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ASUS X99 Sabertooth Motherboard Review

AkG

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ASUS' The Ultimate Force (TUF) motherboards may be hard to place for some potential buyers. The boards don’t quite cater to overclocking enthusiasts like the RoG series does, they aren’t priced at stratospheric levels like the Deluxe products and they provide a enhanced feature set when compared against entry level products. Instead of looking to appease certain niches, the TUF series sets out to offer a blend of longevity through military-class components, forward-looking additions and a bleeding-edge attention to detail that surpasses anything the competition can offer.

This attention to detail is what made the previous X79 Sabertooth such a cult classic, and why on the LGA-1155 side of the fence the Sabertooth Z97's made such a splash. However, X99 is the enthusiast chipset of choice and as such a TUF branded motherboard has to not only meet the previously high watermark that those TUF boards left, but has to exceed them. This is what the TUF Sabertooth X99 sets out to do: destroy any preconceived notions about what a $350 socket 2011-v3 motherboard could offer. In order to do this ASUS did not stray from their previous philosophy and concepts but instead doubled down on them in a big way.

The TUF Sabertooth design philosophy starts <i>above</i> the surface of the motherboard and works down from there. Specifically ASUS has included their iconic TUF Thermal Armor which utilizes the concept of a wind tunnel by providing direct airflow through the heat-critical components of the board. In previous generations this so-called armor was either a touch bland, a touch bulky, or a combination of both. The new version used on the X99 Sabertooth not only makes use of a stunning form fitting two-tone design but also includes a more aggressive appearance that simply looks like it belongs on a board named after a hunter of cavemen.

Literally backstopping the plastic TUF Armor is a backplate that ASUS calls their TUF Fortifier. This ultra-thick and ultra-stiff all-metal backplate provides insane amounts of protection for the motherboard back area and doubles as a large heatsink that improves the overall thermals of mission critical components.

ASUS' definitions of mission critical components on TUF boards go under the label of TUF Components. This includes military grade Caps, Chokes and MOSFETS. To help keep these and the rest of the parts protected by the TUF Thermal Armor cool ASUS has once again included active cooling. Unlike the previous X79 Sabertooth this takes the form of one fan with a fully customizable speed profile.

Also in keeping with TUF boards, the Sabertooth X99 also supports what ASUS calls "TUF ESD Guards 2". This second generation ESD guard is now twice as capable of its predecessor and protects <i>all</i> the back IO ports from damaging electrostatic discharges.

The new Thermal Radar 2 also builds upon its predecessor’s design and allows for not only completely custom - and individual - fan tuning of the <i>eleven</i> included fan headers, but also complete monitoring of the motherboard via a dozen integrated thermal sensors. All of this is made possible due to the new TUF Ice integrated controller.

ASUS is well aware that monitoring is only as good as the method in which it gets this information to the user so they have also included their TUF Detective software as well. TUF Detective allows for the monitoring of all the various components via USB and your Android tablet / phone and quickly tracks down where an issue originates from. To help ensure common accidents do not happen, ASUS even includes their 'CPU Gadget' which makes bending a socket pin during insertion of a socket 2011-v3 processor much, much more difficult.

Also in an effort to appease their ultra-demanding TUF fans, ASUS included a whole host of cutting edge features. For example, there is an <i>OC 2011-v3 socket</i> which supposedly allows for better overclocking and enhanced stability at higher voltages. There’s also USB 3.1 compatibility via two back-mounted ports, eight channel audio via a 'TUF Audio' version of the ALC 1150 controller, ten SATA 6Gb/s ports, two SATA Express Ports, a five year warranty, and even a four PCIe lane capable M.2 port - that supports even ultra-long M.2 22110 drives. This last port also includes support for bleeding edge Small Form Factor NVMe solid state drives such as the Intel 750.

