For those as tired of reading P55 announcements as we are of writing them, here is something to get really excited about. Asus is introducing a whole new lineup of motherboard (or at least one new board for now) that is geared straight for the extreme enthusiast.
Asus already has their Republic of Gamer boards for the enthusiast market, and the new TUF Series: Sabertooth board appears to be a rival to their own line, but promises a new innovative design.
Feature-wise the board appears carries much of the same seen on the Maximus III Formula (Asus’ Enthusiast P55 Board), such as dual PCIe x16 with Crossfire and SLI, similar connections and a design built for overclocking, however, the Sabertooth takes it a step beyond.
The board boasts a 12+2 “Xtreme” phase power design for the CPU with the addition of a 2-phase VRM solely dedicated to the memory, and includes extra unique tidbits such as additional Drive Xpert SATA ports, a T.Probe chip for stats monitoring and a CoolMem! frame for installation of a small memory cooling fan.
Where the Sabertooth really takes off is with its upgraded cooling, dubbed CeraM!X, for the chipset and MOSFET’s. The ceramic coating applied to the heatsinks are credited for a 50% improvement in surface area contact, resulting in far better heat dissipation. This of course translates into better clock-ability for the motherboard…theoretically. The board also includes “TUF” branded MOSFET’s and capacitor’s which seems to imply higher quality for better reliability and longevity.
No news on expected release date or price is available, but with the ROG series expected to clear the $200 mark, you can bet that the Sabertooth won’t be any cheaper.
Image’s Courtesy Coolife.com.cn
Tags: asus, motherboard, p55, sabertooth
August 21, 2009 02:07 PM
So lookin at the projected prices of the decent p55 motherboards$250;00/$200;00,not noing how much the cpu's will be[lets say around $200;00/ $250;00] ram $100;00/$150;00/4gb = ave price $575;00
I think for about a$50;00/ $100;00 more you can get a i7 systym
Just a thought i had
August 25, 2009 04:40 PM
"dual PCIe x16 with Crossfire and SLI"
This P55 stuff looks a lot better then I thought.
August 25, 2009 06:08 PM
The 'CoolMem" idea is pretty awesome imo for people running on air. From a WC standpoint, its pretty much useless though.
August 25, 2009 07:15 PM
This P55 stuff looks a lot better then I thought.
To set the record straight, again: P55 cannot do dual 16x SLI/Xfire. They can CALL it dual x16, because mechanically it has two (or more) x16 slots, but its still a 8/8 electrical connection.
August 25, 2009 09:43 PM
To set the record straight, again: P55 cannot do dual 16x SLI/Xfire. They can CALL it dual x16, because mechanically it has two (or more) x16 slots, but its still a 8/8 electrical connection.
Just explain to me the point of calling it dual 16x if its doing 8/8....there must be a reason but I'm not seeing it .
August 25, 2009 09:51 PM
And if the board had an NF200 chip somewhere, you can bet that it would be advertised. Definitely only 8x/8x on this board.
This really does seem like a case of Asus competing with itself. And with all the marketing-speak, heaven help anyone actually trying to figure out which boards are better than others. I'm slightly interested in the heatsink treatment, although I doubt it will magically negate the need for airflow.
August 25, 2009 10:12 PM
There are alot of nice p55 boards...I'm impressed.
August 28, 2009 12:16 AM
Just to clarify, although this is an enthusiast product, it's not focused on overclocking, that remains the reign of the RoG boards.
This series is intended for those who want a motherboard built with the best possible components with an eye towards long-term stability & reliability at stock speeds.
Is this a good concept? Well that's up to you
August 28, 2009 05:25 AM
Yeah, ASUS is NOT gearing this towards the extreme overclocking crowd.
I also think that with ASUS saying that this board is designed to keep a stock-running system stable for (supposedly) longer than a standard board shines a bit of a poor light upon their thoughs regarding the rest of their lineups. :S
August 28, 2009 05:44 AM
Thanks Fix... interesting most images say "confidential" lol..
August 28, 2009 08:31 AM
This series is intended for those who want a motherboard built with the best possible components with an eye towards long-term stability & reliability at stock speeds.
Originally the "Marine Cool" design was touted as the "military grade" component motherboard with exactly as you stated.
However, if they are trying to convince us that this board is no good for overclocking.... well, good luck. Just because that's what it wasn't designed for doesn't mean that it can't do it
Supposedly it will be able to withstand -10-80 degree tempuratures. If they are using higher quality components - one would think that would translate into better clockability, especially for those putting it into extreme conditions.
Your looking at the Ceramic cooling doomajigger, and the enormous northbridge heatsink. Better heat dissipation on these fronts would be a welcome sight to overclockers.
So at the end of the day, even while they have no intention to market it directly alongside their ROG series - it can be assumed that it MAY still provide competition if it performs on par
August 28, 2009 08:32 AM
From what I understand, this board may feature a trimmed-down BIOS which would in effect limit overclocking.
August 28, 2009 08:37 AM
Asus did release a PR a while ago about their "Marine Cool" motherboard BUT this "TUF" motherboard seems to be missing a lot of what the "MC" was supposed to have - such as the built in UPS, and other fails safes. As such I would question as to whether or not anything stated about the marine cool, actually translates into fact about the Sabertooth