least an additional eight (four
of which support USB 3.0) via
headers on the motherboard.
Obviously they will not all be
usable at the same time at
maximum bandwidth, but you’re
unlikely to have that many
devices plugged in at any given
time. Not an overtly useful
feature, but it is appreciated
especially for those who use
their computers as a hub for a
wide array of connected devices.
There is no built in Wi-Fi or
Bluetooth support, but you
do receive two LAN ports,
one INTEL I218-V and another
from Realtek via the 811GR.
As far as I’m aware, there’s no
teaming support, thus they can
be used independently of one
other. Where they do share
common properties is that
much like all other ports on the
SABERTOOTH, they are
protected from ESD damage via
ESD Guard 2. All of these
protection mechanisms in
addition to the server grade
testing, (the equivalent of more
than 7,000 hours of testing)
28 The OverClocker Issue 34 | 2015
is what allows ASUS to offer
a five year warranty on this
model. Which is of course
longer than on their other X99
motherboards.
Audio is as you’d expect from
all modern motherboards of
this generation. It is taken care
of by what ASUS calls “TUF
audio”. There’s not much to
this apart from the tried and
tested ALC1150 CODEC, a built
in headphone amplifier and
audio shielding via PCB layer
separation of the two stereo
channels. It will do just fine,
but is not anywhere near what
you may expect from any of
the Supreme FX solutions and
definitely not of the quality any
Xonar product might deliver. If
you previously used a discreet
card, chances are you’ll want
to bring that with you when you
upgrade to the SABERTOOTH.
Finally we come to one of
the much vaunted features
that ASUS brings forth with
the SABERTOOTH -“TUF
detective”. This is an application
for your Android phone that
you’ll download via a QR code.
Once you have this application,
you’ll need only a USB cable
to connect your motherboard
to the phone where you may
monitor voltages, temperatures
and fan speeds. You may even
control basic features of the
motherboard such as clearing
the CMOS, shutting down and
starting up the system or
triggering a system reset. Best
of all, it grants you access to
POST codes, which as previously
mentioned are not accessible
otherwise. There are some
other minor features as well but
it is mostly an application that is
confined to monitoring the
system above all else. It is a
novel feature in theory, however
does have the
slight challenge of requiring
connectivity via a USB cable.
Consider that the premise of
a mobile/smart phone is it’s
“mobility/portability”. If there
is any feature that at any point
requires that this single device