Asus Sabertooth P67 Motherboard Review

The P67 Sabertooth was first announced during a press conference at CES 2011, the reaction from the crowd was extremely supportive of the new design.  Admittedly, I was skeptical of the board and for a variety of reasons.  First the new Thermal Armor seemed like a gimmick, let's face it motherboards have run for years without a heat shield and provided that the heatsinks are adequately sized there should be no problems, especially from a reputable builder.  Second the whole "Military class components" seems more like a buzzword but as the rumors go the Military pays extra to get top of the line parts before they go out to retailers.  Maybe you can get the same components for less money but if Asus pays what the Military paid then this motherboard will be a lot more expensive.

After using the new Sabertooth we get a better understanding for the purpose behind the new features and how the Thermal Armor can enhance the longevity of the motherboard.  This effort, along with the TUF component selection, justifies how Asus can offer a 5 year warranty on this motherboard when the other products in their portfolio are limited to 3.  Of course the board features many of the same things found on other P8 motherboards including the famed UEFI BIOS and full software package.

Motherboard layout is typical for a mainstream system supporting the right amount of features with a focus on the mainstream user.  The most notable of these is the expansion slot configuration that can support dual video cards with three slots of spacing between them.  This particular configuration does lend itself well to supporting the latest Asus graphics cards with the triple slot coolers and still gives you access to a 1x PCIe slot and standard PCI located at the bottom.

Performance is what we had expected for a system of this caliber and it is no secret that the motherboard has less to do with overall system performance and more to do by enabling system tweaks, overclocking, and basic hardware support.  We stopped our overclocking adventure at 4.7Ghz which is quite impressive considering that the Sabertooth is designed for stability and not marketed at the gamer or overclocking enthusiast.  It just goes to show that with quality components you can push things a little further and expect good results.

Twelve Thermal Sensors
Thermal Armor
Military Class TUF Components
Q-Led Debug System
5 Year Warranty
Armor is a Great Canvas for Modders

Thermal Armor makes installing screws difficult
Access to PCIe tables difficult without a "tool"
Mobo cooling fan not included