Pros: Well constructed

Cons: Missing parts
location of some fan power was kinda odd, however the shield that makes it be that way looks friken awsome

Other Thoughts: This is the best motherboard I've purchased so far the only issue i have with is that it came missing its seal on the box (looks like one was never put on by manufacture at all)..... and what do you know, several pieces were missing from its IO shield, instruction book, stickers, all the software..... the list goes on

Where does one place the blame for such?
Well it's not a huge deal as long as either the seller or the manufacture own up and take charge in order to keep its costumer happy and replaces the missing parts, however neither of em were willing to help with the issue one just keeps telling me to contact the other and a week has gone by without resolution.

Makes me question placing other orders as well as buying Asus products since so far the costumer service part of this transaction has not been the greatest.

Product rates 4, costumer service on the issues 0....

Pros: Nice layout, thermal armor

Cons: DOA. After numerous hours of debug, could not get this working. Endless cycle of powering up a few seconds, then down, then up, then down. The final test was not even connecting the reset/power switch into the motherboard and it was power cycling constantly on its own as described. Unable to get a refund, so have to go through the RMA process. Meanwhile I have a CPU and other components that may have been damaged by ASUS' motherboard that I cannot test due to no MB. I bought this motherboard due to my experience with the Sabertooth Z77 which I have had for many years and has been absolutely rock solid, the QA in the Z170 line looks to be lacking.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for taking the time to inform us on your experience with the ASUS Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 Motherboard. I'm sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience. What are your system specifications? Clear CMOS and see if the board will POST. If it will not, pull one memory module and place the other stick in the slot furthest from the CPU and see if that helps. Please make sure to complete the power off cycle before testing hardware to avoid damaging your hardware. If there is no POST following this process, then it would be best for you to provide us with your full list of parts for further analysis on QVL parts. If you need further information with any of your technical questions, you can contact me directly at cl-nestor@asus.com using N160387518 as reference to this case.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Regards,
-Nestor
ASUS Customer Loyalty - US Support

Pros: Ignore the bad reviews cause this thing is a BEAST. Better frames then other mainboards using same i7 6700k and 980 TI. Will never buy another mainboard that isn't Asus. If your debating between this and another mainboard that isn't Asus Sabertooth series or better, stop and just GET IT.

Cons: I could not find info as to the height of the armor on the mainboard so I was a concerned my CM V6 GT CPU cooler would not fit, but it did.

Pros: Thermal armor, build quality, the BIOS has great new features.

Cons: Post time, thermal armor bocks a fan, problems getting it to boot on build and BIOS update resets all your settings.

Other Thoughts: This is my second sabertooth, the previous was a p67 which was outstanding in every way. Additionally, the company I work for builds custom PC's and we use ASUS motherboards exclusively. (We used to use intel before they got out of the desktop game, but I digress) We are very satisfied with the boards.

I decided to go with this, pairing it with an i7 6700K, a Samsung 950 pro m.2, EVGA gtx980 and gskill ripjaws 4 3200 ddr4. I had some issues getting it to boot to the with 950 on the bios it came with (from 10/15) so I updated it to 1702, the latest. No boot there either. Finally got it to do a UEFI win 10 install with the 1602 BIOS and it actually booted correctly.

There were no issues with the memory, or getting it to operate at speed, nor any issue with the processor or video card, so great there.

After getting it to boot and running windows for a few days, I attempted to update the BIOS to 1702, and it basically wiped my previous BIOS settings resulting in a boot failure. Had to go in an manually reset everything back to where I had it. Not terrible, but annoying. Also, the thermal armor on the top of the board blocks my top case fan, so I had to remove it. I am admittedly using a smaller case, so that's my fault really.

POST time: As others have noted, this is the longest POST time I have EVER seen. Here's how my computer starts: (and maybe I'll link a video later)

1) Push power button, light comes on. Fans spin up a little, black screen for 5-8 seconds.
2) Screen goes to TUF splash screen (noting the overclock) for about 7 seconds, fans spool up fully.
3) Screen goes to windows boot (with TUF logo replaced by UEFI install which is neat) for about 5 seconds (fans spool down to normal).

