System Overview & Testing Procedures
The ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark S was installed in our test bench, which we use to test all of our motherboards. All of the hardware besides the motherboard stays the same to keep things uniform.
Test System Specs
Processor: Intel Core i7-4790K
Video Card: MSI GTX 770 Gaming
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark S
Memory: 16GB Kingston HyperX Savage
Storage: 120GB Kingston HyperX 3K
Power: Corsair AX860i
Cooling: Thermaltake Water 3.0 Extreme
Case: HighSpeed PC Top Deck Tech Station
We will be testing the motherboard at the CPU’s stock speed of 4.0 GHz and again at our max stable overclock which is 4.6 GHz.
I have organized our benchmarks into the sections you see below.
CPU Testing
SiSoftware Sandra
– Processor Arithmetic
– Processor Multi-Media
CINEBENCH R11.5 64-bit
x264 HD Benchmark 5.0
Overall System Testing
PCMark 8
PCMark 7
PCMark Vantage
Gaming & Video
3DMark
3DMark 11
Battlefield 4
Alien vs Predator Benchmark
Now let’s get to testing!
Sometimes I dont understand Asus, they make great products but this is a Z97 not an X99 and even if it has a ton of features and no wifi and no Startup button on the motherboard is a real downside. Plus we have Skylake coming out and even though I heard it will be LGA1150 I am not sure it will be compatible with Z97 boards. Alot to find out before buying a new system now.
Skylake is not going to be LGA1150, it will be LGA1151, I believe. It is not going to be compatible with Z97.
However, the Broadwell processors will be LGA1150 (H97/Z97) compatible.
love the look but really if they’re going to go through all the time and effort might as well throw in a built in (yet removable) white IO shield so it looks more like a solid piece instead of just a cover
You are correct, but it will be compatible with DDR3 and DDR4 memory but who will use DDR3? I thought Broadwell was aimed at Mobility platforms not motherboard builds.