
Before giving an overclock estimate based on the hardware installed and a final option to attempt implementation.
Pressing F7 moves the user into the advanced mode, which from a list perspective is similar to how vintage BIOSes are used. ASUS has updated the list with a few tweaks, such as adding information about the system on the right hand side and a description of the selected option at the bottom. There is also the My Favorites feature to the left of this Main tab which allows users (particularly overclockers) quick access to user-selected settings.
For overclockers the main interface here is AI Tweaker, giving a long list of options from frequencies, DRAM options, voltages and other tweaks. One suggestion I’d like to put to ASUS is the top four options listed here – when I select an option further down, I have to scroll back up to see the difference it will make. These four options are best served on the right hand side with the Hardware Monitor section.
ASUS is usually proud of its DRAM compatibility and overclocking, especially with the OC socket, so there are over five pages of DRAM settings to sift through for enthusiasts. At the bottom of this are a few options worth noting:
With the X99 platform, DRAM needs to be extensively ‘trained’ to ensure proper operation. This means adjusting internal settings and configuring internal voltage points based on the DRAM age, temperature and other factors. This process takes around 10 seconds on the X99 platform at POST, giving POST times around 20-25 seconds. This can be shortened by the options listed above, by disabling some of the training, though it might result in more failed POSTs or instability over time. For completeness at least, or specific use cases, these options are included nonetheless.
Digital power options are also here, including options to adjust the thermal control of the CPU and power phases.
The Advanced options list contains the regular set of options such as core count, HyperThreading, power states, PCIe speed and VT-d (disabled by default). There are a few things to note however – in order to enable the Hyper Kit for the Intel SSD 750, the PCH Storage Configuration menu must be selected:
When enabled, the NVMe Configuration option will list the drive:
This drive is then bootable from the Boot sub-menu.
The Advanced menu also allows the USB ports to be enabled or disabled individually to deter random input of drives or in the event that one stack of ports is shorted. The USB 3.1 ports can be controlled in the Onboard Devices Configuration menu:
Here the controller is enabled by default, but the fast charging modes are disabled by default.
The monitor menu has the regular list of temperature sensors and fan speeds, although having 11 fan headers means a long list of them at the bottom:
It’s worth noting that this Monitor list only has one temperature sensor on it – to get details on the other 10, users have to navigate to the Thermal Radar Temperature menu:
It’s interesting to note here that the information is not all-contained, requiring users to go back and forth depending on their options. Ideally we need a screen here like the EZ Mode, or at least laid out similarly, so all the information can be presented on the screen at once. Sometimes having a bulk list like this is the least interactive way of doing things.
The Boot menu is the standard ASUS layout we’ve seen many times before, and as long as the Hyper Kit option is enabled then the Intel SSD 750 will show up here as a device to boot from. For Xeon Phi and other cards, it is worth noting that the Above 4G Decoding is listed here and disabled by default.
The Tools menu has options for flashing the BIOS as well as saving overclock profiles and DRAM SPD info. I want to point out the GPU Post option though:
We’ve seen this before on ASUS motherboards, though this is the first time (I think) that I’ve seen the ‘more’ option connected to it. Selecting this gives the GPU information:
No doubt there is a way to include this in the GPU Post menu without having to select extra options, but as far as I can understand it is a fairly new feature. It didn’t detect the DDR3 on the graphics card correctly though!
As an aside, one of the things missing from the ASUS BIOS which other companies have is a full ‘Board Explorer’ mode which gives a picture of the motherboard and highlights what is installed where. ASUS kind of has this information already in the BIOS though it is split over different menus and options, rather than in one handy place. It might be worth looking at for the future.
The final menu is the Save and Exit menu which also offers up a list of changes made since the system was booted.