Basically, the POST time has negated any boot speed I gained from the 950. I should have a 12 second boot or so. It's north of 20 seconds.

Now, I understand comaplining about a 20 second boot time may seem petty, but frankly, that's the speed I was getting on my p67 with a regular OCZ SATAIII SSD. I spent the outrageous money on an m.32 to get boot time down to minimum, and it's negated because of the board.

I hope ASUS fixes this in a future BIOS release. And yes, I did all of the recommendations previously mentioned in these reviews, It's something to do with the POST, not a BIOS setting.


Other than that, the board is great.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for taking the time to inform us on your ASUS experience. Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this issue has caused. What is the exact part number to the RAM you are using? Are they a Z170 qualified kit? 3000+ speed is likely not going to be plug and play. You would most likely have to tweak your settings to get your motherboard stable. Even then it'll cause compatibility problems leading to inconsistent POST. If you need memory density at those types of speeds (3000+), I would recommend a workstation platform using ECC memory. If you want plug and play compatibility with the Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1, I'd recommend running your RAM at its JEDEC speeds. If you have any questions technical inquries please make sure to contact me at cl-nestor@asus.com using N160369953 as reference to this case.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Best Regards,
-Nestor
ASUS Customer Loyalty - US Support
​

Pros: - Durable
- Feature-packed
- 5-year warranty

Cons: - None, yet

Other Thoughts: I picked this up after my other motherboard started exhibiting symptoms of failure. After purchasing first and asking questions later, I felt unsure about it as I read about folks' experiences with their system not wanting to boot after enabling the XMP profile in the BIOS and that 2400 MHz was the fastest RAM speeds that the SABERTOOTH supported. Surprisingly, I guess, with my 3200 MHz G.SKILL DDR4 firmly slotted, my system booted up and installed Windows without any problems. My RAM isn't on their list of certified modules and I consider myself lucky but my single recommendation would be, to anyone considering buying the SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1, make certain that the RAM you buy for this motherboard is on that list.

Pros: Seems well put-together.

Solid power delivery.

Looks cool.

Cons: Does NOT include the "DIP - 5-Way Optimization" feature that was listed on the Newegg spec sheet and featured in several reviews of this product (including the kitguru online review and the Maximum PC Feb 2016 issue).

Takes 10seconds longer to POST than any other motherboard I've ever worked with (this is first ASUS product).

Packed with "features" but feels bloated and can get confusing (redundant "features" in different areas - not sure which to use).

One of the 2 included mini-fans is extremely annoying.

Horrible, and I mean HORRIBLE, customer/tech support.

Other Thoughts: I spent a lot of time pouring over reviews and spec sheets trying to figure out with mobo to go with for my new PC. It came down to this one and 1 or 2 others, but based on the fact that this one had better features (especially the 5-way Optimization feature) and was ASUS (I heard it was a top brand) I picked this one. It seems that this board DOES have the TPU chip needed to run that feature and it DID have the feature at one point (conveniently right as Kitguru and Maximum PC were reviewing the product), but ASUS has since taken it away. Newegg had the feature listed in the specs sheet for the 1.5 weeks I was comparing motherboards but the day the board actually arrived at my house I checked again and it has been deleted (I checked 10+ times specifically for that feature and it was always listed til now). It's now been a few days after I first put the system together and I'm starting to regret it.

I've never had a PC take this long til the POST beep (the "healthy" beep). I thought there might be a possibility that I had incorrectly hooked something up, but after some time and research I learned that this is how (all?) ASUS boards work. It is insanely annoying when tweaking BIOS and setting up an OS for the first time, as you are constantly restarting . I also had the BIOS freeze up or suddenly restart on me a few times.

