ASUS Maximus VI Hero vs Sabertooth Z87 Gaming

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Andrew Rohlfs

Andrew Rohlfs

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Aug 12, 2013
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I've been looking around at various motherboards and I've narrowed it down to these two. Does the Sabertooth Z87 offer anything more than the ASUS Maximus VI Hero as far as gaming? Huge price tag for Sabertooth, I don't fully understand why.

I will be playing games like Crysis 3 and BF4 with minor overclocking, and possible SLI in the future.

ASUS Maximus VI Hero or Sabertooth Z87 Gaming
i5-4670k
GTX 780
16 GB 1600 RAM
ssd

*5/25/2014 EDIT- I ended up going with the ASUS Sabertooth Z87. It is such a sick looking motherboard, and the looks + 5-year warranty justified the higher price. I will never look back.*
 
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feelingtheblanks
Well, the only plus of Sabertooth is that so-called thermal armor which is just a marketing gimmick and it has slightly better audio chip in terms of SNR. But I bet it's cheaper to use it since even a lower end board like MSI h87-g43 gaming or ASRock extreme 4 has the same chip today (Realtek ALC1150).

Other than that the "TUF" is another marketing gimmick. Sabertooth has PowerPAK mosfets from ONSemi which is actually the same as a lot more cheaper boards like MSI z87-G45 or ASRock Extreme 4. Same goes for caps. 5600uF solid polymer caps are very common on mid-range boards these days. These are also solid components but not anything special to market to promote it as "TUF".

However Hero has NexFET mosfets (one of the best around) and...
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thdarkshadow

thdarkshadow

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Feb 6, 2013
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better sound card and... not much else. It is mostly just better components like a better power phase design and stuff like that. honestly there really isnt any reason for you to get the asus over the msi. The only time high end motherboards are needed are if you are going for a super high or competitive overclock, need features like 4 way sli or bragging rights. $150 is about the sweet spot for a typical overclocking gamer

Edit: I swear it said MSI z87 gaming instead of Asus maximus vi hero. Sorry about that
 
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feelingtheblanks

feelingtheblanks

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Jan 3, 2014
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Well, actually Sabertooth's sound chip (realtek alc1150) is surprisingly better in terms of SNR. Even power phase design is similar. Both have true 8 phase pwm without a doubler. But Hero has better mosfets (nexfet) and inductors (real 60A). So at the end of the day there isn't a dramatic difference here if you don't plan to break any overclocking record, and if the prices aren't very close then go with the Sabertooth. I even could suggest MSI z87-gd5 over sabertooth, if its cheaper where you live.
 
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Andrew Rohlfs

Andrew Rohlfs

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Sabertooth Z87-$249.88
Maximus Vi hero-$199.99

Do you mean go with the hero since it's basically the same as the sabertooth but optimized for gaming? And cheaper

 
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feelingtheblanks

feelingtheblanks

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Well, the only plus of Sabertooth is that so-called thermal armor which is just a marketing gimmick and it has slightly better audio chip in terms of SNR. But I bet it's cheaper to use it since even a lower end board like MSI h87-g43 gaming or ASRock extreme 4 has the same chip today (Realtek ALC1150).

Other than that the "TUF" is another marketing gimmick. Sabertooth has PowerPAK mosfets from ONSemi which is actually the same as a lot more cheaper boards like MSI z87-G45 or ASRock Extreme 4. Same goes for caps. 5600uF solid polymer caps are very common on mid-range boards these days. These are also solid components but not anything special to market to promote it as "TUF".

However Hero has NexFET mosfets (one of the best around) and true 60A gold plated inductors with 7280uF solid polymer caps. So better components here.

Actually Hero is slightly expensive where I live that's why I tell you get Sabertooth if it's cheaper. Since it's the other way around don't even think a second. Get the Hero and never look back :p.
 
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mc962

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Jul 18, 2013
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Sabertooth has a 5 year warranty, I believe the Hero is a standard 3 year warranty. Part of the sabertooth price is probably going towards the extra warranty. The Hero might get you slightly better performance, but they are both good boards. The cpu and gpu are going the make the biggest difference anyway. I have the sabertooth and I like it, but I'm sure I would have enjoyed the Hero just as much (although the armor was a nice place to put my hand as a first time builder, no worrying about accidentally snapping things somehow).
 
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Andrew Rohlfs

Andrew Rohlfs

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I used to have the Sabertooth Z77, and it was a pretty awesome board. I'm not on a budget, but if the Hero is the same as the Sabertooth AND is geared towards gaming, I think I might just do that. Other than that, I guess it's just which board you want to say you have in your build
 
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