The regular set of bytes reserved for ASUS’ software falls in the lap of AI Suite 3, which we’ve covered at AnandTech numerous times before. The TUF line of motherboards is in most regards similar, with fast charging and USB boost technologies included, however the main feature is no longer overclocking. Rather than promote overclocking (even on an overclockable chipset and an OC socket installed), the focus for AI Suite is monitoring and control. As a result we get Thermal Radar instead of 5-Way Optimization:
In a similar context to 5-Way Optimization though, users can either go through each option manually and adjust to their liking or use a couple of clicks and let the system configure it all for itself. On the image above, the left hand side has all the temperature sensors with the three thermistor headers at the bottom for allocation:
Because two self-build systems are rarely alike, the software also allows the configuration of each fan placement within the chassis:
After a quick test, the software will produce appropriate fan profiles for each to minimize dead zones. If you accidentally happen to put a liquid cooling pump power connector into the CPU fan, you might get a fan profile like this:
After the system is finished, the user can fine tune each setting including Fan Overtime and Dust-de-fan:
With a compatible video card, the fan on the GPU can also be controlled with acceleration and deceleration (i.e. hysteresis) time allowing the heat generated during the game to be dispelled quicker at the end of gameplay.
ASUS offers an overall assessment of the cooling capabilities of the system, along with a rating:
Fan speeds, temperatures and voltage can also be recorded in the Recorder menu option:
Similarly to the BIOS and previous AI Suite implementations, we also get access to the digital power options. It might seem odd in this circumstance to include them, but reducing the impact of the power delivery can help in reducing overall temperatures.
ASUS is also using a skinned version of cFos for network management. This allows the user to prioritize the network usage of certain programs over others by either using the presets or manual adjustment:
A more detailed set of options, such as tracking overall bandwidth usage, is also present.
Other features in the ASUS software suite include:
AI Charger: Allows quick charging on BC1.1 compliant devices on certain USB ports.USB 3.1 Boost: For suitable devices, implements a newer USB protocol to improve USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 speed.EZ Update: Connect to the web to download updates. I’ve never had it work though.System Information: Breakdown of the hardware specifications for motherboard, CPU and DRAM.USB BIOS Flashback: Prepare a USB with a BIOS for updating, or save the current BIOS.USB Charger: Allows for fast charging while in sleep/hibernate on certain ports only.Push Notice: Setup a messaging system to another device in case of system errors.
From the introduction page we’ve already pointed out that the Sabertooth comes with slot and port guards to protect against dust and sand, but the package also comes with the power delivery fan, three thermistors, six SATA cables, a Q-connector for the front panel header, a single flexi-SLI bridge, the rear IO shield, a driver disk and manuals
There wasn’t much else that ASUS could add to this box that would focus on the market this is intended for.
Many thanks to...
We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our test bed:
Thank you to AMD for providing us with the R9 290X 4GB GPUs.Thank you to ASUS for providing us with GTX 980 Strix GPUs and the R7 240 DDR3 GPU.Thank you to ASRock and ASUS for providing us with some IO testing kit.Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with Nepton 140XL CLCs.Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU.Thank you to Crucial for providing us with MX200 SSDs.Thank you to G.Skill and Corsair for providing us with memory.Thank you to MSI for providing us with the GTX 770 Lightning GPUs.Thank you to OCZ for providing us with PSUs.Thank you to Rosewill for providing us with PSUs and RK-9100 keyboards.
Test Setup
ASUS TUF X99 Sabertooth Overclocking
Experience with ASUS TUF X99 Sabertooth
The X99 Sabertooth sits between a rock and hard place when it comes to overclocking. X99 is a chipset which enables overclocking, and almost every motherboard for the platform is built to handle it. By virtue of the upgraded components leading to the 5-year warranty on the Sabertooth, one could argue that it already fulfills the requirement for being built towards holding an overclock. Nevertheless, the software does not outwardly promote overclocking, instead focusing on longevity. For a proper overclock, the BIOS has two auto-overclock options (CPU Level Up) or the full range of manual overclock settings.
Methodology
Our standard overclocking methodology is as follows. We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with PovRay and OCCT to simulate high-end workloads. These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.
For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed. The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed, and the process repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (100ºC+). Our test bed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air.
Overclock Results
Both of the automatic overclocks did well, scoring under 80C at load although arguably 3.9 GHz isn’t much to shout about. The fact that the second CPU Level Up option put the memory at DDR4-1666 C12 was a little odd as well. For manual overclocks, we were restricted by our bad CPU sample, but 4.3 GHz came easily enough before hitting 100C+ during an AVX load.