The included 40mm fan (exhaust) can get really noisy. You cannot set it below 50% speed, and it constantly sounds like it's changing speeds (no matter what I have the fan profile set to or how many times I run the fan optimization). I have a window air conditioner blaring away less than 10 feet from my ear and I STILL find this extremely annoying.

I also had the unfortunate experience of calling ASUS tech support 3 times. Each time it took 5-10min to get someone on the line, and the person I spoke with was obviously just reading off of a computer screen. These are NOT knowledgeable technicians you're speaking with, they are basically out-sourced international receptionists. They can not help you troubleshoot anything, and their answer to any question that isn't directly covered on the FAQ or Manual is to "reset the CMOS". One of the 3, a girl, was incredibly rude to me off the bat as soon as I told her (as politely as I could) that I'd rather not give out my full name and phone number just to ask a single question. She was blatantly rude to me, almost as if she had no regard for her job (maybe ASUS doesn't care about these things, tho?). Anyway, I actually had to call Corsair twice in the same day and both times got a very knowledgeable, OVERLY-friendly, human on the phone within 30 seconds. Night and day, people. Night and day.

Now if only Corsair made motherboards....

Manufacturer Response:

Greetings John,

We'd like to thank you for providing your feedback on your ASUS experience. I'm sorry to hear about your lackluster experience you've encountered with ASUS Support. Please forward me any associated case numbers during your time with ASUS support so I can review your findings and forward it to the Management Team so we can avoid these issues in the future. What BIOS version are you operating on? If you haven't already, please up date your UEFI SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 to BIOS Version 1702 located here: ​https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH-Z170-MARK-1/HelpDesk_Download/​ What HDD/SSD are you using as your BOOT drive? In UEFI please navigate to Advanced Mode. Click "Boot" option. For Post Delay Time switch to 1 sec. Next, make sure Launch CSM(Compatibility Support Module) to 'Disabled'. Then, under PCH Configuration, you can turn off Smart Test check to help reduce the boot time as well. If you can, please provide me with more details on your case so I can best assist you with your issue. If you have any questions or need personalized help please feel free to contact me at cl-nestor@asus.com using N160329722 as reference to this case.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Best Regards,
-Nestor
ASUS Customer Loyalty - US Support

Pros: This was the easiest installation I have ever done. Everything runs really quiet on this board and super cool. Instant response times. No bottlenecks just perfect harmony

Cons: The only thing I would have changed about this board is the screw holes are really recessed if the holes were more of a cone shape on the top edge of the board would be easier to make sure screws go in correctly. Make sure you have a magnetic screwdriver to mount the board with.

Pros: Great layout allowed for a very smooth build. Lots of control over board functions in BIOS. Very easy to modestly overclock my i5-6600K
The pictures don't do it justice, this thing looks great, I especially like the hidden area for my M.2 SSD
Great warranty!

Cons: Had a difficult time getting it to recognize my M.2 drive as a boot device (Samsung 950 Pro NVME version).
BIOS flash utility has an option to check online for updates while still in the BIOS. Function didn't work with the BIOS version the board ships with.

Other Thoughts: No issues updating BIOS from a USB stick or using the ASUS update software from their website.
Fixed SSD issue by temporarily adjusting BIOS "CSM" settings. Updated Samsung drivers and BIOS version after OS install, re-set bios settings, and everything works fine now.

Pros: -Well built with a good feature set for the money
-FLIES with Samsung 950 pro

Cons: -Largest problem is that has issues with high end ram. I can't get it to boot with 16GBx2 G.SKILL F4-3200C14D-32GTZ using XMP. It's not just this board. After some research I found a bunch of Asus z170 boards not working well with anything over ddr4 3000. Asus support seems to use the VQL list as an excuse but my expectation is that DDR4 3200 should have no issues with xmp settings. Some folks had some luck with fine tuning it but it's very sketchy at this point. Corsair is having similar issues. I hope this will be resolved with a bios update eventually but who knows. It's a real bummer. Main reason for the 3 stars.