Mix in the features expected from an ASUS X99 motherboard such as the ability to offer 40 PCIe lanes - including dual GPUs in full x16 mode, an advanced 128MB UEFI BIOS, an excellent software suite, plus other enthusiast friendly features and this Sabertooth may indeed easily justify its $350 asking price and sway consumers away from the competition’s solutions.

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AkG

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Specifications


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AkG

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The X99 Platform; Enthusiasts Rejoice

The X99 Platform; Enthusiasts Rejoice


One of the main critiques leveled at Intel’s X79 was its similarity to the old-as-the-hills X58. As a matter of fact, from a specifications standpoint, that’s exactly what it was: an X58 chipset with a new coat of paint in the form of PCI-E 3.0 support. Since it didn’t feature current technologies like native USB 3.0 and only had two SATA 6Gbps ports, motherboards required third party controllers to attain those functions, and support wasn’t the greatest especially for key features like RAID and high speed USB throughput. That caused a serious problem for a so-called enthusiast platform when Intel’s own Z87 incorporated those elements into boards that often cost hundreds less than their X79 cousins.

X99 changes this equation in a big way towards compatibility that many thought should have been incorporated into X79 in the first place. Nonetheless, we are now (finally!) going to see native support for USB 3.0, SATA Express, and Thunderbolt 2 on Intel’s enthusiast motherboards.

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Starting with the most obvious thing first: X99 chipsets will still use the LGA2011 socket but it has been updated for Haswell-E compatibility. This not only means new microcode but also support for the processors’ fine grain power distribution needs and higher current capability. In short, older LGA2011 boards will not be forwards compatible with these new processors, nor will this so-called LGA2011-v3 socket be backwards compatible with Ivy Bridge-E CPUs.

The X99 platform is of course headlined by the Haswell-E CPU which provides up to 40 PCI-E 3.0 lanes (the i7-5820K will only come with 28 lanes enabled) which can be distributed via up to three integrated slots. This means a x16 / x16 / x8 setup is possible as is a 5x8 setup via third party controllers should motherboard vendors decide to go that route. The processor also houses the quad channel DDR4 memory controller.

As with all Intel platforms, the PCH is where all the I/O fun happens and it is connected to the processor via a x4 DMI interface providing up to 4GB/s of aggregate upstream / downstream bandwidth. In this case the X99 supports up to 14 USB ports spread across six USB 3.0 and 8 USB 2.0 along with ten native SATA 6Gbps ports. Through the use of Intel’s refreshed architecture these can be paired with additional PCIe 2.0 lanes for SATA Express or 4x M.2 compatibility without needing to resort to a so-called “FlexIO” interface. Naturally, those lanes can also be used for additional controllers as well which typically provide Bluetooth, secondary LAN and WiFi features.

Past the obvious continuity of an integrated Intel LAN, all of the SATA 6Gbps ports are backstopped by Intel’s RST 13.1 infrastructure should a motherboard vendor choose to include it (most will be). Extreme Tuning Utility compatibility is also a requirement here whereas on Z97 it’s considered an optional feature.

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Since this is without question Intel’s high-end platform, motherboard manufacturers are pulling out all the stops when it comes to board design. Take this GIGABYTE X99-SOC Champion for example; it features a laundry list of must-have features for enthusiasts. It has 4-way Crossfire/SLI, a SATA Express port, a M.2 20Gb/s storage slot, excellent onboard audio, and a ton of overclocking-oriented additions.

These X99 LGA2011-v3 boards are obviously some of the highest-end models around and the PRO’s $300USD/$380CAD price certainly reflects exactly that. However, when the cost of the processor and DDR4 memory is also factored into the equation, upgrading to Haswell-E is always going to be an expensive proposition for those who need the best multi-threading performance or simply extra PCI-E lanes.
 
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AkG

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Closer look at the Sabertooth X99

Closer look at the ASUS TUF Sabertooth X99


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ASUS has distilled motherboard component placement down to a fine science and TUF Sabertooth X99 is a fine example of their work. Each of the three primary x16 PCI-E slots are placed far enough apart that there is more than enough space for double slot graphics cards to populate all three. In fact, thanks to a rather unique PCIe x16 layout, populating the two main x16 slots with triple slot designs is also possible, though doing so will block all the other PCIe slots.