Power Consumption
Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single MSI GTX 770 Lightning GPU configuration with a wall meter connected to the OCZ 1250W power supply. This power supply is Gold rated, and as I am in the UK on a 230-240 V supply, leads to ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.
While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our test bed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers. These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.
Power consumption overall was on the good side of average, though it didn’t break any records.
Windows 7 POST Time
Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized. A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized). As part of our testing, we look at the POST Boot Time using a stopwatch. This is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows 7 starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows specific features.)
POST Time for the board was longer than most other X99 offerings, even when the Hyper Kit was not enabled. This might have something to do with all the temperature sensors and fan headers being detected and tested, along with DRAM training.
Rightmark Audio Analyzer 6.2.5
Rightmark:AA indicates how well the sound system is built and isolated from electrical interference (either internally or externally). For this test we connect the Line Out to the Line In using a short six inch 3.5mm to 3.5mm high-quality jack, turn the OS speaker volume to 100%, and run the Rightmark default test suite at 192 kHz, 24-bit. The OS is tuned to 192 kHz/24-bit input and output, and the Line-In volume is adjusted until we have the best RMAA value in the mini-pretest. We look specifically at the Dynamic Range of the audio codec used on board, as well as the Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise.
ASUS’ audio solution seems to do well in our tests.
USB Backup
For this benchmark, we transfer a set size of files from the SSD to the USB drive using DiskBench, which monitors the time taken to transfer. The files transferred are a 1.52 GB set of 2867 files across 320 folders – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are small 30 second HD videos. In an update to pre-Z87 testing, we also run MaxCPU to load up one of the threads during the test which improves general performance up to 15% by causing all the internal pathways to run at full speed.
Due to the introduction of USB 3.1, as of June 2015 we are adjusting our test to use a dual mSATA USB 3.1 Type-C device which should be capable of saturating both USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 connections. We still use the same data set as before, but now use the new device. Results are shown as seconds taken to complete the data transfer. As this way of testing is still new, we have only a few results so far.
It’s interesting to see the effect of USB 3.1 turbo on our USB test, giving a marked benefit.
DPC Latency
Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests such as audio will be further down the line. If the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled.
If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time. This can lead to an empty audio buffer and characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is taken processing DPCs from driver invocation. The lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds.
Less than 100 microseconds is a good DPC latency, although there are a number of X99 products that handily get a better result.
M.2 Hyper Kit
Due to Intel’s sampling, I happened to end up with the 2.5-inch version of the SSD 750 in hand when the X99 Sabertooth arrived. ASUS provided us with the Hyper Kit, and we went to task on the drive.
Our results pretty much match what Kristian had in his test of the PCIe device. In order to get the best speeds out of the device, we had to install Intel’s NVMe driver in the operating system as well. As noted previously in the review, in order to use this drive as a boot drive, the OS has to be installed by a UEFI enabled device and OS. My regular Windows W7 SP1 image for testing is not UEFI enabled, although a look through Google tells me that from W8 onwards all install disks should be UEFI capable. I tried with an old image of Win8 RTM and that worked fine.
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives in essence an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, memory subtimings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
For clarification, the X99 Sabertooth does not have MultiCore Turbo enabled by default.
Point Calculations – 3D Movement Algorithm Test: link
3DPM is a self-penned benchmark, taking basic 3D movement algorithms used in Brownian Motion simulations and testing them for speed. High floating point performance, MHz and IPC wins in the single thread version, whereas the multithread version has to handle the threads and loves more cores. For a brief explanation of the platform agnostic coding behind this benchmark, see my forum post here.
Compression – WinRAR 5.0.1: link
Our WinRAR test from 2013 is updated to the latest version of WinRAR at the start of 2014. We compress a set of 2867 files across 320 folders totaling 1.52 GB in size – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are small 30 second 720p videos.
Image Manipulation – FastStone Image Viewer 4.9: link
Similarly to WinRAR, the FastStone test us updated for 2014 to the latest version. FastStone is the program I use to perform quick or bulk actions on images, such as resizing, adjusting for color and cropping. In our test we take a series of 170 images in various sizes and formats and convert them all into 640x480 .gif files, maintaining the aspect ratio. FastStone does not use multithreading for this test, and thus single threaded performance is often the winner.