- Your graphics card will probably cover the some of the "info" LEDs. Be nice if they included a post code display
- the extra fans work fine but the instructions are bad on the proper direction of installing the one by the IO bay. The directions contradict the air flow direction on the diagram image. Also they don't really tell you that you should be shutting the vents if you use the fans.
- the other extra fan seems rather poorly executed. It seems like tacked on afterthought. Just looks jerry rigged when installed
- as others said, be sure to install the fans before mounting the board in the case
-- same with the cpu heatsink if yours is large.

Other Thoughts: - still teething issues I hope
- haven't had a chance yet to push the processor due to the memory segway
- large heat cpu coolers will basically block access to stuff. My NH-D15 cannot use the second fan do the where the RAM is

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We appreciate the feedback you have provided with your Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 motherboard. What are your hardware specifications? What DIMM kit(s) are you using? The motherboard UEFI be outdated and can not detect new memory, please update UEFI to latest version SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 BIOS 1702 for improved system stability. Make sure to verify your memory are in the ASUS Qualified Vendors List. Also, please don't combine memory kits. Memory vendors bin memory kits at their rated density. If an end-user combines memory kits to make up a higher density, the memory timings that each kit is programmed with are no longer valid or guaranteed to work. Purchase a single memory kit on ASUS Qualified Vendors List at the rated density and timings that you need. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me directly at cl-nestor@asus.com. You can use this number N160309496 as reference to this case.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Best Regards,
-Nestor
ASUS Customer Loyalty - US Support

Pros: Very sturdy construction - the hallmark of the Sabertooth line.
Good looks. I’m not a fanatic about what I see when I look through the window on my PC, except for cable management. I didn’t start out for a red and black theme, it just turned out that when I was done with the build – hokey ram cats! That’s what I had.
I like the idea of the Dust Defenders - small plugs that you can place in the unused connections to keep the dust out.
It has a feature that you can set to periodically run your fans in reverse flow, if you choose, to help cut down on dust build-up. You can set the frequency at which this occurs.
M.2 support - I’m expecting my card (Samsung 500GB EVO 850) to arrive in the next few days.

Cons: Reset switch connector - The motherboard has a 3 pin connector and the case (Thermaltake Core V51) pin-out is 2 pin. I’m not sure if this is a motherboard issue or a case issue. I’m going to include it in the case review also. The bottom line is that there is no way, that I can see, to reset the computer with the front panel reset switch.
After completing the build, I ran the AISuite 3 Thermal Tuning program to see how it would optimize the case fans. My build has 7 fans (not counting the power supply fan), 2 on the motherboard 35mm and 40mm, 3 in the case 120mm (2 front and 1 back) that came standard with it and 2 on the CPU cooler (Thermaltake NiC C5). The results, though noisier than I expected, were something that I thought I could live with. Gradually that noise became more and more irritating. I think that a review shouldn’t be posted until you use the item for a while so after 2 weeks of use I decided to write this review. I did some troubleshooting and found that the noise was being generated by the 40mm motherboard fan. It was making more noise than all the other fans combined. To be fair, I decided to run the Thermal Tuning program one more time just prior to posting this review. I’m not sure why, as nothing in the case had changed, but the results were significantly less noise.
When I was looking for a new motherboard I used the ASUS Advanced Search function on their web site. One of the features I selected that I wanted on it was onboard WiFi. My last motherboard was a Sabertooth 990 FX which I have owned for about 6 years and have had zero issues with so when I saw the Sabertooth board on the list I bought it. This board does not have on-board WiFi so I had to spend more money on a WiFi card. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel that an “Advanced Search” function should include all the features you are looking for in a component for it to appear in the search results.

Other Thoughts: Would I recommend this board to someone to buy?
This is a tough, feature rich, good looking board – so yes.
No on-board WiFi – Though irritating, not a deal breaker – so yes.
The reset switch pin-out – With a case that supports it, yes. As I had already purchased my case, no. Come on, how many people research that prior to buying a board. It didn’t even occur to me to do so.