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One thing to remember is the bottom slot x16 slot on this board only provides an x8 electrical interface with 40 lane CPUs. ASUS didn't include a PCI-E lane multiplier in order to cut down on costs but that was to be expected given the divergence between rather niche demographic interested in 3 way GPU solutions and the Sabertooth's target market.

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Consumers who owned previous TUF boards will see a lot of familiar elements on the new Sabertooth X99. As with its predecessor the overall aesthetics are largely defined by the TUF Armor which covers the majority of both the front and the back of the board. The primary goal of this TUF Armor is to protect components from dust, but it is also very good at turning an errant screwdriver disaster into nothing more than a gouge in the plastic top plate or metal bottom plate.

With its two-tone coloring and a nice and aggressive diamond tread pattern molded in the plastic it also looks pretty darn good to boot. As an added bonus the TUF Armor has all the main ports and headers individually labeled making finding each port a snap. Brilliant stuff.

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While the top Armor made indeed be made from nothing more than injected molded plastic used mainly for anti-dust duties and aesthetics, the bottom 'TUF Fortifier' has a much more important role. This bottom metal plate adds a substantial amount of structural reinforcement to the board. Unlike its dust protection duties of the top half of the TUF Armor, having a more rigid motherboard is indeed a highly laudable goal.

When you consider that most PC gaming enthusiasts will probably be using two or more heavy video cards as well as a large CPU cooling solution, motherboard flex is indeed a serious issue. In this regard we still prefer the old school method of simply using more PCB layers to create the motherboard, but there is no denying the TUF Armor does indeed make for a very robust feeling motherboard with almost no flex.

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On the positive side the metal backplate armor makes for a very good secondary heatsink as well and that is exactly what ASUS has used it for. They have turned it into a large heatsink for the various VRM components that needed to be located on the board’s back. Unfortunately, while they did make use of the backplate for the VRM components ASUS 'forgot' to add a heatpad for the second TPU controller IC. While this IC likely doesn’t need a large heatsink, being located on the back of the motherboard and covered by a large metal plate does represent something of a missed opportunity.

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Even with this TUF Armor in place the overall layout of the Sabertooth X99 is nicely done with most of the buttons, connectors, and ports easily accessible and free from possible obstruction. The only major exceptions are the PCIe x16 locking latches and the M.2 port. Even though Asus includes angled cutouts for the locking latches the amount of available room is extremely limited and getting a finger underneath your GPU to ensure the latch is fully released may require bending and stretching worthy of a contortionist.

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On first glance you may not even see the M.2 slot as to access it you first have to remove a cover panel. Once this is done you will be greeted with an M.2 slot that can accommodate M.2 drives of up to 110mm in length - aka M.2 22110 drives. More importantly this M.2 slot is a full 'ultra' M.2 slot and has access to four PCIe 3.0 lanes instead of the usual two.

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Unfortunately this slot also pulls double duty as the Hyper Kit adapter port. When you try and actually use the Hyper Kit with the Small Form Factor version of the Intel 750 SSD drive you will instantly notice a major weakness to this layout and design. We will go over the ramifications of this issue later in the review but suffice to say that the ASUS designers obviously made the assumption that any device that uses the M.2 port would comply with the rather shallow Z-height restrictions of the M.2 specification - and the Hyper Kit adapter is anything but shallow.
 
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AkG

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Closer Look at the Sabertooth X99 pg.2

Closer Look at the ASUS TUF Sabertooth X99 pg.2


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Removing the TUF Armor - which required removing ten screws - and actually taking a closer look at this ATX form-factor motherboard we can see that the covering hides not only a great looking motherboard but some extremely advanced components.