Video Conversion – Handbrake v0.9.9: link
Handbrake is a media conversion tool that was initially designed to help DVD ISOs and Video CDs into more common video formats. The principle today is still the same, primarily as an output for H.264 + AAC/MP3 audio within an MKV container. In our test we use the same videos as in the Xilisoft test, and results are given in frames per second.
Rendering – PovRay 3.7: link
The Persistence of Vision RayTracer, or PovRay, is a freeware package for as the name suggests, ray tracing. It is a pure renderer, rather than modeling software, but the latest beta version contains a handy benchmark for stressing all processing threads on a platform. We have been using this test in motherboard reviews to test memory stability at various CPU speeds to good effect – if it passes the test, the IMC in the CPU is stable for a given CPU speed. As a CPU test, it runs for approximately 2-3 minutes on high end platforms.
Synthetic – 7-Zip 9.2: link
As an open source compression tool, 7-Zip is a popular tool for making sets of files easier to handle and transfer. The software offers up its own benchmark, to which we report the result.
Alien: Isolation
If first person survival mixed with horror is your sort of thing, then Alien: Isolation, based off of the Alien franchise, should be an interesting title. Developed by The Creative Assembly and released in October 2014, Alien: Isolation has won numerous awards from Game Of The Year to several top 10s/25s and Best Horror titles, ratcheting up over a million sales by February 2015. Alien: Isolation uses a custom built engine which includes dynamic sound effects and should be fully multi-core enabled.
For low end graphics, we test at 720p with Ultra settings, whereas for mid and high range graphics we bump this up to 1080p, taking the average frame rate as our marker with a scripted version of the built-in benchmark.
Total War: Attila
The Total War franchise moves on to Attila, another The Creative Assembly development, and is a stand-alone strategy title set in 395AD where the main story line lets the gamer take control of the leader of the Huns in order to conquer parts of the world. Graphically the game can render hundreds/thousands of units on screen at once, all with their individual actions and can put some of the big cards to task.
For low end graphics, we test at 720p with performance settings, recording the average frame rate. With mid and high range graphics, we test at 1080p with the quality setting. In both circumstances, unlimited video memory is enabled and the in-game scripted benchmark is used.
Grand Theft Auto V
The highly anticipated iteration of the Grand Theft Auto franchise finally hit the shelves on April 14th 2015, with both AMD and NVIDIA in tow to help optimize the title. GTA doesn’t provide graphical presets, but opens up the options to users and extends the boundaries by pushing even the hardest systems to the limit using Rockstar’s Advanced Game Engine. Whether the user is flying high in the mountains with long draw distances or dealing with assorted trash in the city, when cranked up to maximum it creates stunning visuals but hard work for both the CPU and the GPU.
For our test we have scripted a version of the in-game benchmark, relying only on the final part which combines a flight scene along with an in-city drive-by followed by a tanker explosion. For low end systems we test at 720p on the lowest settings, whereas mid and high end graphics play at 1080p with very high settings across the board. We record both the average frame rate and the percentage of frames under 60 FPS (16.6ms).
GRID: Autosport
No graphics tests are complete without some input from Codemasters and the EGO engine, which means for this round of testing we point towards GRID: Autosport, the next iteration in the GRID and racing genre. As with our previous racing testing, each update to the engine aims to add in effects, reflections, detail and realism, with Codemasters making ‘authenticity’ a main focal point for this version.
GRID’s benchmark mode is very flexible, and as a result we created a test race using a shortened version of the Red Bull Ring with twelve cars doing two laps. The car is focus starts last and is quite fast, but usually finishes second or third. For low end graphics we test at 1080p medium settings, whereas mid and high end graphics get the full 1080p maximum. Both the average and minimum frame rates are recorded.
Middle-Earth: Shadows of Mordor
The final title in our testing is another battle of system performance with the open world action-adventure title, Shadows of Mordor. Produced by Monolith using the LithTech Jupiter EX engine and numerous detail add-ons, SoM goes for detail and complexity to a large extent, despite having to be cut down from the original plans. The main story itself was written by the same writer as Red Dead Redemption, and it received Zero Punctuation’s Game of The Year in 2014.
