Conclusion:

The ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AMD AM3+ motherboard is a solid board that provides a variety of high end features, including a very simple and well done overclocking interface. This board is said to be TUF, which stands for The Ultimate Force. It means that they have utilized the highest quality components, which allows ASUS to offer a 5 year warranty. This shows that they are highly confident that there will be no issues with this board. On top of all this, the novel CeraM!X heatsink coating appears to lower the temperature a few degrees, which is always helpful to keep the system running well for years to come.

The layout of the components on the motherboard is well thought out, providing the best configuration to allow for all CPU coolers and multiple video cards without running into issues with the motherboard components. The color scheme on the motherboard gives it a militaristic feel, which plays right along with the TUF philosophy.



The benchmark results for the Sabertooth 990FX were not much different than what was achieved with the previous generation M4A89GTD (which uses the 890GX chipset), but they were all equal to or better than the older board. Keeping performance similar across different chipsets is good, however the Sabertooth 990FX provides support for the next generation FX (Bulldozer) processors. Unfortunately, I have not been able to obtain one of these to test. I would hope that with the new CPU architecture we will see even better performance.

A search of the Bigbruin.com shopping engine finds that the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX is priced around $189.99 (US) at places such as Amazon.com and Newegg.com. This is not the highest priced 990FX motherboard, but it's also not the cheapest.

The ASUS Sabertooth 990FX receives the Bigbruin.com "Recommended" and "Gaming Approved" awards for providing features that will keep your system running strong for many years.



Pros:

» USB 3.0 front panel connector
» SATA 6Gb/s
» Support "Bulldozer" CPU
» 6 on-board fan connectors
» Multi-GPU for Quad SLI or Crossfire
» UEFI Bios
» Military grade components
» Easy overclocking
» 5 year warranty

Cons:

» Higher priced 990FX motherboard

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