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The main PWM heatsink has been upgraded in a big way. As with the X79 version this two part heatsink makes use of a large heatpipe to connect the two components, and includes a 40mm fan port for active cooling if required. Unlike the X79 Sabertooth, ASUS has molded the TUF Armor in such a way that air can actively flow over both parts of the heatsink and even the other hot running components located on the motherboard. Because of this wind tunnel effect the secondary fan for the X99 chipset is no longer needed.

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The only issue with this setup is that the 40mm Delta fan does get loud at higher speeds, and yet at lower speeds the amount of air flow it creates is rather anemic. Thankfully its speed can easily be regulated via the integrated controller….even though the small 4-pin header dedicated to this fan was not installed straight on our sample. We are not sure how this got past ASUS' stringent QA but thankfully it still worked fine.


Hidden underneath this new Sabertooth heatsink is a high-performance all-digital power subsystem. To be precise the DIGI+ VRM boasts an eight phase power design consisting of military grade TUF MOSFETs, TUF chokes and 10K Ti-capacitors.

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The two banks of four DDR4 memory slots are also fed via dedicated DIGI+ 4-phase power design - 2 phases per bank - that allows for memory frequencies up to DDR4-4000 and up to 64GB of system memory. ASUS have implemented enhanced DRAM overcurrent protection (OCP) and short circuit damage prevention as well, so you will be able to push those pricey new DDR4 modules as hard as you want without worrying that the memory slots will let you down.

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The included MemOk! Function initiates a memory compatibility tuning process that allows for a safe boot up if there are memory issues preventing a system from starting. Like on other ASUS motherboards, all eight of the memory slots feature the handy Q-DIMM memory slots with retention clips on only one side, which prevents any clearance issues that can arise between conventional memory clips and the back of any nearby expansion card.
 
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AkG

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Closer look at the Sabertooth X99 pg.3

Closer Look at the ASUS TUF Sabertooth X99 pg.3


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The true star of the Sabertooth X99 is the new LGA2011-3 CPU socket. This third revision of the LGA2011 socket was needed to support the Haswell-E processors. However, what you are seeing here is not a standard LGA2011-3 socket. Instead, just as with its pricier Deluxe cousin, this is a custom socket designed and implemented exclusively by ASUS. Dubbed the "OC Socket", it features 6 additional pins that supposedly help bypass the FIVR (Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator) that is found in every Haswell processor and as a result offers superior CPU and DDR4 overclocking.

Since this socket is enclosed on three sides by the various heatsinks, TUF armor, and DDR4 ram slots, the socket area is fairly cramped. This is true of most ATX form-factor 2011-v3 motherboards. If you are careful with your RAM selection - and choose lower profile modules - clearance issues with most air base CPU cooling solutions should not be a major issue.

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As with most modern ASUS motherboards the TUF Sabertooth not only boasts an amazing number of onboard 4-pin fan headers (9 + 2) but it also boasts a highly sophisticated fan controller. All of the 4-pin fan headers support both PWM and DC current fan control and allow for the creation of individual custom fan profiles. Of these two are dedicated as CPU fan headers. The additional fan header will be of great interest to anyone running dual fan cooling solutions since they can be precisely controlled via the BIOS without the need for fan splitter cables.

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The included onboard audio solution is very similar to that of the ASUS X99 Deluxe. As with the X99 Deluxe, this audio controller consists of a Realtek ALC1150 codec (which supports 7.1+2 audio), high quality Nichicon capacitors, and complete isolation of the various audio components from the rest of the motherboard.


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Unfortunately, and also like the X99 Deluxe, ASUS has forgone the use of an EMI shield for the controller, and does not use removable op-amps. While the included Texas Instruments RC45801 op-amp is decent ASUS still has some room for improvement here. With that being said, this board isn’t targeted at audio aficionados so the integrated solution is more than enough.

