Hardware Asus Sabertooth X79 Review

no doubt, but dont forget, this is an enthusiast site...we don't need tri-gtx 580 sli and 16+ gb ram...or 6-core 12 thread cpu's...but we want it...i can get 40 + fps with a core 2 duo e8400 and a gtx 275 on most games out there...but by god if i get an extra $100 in my pocket i'm sellin that gtx 275 for a gtx 560ti...

if i had $2000 to drop on a new rig and i wasn't so psyched about the power savings benefits of IB, i would be on this bus...and all i do is surf, do some work from home, and occasionally bust out a night of r6 vegas 2 or l4d2 or something...

 

"Intel Core i7-3960X (32nm, 12MB Level 3 Cache"

You mean 15MB surely?

 

The purpose of this board isn't to toss together a MW3 gaming rig. It's for exactly what the review says: professional multithreaded applications. LGA2011 and corresponding X79 systems are not meant to be poking around playing console ports just as cheapo AM3 systems are not meant to be tackling heavy video editing/photoshop/3D modelling/et cetera.

Where are the gun designs? The VRM heatsink/shroud is just a black plastic box and the southbridge shroud is just black plastic with some lines in it.

You must be thinking of this. Now there's a ridiculous board. Even more expensive than the Sabertooth X79 and purposefully aimed at gaming.

 

Can someone please tell me why high end boards still have a PS2 port on them?

I know I have not used PS2 in years, and I don't think anyone buying this board will be.

 

true...

and if i am completely off, then i'm off...but reviews in the past have been fairly middle of the road in regards to usage (again, meaning the products were scored for general usage) with added commentary that if you are this user or that, then this might be etc etc...and maybe that's what it comes down to, that this platform cost is so over the top that the general usage is professional multi-threaded app user...in which case, i somewhat get it, but you still don't really justify the price of the board over, say, the as-rock...at least not in my opinion or at least not in this particular review...50% more money on a $200+ mobo, for middle of the road performance vs other x79 boards, because you can control fan speeds better?

 

Lol, I guess you haven't listened to this weeks podcast then?

 

As I may have said here previously, SB-E seems to be an e-peen extender in this market. IF you are someone running serious, actual mult-threaded programs, then yes, SB-E is for you. However, if you want to squeeze 5fps more out of Skyrim or whatever and therefore you're going to drop SB-E kind of money on it, just admit it: it's the nerd equivalent of the balding, middle-aged middle-manager with a bimbo girlfriend and a Porsche.

Or maybe I'm just bitter because Bulldozer would be a skanky girlfriend and a Porsche with rust damage and a dead cylinder

 

It's not a gun magazine, it's just a heatsink

The Sabertooth has nothing to do with a military motif, apart from the Military Grade components which are used to describe the fact the same components are used in military spec hardware that requires flawless operation, not "OMG GUNZ PEW PEWPEW"

 

link to the ASRock X79 Extreme 4-M review or is that still being worked on?

 

You still do not get the point. You do not need this over expensive gimmicky motherboard to do all your multitasking heavy video editing, lightwave or what ever stuff you think will be slow on less expensive motherboards. If the benchmarks shown right here in this review shows the numbers are so close together that it is impossible to notice compared to other and much cheaper boards.

Put the cheapest motherboard with cheapest memory and most expensive motherboard with expensive memory with same processor and videocard and do a blind non benchmark test with photoshop or whatever application where you do not see bench results and numbers. I BET that you do not notice any difference at all.

 

I don't think people get it. The price and positioning of the Extreme processors is such that the 8-core dual-socket processors won't look quite so badly priced

 

Did you say that it's used by people with mechanical keyboards? Haven't listened to the podcast, but that is a reason for it. Allows for "N-key rollover" a.k.a. you can press any number of keys at once and they'll all be input.

Any X79 board is going to be expensive, you're only saving around $100 by grabbing one of the other boards tested in the review. Bit even say in the review that the extra price is not warranted by extra performance, it's worth it for the extra features which they found to be legitimately useful.

This post recaps what the article says about the usefulness of the features:

 

Yes indeed, that was the reason.

 

well, i think what it boils down to is perception of general use of this board from me is that the user will be a heavily multi-threaded app user...the article was written under the assumption that the general usage will be heavily-multi-threaded app,super over-clocking, massive bios re-jiggering, need ultimate cooling performance user...

to put it in another perspective..p35 boards...there were boards that oc'ed pretty well, but they were pricey...then came the abit ip35 pro...suddenly you had a board that could oc with the best, had good cooling, and didn't cost an arm and a leg...you guys gave that a 7/10 on value...that would be the equivalent of a 17.5 out of 25 score today...this x79 board got a 21...it has the bonus features, but i just can't see the 21 score...

 

Slightly disappointed the Asus P9X79 Pro wasn't in that line up.

 

I'm happy with my Sabertooth P67. I don't see much of a reason to bother with socket 2011 unless you need more than 16GB of ram for virtualization or databases.

 

Looking for a new motherboard for a new pc and will probably be overclocking it, i really like all the thermal sensors so i know when its cooking before the smell hits me. One of the biggest draws for me though is the double spacing between the PCI-E x16 slots, i don't like the idea of having 2 hot graphics cards too close to each other