For testing purposes, SoM gives a dynamic screen resolution setting, allowing us to render at high resolutions that are then scaled down to the monitor. As a result, we get several tests using the in-game benchmark. For low end graphics we examine at 720p with low settings, whereas mid and high end graphics get 1080p Ultra. The top graphics test is also redone at 3840x2160, also with Ultra settings, and we also test two cards at 4K where possible.
X99 is still the high-end desktop platform and there is no getting away from it. Arguably you could jump in with the cheapest CPU (i7-5820K, $400), the cheapest memory (a single stick of DDR4, $30), a $32 GPU, an $18 HDD, a basic power supply and then focus on the motherboard for perhaps under $700 – but that doesn’t happen. X99 is not the platform that users attempt to scrimp towards, because the mainstream platform can get better performance and functionality for the same cost over a range of metrics. As a result, X99 aims at users who need the performance, the resources and have the wallet to match. Nonetheless, very few are willing to drop a couple of thousand every few quarters for the latest and greatest.
Update cycles for desktops are still in the 3-4 year range, or even longer for business. Failure rates are always up for discussion, though the pull between a cheaper outlay now or a potential outlay in the future is a difficult one to finalize. For end-users looking for a long term system, such as those users who are still on X58 or are early X79 adopters, finding something that fits into the long upgrade cycle while still being capable is a market that ASUS (and recently others) aims at. With the 5-year warranty, this is the aim of the TUF brand.
The 5-year warranty comes about through the promoted use of upgraded components, extra testing in the factory, and general over-engineering above the standard. For the X99 Sabertooth this means the Thermal Armor to protect against warping and port/slot protectors to prevent corrosion, dust or sand, as well as additional temperature and fan sensors to ensure the system is within the right temperature window at all times. To supplement this, the TUF Detective smartphone app will also provide information and control when linked to a specific USB port in the rear.
On the functionality side of things there are a total of eight USB 3.0 ports on the board as well as a pair of USB 3.1 ports (Type-A) on the rear panel in teal-blue. The latter are provided by an ASMedia ASM1142 controller which is the sole controller we’re currently seeing in the marketplace. For storage there is a single SATA Express port (despite the above image showing two holes, but only one is connected) and an M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 port under part of the Thermal Armor. The latest Sabertooth BIOSes supports NVMe, so with the Hyper Kit we installed an Intel 750 SSD in here, although using the M.2 does disable the bottom PCIe port as the M.2 is connected via CPU lanes to achieve 32 Gbps bandwidth. Networking comes via Intel I218-V and Realtek 8111GR Ethernet ports, while audio is from an enhanced Realtek’s ALC1150 codec solution.
Performance testing throws up nothing out of the ordinary – with the 1801 BIOS we had POST times were long for X99 but the audio performance was near the top of our charts. The Sabertooth by default does not enable MultiCore Turbo, but does have a couple of BIOS based overclocking options to overcome this. Overclock results were in line with our CPU sample on other motherboards. BIOS and Software were well received, including the focus on the software for thermal management rather than overclocking. We have made a couple of suggestions to ASUS for future updates though.
At $310, the ASUS X99 Sabertooth sits in a comfortable median between the other X99 offerings on the market which vary from $210 to over $600. That $300 area is a battleground for the cheaper mid-range models that typically focus on mild aesthetics over a base design. For active functionality, ASUS pulls out of the bag some epic fan control and USB 3.1, with Hyper Kit/NVMe support useful for those that need it. There isn’t anything here that marks it up to the $400 range (3-way/4-way GPU + M.2 or Thunderbolt), and users will have to decide if paying for the 5-year warranty is something worth happening, especially as X99 will probably have some long legs ahead of it.
Take another angle. A new X99 user wants something long term, has one or two GPUs. The Sabertooth offers a long warranty, support for future upgrades, 8-DIMMs, NVMe, M.2 and USB 3.1, with sufficient USB 3.0 and storage for long term use as well as the software to manage a quiet system.