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As expected both the 24-pin ATX and 8-pin CPU power connectors are in their usual spot. What is noteworthy is that ASUS has also included a secondary 4-pin CPU power connector. While not entirely necessary at stock loads, this additional connector will allow for better and more stable power delivery when overclocking to extreme levels.

Since this motherboard is meant for use inside a case - and not on a test bench - ASUS has not included any onboard power and reset buttons, nor an onboard LED debug panel. This is unfortunate, but given the sheer number of features ASUS has included it is not overly surprising either as space is at a premium here.

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Nestled in-between the MemOK! button and the SATA ports is the first of two internal USB 3.0 headers. The second USB 3.0 header is located near the front panel header and allows the Sabertooth to provide four front USB 3.0 ports. Unfortunately while the rear IO panel has been upgraded to include USB 3.1 abilities ASUS did not feel the need to do the same for the front panel USB headers. Instead they simply connected these two headers directly to the X99 chipset and included an ASMedia ASM1074 four-way USB 3.0 hub controller - also connected to the X99 - to provide the additional USB 3.0 ports on the rear IO panel.

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To the left of the USB header and another 4-pin fan header are the ten SATA 6Gb/s ports and the one SATA Express Port. The lower SATA Express port has been blocked off as ASUS has not included the necessary ASMedia ASM106SE chip for its implementation. Instead the single SATA-E port is directly connected to the X99 chipset.

Considering ASUS has included support for SATA-E, M.2, and NVMe storage options the missing SATA-E port is not overly concerning. However, we would have preferred to have seen one SATA-E port, eight SATA 6Gb/s ports, and one SFF8643 or SFF8639 port, instead of 10 SATA 6Gbps Ports. Such a configuration would have indeed been more user-friendly, even more future proof, and would have removed the need for the less than optimal Hyper Kit.
 
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AkG

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Closer Look at the Sabertooth X99 pg.4

Closer Look at the ASUS TUF Sabertooth X99 pg.4


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The large Nuvoton NCT6791D chip monitors several important parameters such as power supply voltages, fan speeds, and temperatures and as such it plays a key role in the functionality of the Ai Suite III utility.

The included TUF ICe - located in between the two bottom X16 slots - monitors and controls the included onboard temperature sensors and ensures that all fan speeds are ultra-accurate. This small microchip in conjunction with TUF Detective applications also allows you to remotely monitor these settings via a special multipurpose USB 2.0 port on the rear IO panel.

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In a very controversial move ASUS has not opted for a dual BIOS solution, and instead this X99 Sabertooth only has one BIOS. You can however use the BIOS Flashback USB port to restore a corrupted BIOS. This is a less than optimal solution and a second BIOS should have been included given the enthusiast orientation - and price - of this motherboard.

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As mentioned previously the PCIe x16 layout is very unique and certainly has dual card setups in mind. However, due to the limitations of the CPUs themselves the third x16 slot is at the most an x8 slot, and if you use the x4 M.2 port it is in fact disabled.

What is not readily apparent is the two black PCIe 2.0 slots also have their own design quirk. These two slots are only PCIe 2.0 rather than 3.0 complaint since they originate from the PCH and they have a combined total of two PCIe 2.0 lanes to share between them. This means that while the top most is an x4 form-factor it is in reality only able to provide x2 speeds. More importantly, if you do populate the bottom most x1 slot the top 'x4' will run only in x1 mode. On the positive side you can at least use both at the same time.

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As this is an X99 motherboard the sparse rear IO panel is rather par for the course. However, what it lacks in numbers it more than makes up for in features. In grand total there are five USB 2.0 ports. One of which is doubles as the TUF Detective port and USB Flashback port (this is the lone USB 2.0 port rotated 90 degrees).

Next to that are the two USB 3.1 ports and these are the real start of the rear IO panel lineup. Because of these two native USB 3.1 Type-A ports consumers will not need bother with an add-in daughtercard which would use up one of the PCIe slots. These ports are future proofing in a nutshell and go a long way to justifying the TUF Sabertooth X99's asking price.

