ASUS Presents TUF Series Sabertooth 55i

[btarunr]

Here's our ASUS LGA-1156, Intel P55 motherboard for the day: TUF Series Sabertooth 55i. As a short history lesson, ASUS' TUF series motherboards was touted as a parallel to its Republic of Gamers (ROG) series, and was unveiled back in March as the "Marine cool" design, although no products made it to the market. The selling points of TUF series is unparalleled durability and next-generation motherboard components, including "breakthrough innovations in materials--ceramic and metal--for exceptional Cooling". Here's hoping this one does. The Sabertooth i55 comes across as fairly mid-range within the P55 motherboard lineup, as far as features go, but banks heavily on design innovations.

For starters, the CPU is powered by a 12+2 phase VRM, while the four DDR3 DIMM slots rely on a 2-phase VRM. For the greater part of its features, the Intel P55 chipset pithes in. Additional storage controllers provide extra SATA ports, supporting ASUS DriveXpert technology. Expansion slots include two PCI-E 2.0 x16 (arrange as x8, x8 in SLI and CrossFireX), two PCI-E x1, and two PCI. Here's where the unique features start: metal heatsinks with ceramic coating that boosts surface area by 50% for better heat dissipation. On the components front, it features durable "TUF-branded" MOSFETs, and capacitors. The DDR3 DIMM slots lack retention clips on one end, a feature implemented by ASUS with several recent motherboards, that makes sure the clips don't interfere with installed graphics cards. Although there's adequate clearance on this board, it is utilised by providing a placeholder for a fan dedicated to memory cooling. In a short presentation, ASUS describes its innovations. There's no word on its availability and pricing.



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[Mussels]

i like the color scheme - look really good in a dark, non LED infested PC.
the fan frame thing looks awesome too, built in ram cooling.
ceramic heatsinks seem pretty cool too, its good to see something new there.

This has made my 'list of i5 boards mussels likes'

 

[Arrakis9]

nice looking motherboard, reminds me alot of the marine cool board... are they ever going to release that ?

 

[DrPepper]

Isn't ceramic an insulator

 

[btarunr]

Isn't ceramic an insulator

That's what I thought, but I guess it's the ceramic used in making computer chip packages, not the ceramic used in crockery.

The material used in fabricating this package is the ceramic I'm talking about. It doesn't insulate:

They used to call them "ceramic FCPGA".

 

[Mussels]

Isn't ceramic an insulator

this is marketing, since when have they let reality get in the way of selling a product?


Honestly i was thinking the same thing, but if they claim it works, they arent likely to be kidding.

 

[theorw]

All this is good but i cant help wondering if there is ANY ACTUAL difference in the temp when using a regular heatsink...
I mean why pay for ceramic coated staff if we dont see first two of these mobos,1 ceramic and 1 not and watch the temps....
I am really tired of this marketing staff...

 

[Mussels]

All this is good but i cant help wondering if there is ANY ACTUAL difference in the temp when using a regular heatsink...
I mean why pay for ceramic coated staff if we dont see first two of these mobos,1 ceramic and 1 not and watch the temps....
I am really tired of this marketing staff...

maybe it took them a few tries to get it right?

the marine board was obviously never meant for retail, they talked about a built in UPS and such.

 

[DrPepper]

this is marketing, since when have they let reality get in the way of selling a product?


Honestly i was thinking the same thing, but if they claim it works, they arent likely to be kidding.

If it works im all for it

 

[LittleLizard]

looks nice except for those orange sata ports.

also there is a spot for another nic

 

[qwerty_lesh]

omg i hate it so much! ><
seriously, that fan frame thing is the dumbest thing ive seen put on a motherboard, if its not ducted at all its gonna do diddly squat, a fan mounted in the center facing down on all sockets is effective not this.. "lets cool one quarter side of the modules rubbish". bah!
I think the colour is disgusting, there really isnt anything at all about this motherboard i find appealing.

 

[Velvet Wafer]

a fan mounted in the center facing down on all sockets is effective not this..

depends on the form of your memorys heatspreader... those with large fins wouldnt be cooled properly, but the hollow ones, that are elliptic should pair nicely with it

 

[Kitkat]

"Motherboard of the day" rofl with any luck they are are almost done with there AMD chipset designs. They seem to have alot under on there table. But when u think about it its not really any more than the others they just chose to show them one by one. Look at the gigabyte map its just as full. and with 3 more boards??? i think it is MSI will have the same amount as them both

 

[Mussels]

omg i hate it so much! ><
seriously, that fan frame thing is the dumbest thing ive seen put on a motherboard, if its not ducted at all its gonna do diddly squat, a fan mounted in the center facing down on all sockets is effective not this.. "lets cool one quarter side of the modules rubbish". bah!
I think the colour is disgusting, there really isnt anything at all about this motherboard i find appealing.

if you cool even one quarter of the ram, it cools the whole ram.
As one side cools down, the heat spreads out from the hot side to the cool side, lowering the overall temperature.

and you know, since the air is actually ducted by the ram itself... stick a piece of paper over the top of the ram, and it would cool all four modules perfectly.

 

[OnBoard]

seriously, that fan frame thing is the dumbest thing ive seen put on a motherboard, if its not ducted at all its gonna do diddly squat, a fan mounted in the center facing down on all sockets is effective not this.. "lets cool one quarter side of the modules rubbish". bah!

It brings in fresh cool air to where it's stagnant, what's so bad with that? Sure if you stick in there the quietest 40cm fan it won't do much. I used to do this with DDR, stuck in 40cm fan hanging from top of the motherboard. This is better as it doesn't go against the whole heat rises thing.

Obviously this is more to "stock" ram than doesn't have funky spiked heatspreaders. Most of those you can get the top mounted fans already, with no need for this.

I wouldn't mind owning this "dubest thing ever" on my next motherboard, as I already have a case fan outputting on top of the memory modules. Might have to mod a similar frame on the same spot for my mobo just to give you more grief!

 

[Mussels]

i've been doing that dumb thing for years with 40mm fans, helps me get my awesome OC's (not using one atm, no need with my snazzy CPUs high multi)

 

[to6ko91]

nice looking motherboard, reminds me alot of the marine cool board... are they ever going to release that ?

just my thoughts ...

P.S. the marine is cooler looking mobo

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Considering some cars use ceramic brake disc rotors,there must be something in it.

 

[Batou1986]

Ceramic is usually referred to as being an insulator for electricity not heat.
Love the look of that mobo tho bout time computer parts stopped looking like disco balls.

 

[freaksavior]

Only 4 right angle :/ that sucks.

 

[DrPepper]

Ceramic is usually referred to as being an insulator for electricity not heat.
Love the look of that mobo tho bout time computer parts stopped looking like disco balls.

Well after a bit of research ceramics can be electrically conductive and thermally conductive as well as an insulator for both.

 

[btarunr]

"Motherboard of the day" rofl

For many days in a row, i'm seeing a new ASUS+P55 motherboard, and after ASUS declaring its lineup. Just great

 

[Mussels]

Only 4 right angle :/ that sucks.

i hate right angle.

i've got two ports on my mobo that are Jmicron and would work with my E-sata cage (intel dont) but because theyre right angle, no cable will reach to let me connect them to a rear bracket.

 

[freaksavior]

well i personally like them.