Next to these two teal blue USB 3.1 ports are the four USB 3.0 ports, three of which are connected to the ASM1074 USB 3.0 hub and one is connected directly to the X99 chipset. Next to them are the 5 audio jacks and the one optical S/PDIF out port. Rounding out the features of this IO panel are the two gigabit Ethernet LAN ports.

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The two USB 3.1 ports are powered by the included ASMedia ASM1142 controller. This is ASMedia's first USB 3.1 controller and is complaint with Intel's eXtensible Hot Controller Interface specification revision 1.1. This cutting edge controller is connected to the motherboard via two PCIe 2.0 lanes.

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The two rear NIC ports are powered by a single Realtek 8111GR Gigabite LAN controller (right NIC port) and a powerful ‘Clarkville’ i218V NIC (left NIC port). Both feature ESD and surge protection abilities that are part of what ASUS calls their TUF ESD Guards 2.

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TUF EDS Guards 2 features twice the industry standard ESD protection and 30% more pin testing than found on previous TUF EDS Guard 1 boards. Also protected by TUF ESD Guards 2 are the audio connectors, and the USB ports, so basically the entire rear I/O panel. The ESD protection is provided via small on-circuit transient voltage suppression (TVS) diodes and capacitors, with each block of ports getting their own dedicated TVS. This allows for multilevel protection and in the event that an ESD or surge takes out the ESD Guards 2 protection on one block of ports the rest are still protected.
 
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AkG

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BIOS Rundown

BIOS Rundown


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As you would expect, a new generation of motherboards brings forth a new UEFI bios. Although fundamentally similar to past versions, this new bios has been aesthetically revamped, reorganized, and bolstered with a bunch of new user-friendly features.

Furthermore, and perhaps most impressively, this is a very smooth and responsive UEFI BIOS, noticeably better than anything we've experienced in the past. It's not necessarily lightning fast, since there are some deliberate/intentional transition delays when switching between the various sections, but none of the lag and stuttering that we've put up with in most other UEFI BIOS.

The UEFI BIOS is divided across two distinct modes. The EZ Mode is simplified and features a mouse-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) for basic tasks, while the Advanced Mode has all the settings, options, and features that you could ever want. From within the EZ Mode you can switch to the Advanced Mode by pressing F7, and vice-versa to get back to the EZ Mode.

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The EZ Mode makes pretty good use of the graphical user interface and was designed to be used with a mouse. It obviously does not have all the functionality of the Advanced mode, but it is not meant to. It simply gives novice users an easy way to visualize and alter some of the most common settings.

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The Q-Fan Tuning feature can be found in both BIOS modes, but fundamentally it gives you full manual or preset-based control over the system's fans.

The EZ Tuning Wizard is particularly interesting since it brings overclocking to an even simpler level. Basically, the wizard asks you how you generally use your system, what kind of CPU cooler you have installed, and based on your answer it comes up with an appropriate tuning level for your respective system. It worked perfect during our short time toying with it, and the fact that it never actually mentions "overclocking" should help alleviate some of the fears less knowledgeable users might associate with the word.

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The My Favorites tab is a fairly new addition to the ASUS' BIOS. As you might have surmised, it allows you to have all your most useful or most used settings in one place, so you no longer have to search through the whole bios to find what you need time and time again.

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The next tab in the BIOS is the Main section, which displays the standard storage devices and some basic system information. This System Information section lists rudimentary specification info, including the BIOS date & version, the type of processor and the amount of memory installed. You can also set the system language, and an administrator and/or individual User password.


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Next up is the Ai Tweaker section, which is where all the fun happens. Once the manual option is selected in the Ai Overclock Tuner setting, the BIOS opens up to reveal all of the essential system clock control options: CPU multiplier with an all-core and per-core option, BLCK frequency, CPU strap, memory frequency, memory timing options, and all the voltage options.

Occupying the middle to bottom section of the Ai Tweaker are the prodigious number of voltage options. As you would expect, all the key system voltages are present and accounted for, as well as bunch of other voltage options that we have frankly never even seen before.

For some of the key voltages like the CPU Core voltage and the CPU Cache voltage, ASUS have allowed four separate entry modes. The Auto and Manual modes are self-evident, the Offset Mode allows you to specify how much higher (or lower) the voltage should be in reference to stock level, so something like +0.10V or +0.15V. The Adaptive Mode allows you to set both a base voltage and higher Turbo Mode voltage that is enabled under heavy system loads. This helps minimize the amount of voltage running through an overclocked processor when it's not under load.

Usually we would now say that we wish there were more drop-down menus in this section, although you can manually type in whatever you want. However, that is not particularly useful when you don't know or don’t remember what the default voltages are. Thankfully, like on the Z97 models, ASUS have thought about this, and they have included real-time voltage readouts next to all the key system voltages.
 
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AkG

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BIOS Rundown pg.2

BIOS Rundown pg.2


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The OC Tuner feature allows novice users to automatically overclock their systems without having to mess around with clocks speeds, multipliers, and voltages. The are two options in this area: a multiplier-only tuning mode or a multiplier and BCLK tuning mode. You can read more about this automatic overclocking feature in our Overclocking Results section.

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As its name suggests, the DRAM Timing Control section is where you will find all the memory-related settings. Within this section you can select and change all the memory settings, and each memory channel has its own section, from which you can alter the primary and secondary timings. It has just about every memory modifier that an enthusiast or overclocker would need to fine-tune their modules. There's really an overabundance of options and it is quite impressive.

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The DIGI+ Power Control section has a whole slew of advanced power regulation settings for the CPU cores, CPU VTT and VCCSA (system agent/memory controller), and DRAM channels. This motherboard is setup well enough so that you should never actually have to tweak any of these settings though, unless you are really pushing the limits with phase-change or LN2 cooling. The exception to this is obviously Load-Line Calibration (LLC), which is a worthwhile feature that eliminates droopage on the CPU vCORE, and which we will take a closer look at in our Voltage Regulation section.

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The Internal CPU Power Management section is where you can enable or disable all the CPU-specific features like SpeedStep and Turbo Mode, as well as setting the Turbo limits. ASUS have really bolstered this section with an overwhelming array of CPU power tuning settings.


The Advanced tab is where you can enable or disable all the CPU-specific features like the Thermal Monitor, Hyper-Threading, Virtualization, Enhanced SpeedStep, Turbo Mode, C-States, etc. The Advanced Tab is also where you can enable/disable or just find all the various settings and options for all the onboard devices like the audio, LAN, USB 3.0, USB 3.1, M.2 port, NVMe, SATA ports, etc.
 
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BIOS Rundown pg.3

BIOS Rundown pg.3



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The Monitor section is dedicated to the monitoring of the various voltages, temperatures, and fan speeds. This whole section is really quite impressive, as it harnesses the full abilities of the onboard sensor suite and TUF ICe controller.

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The Boot tab is essentially where you set storage device priority, select the boot drive, enable/disable the full screen logo, and ton of other boot settings that can help with the installation or troubleshooting of various OS installations.

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ASUS EZ Flash 2 is a built-in utility that greatly simplifies the BIOS updating process. You can easily update your BIOS from a ROM file located on your hard drive(s) or USB flash drive(s). It's quick, painless, and it takes the worry out of BIOS flashing.

The ASUS Overclocking Profile feature gives users the option to save and switch between BIOS profiles, for example an everyday profile and a benchmarking profile. Not only is this infinitely quicker than manually inserting every setting, but the profiles can be saved and shared among other X99 Deluxe owners.

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Before you save your settings and exit the BIOS, there is a handy window that lists the changes you made during this session. It's a well thought out and implemented idea. The new General Help pop-up that you can find in the top-right corner is very handy for those who can't remember all the new function key tasks.
 
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