Is the Sabertooth Z97 Mark S truly worth $300?

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Joseph DeGarmo

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Mar 12, 2014
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I'm interested in upgrading my motherboard for SLI or PhysX GPU. (Yes, in case you're wondering, I will get an EVGA 750w G2 PSU for that. I know.) I was told that the Sabertooth motherboards are highly recommended for performance, but saw some mixed reviews on the Mark 1 and Mark 2 versions on newegg. However, I saw the Mark S version and that is the highest-rated Z97 motherboard. It would fit my case extremely well due to the white PCB, yet is the most expensive. I was also keeping my eye on the ASRock Z97 Extreme 6, which appears to have nice overclocking capabilities as well as a lot of SATA and USB ports. I'm not really interested in an M.2 SSD since using that will take away from available PCI-E lanes for a second GPU. If I were to use an old GTX 660 for PhysX, however, could I force it to run in PCI-E 3.0 x4 mode and reserve the extra 4 lanes for an M.2 drive on the ASRock board? Or should I just get a Sabertooth board?
 
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bunta714

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It's a very solid board with great features, but the main reason I got mine was, of course, for the looks.

If you're going for a white build of any kind, it is the best looking motherboard, hands down.
I am lucky enough to live close to a MicroCenter, so I got $40 off of my board (from their CPU bundle) when it was already on sale for 285. I am very happy with the performance and features, and it looks amazing.
 
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Joseph DeGarmo

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Thanks. If I'm going to pay a premium price for this motherboard, then I need to make sure it will last a very long time. I understand that it lacks an M.2 port, but it does have SATA Express, which still costs at least one PCI-E lane. Can I get a SATA Express SSD for Windows 10 and force a GTX 660 PhysX card to run in x4 mode instead of x8 mode or should I just use regular SATA 3.0 and get another GTX 970 for SLI? From what I learned, I will need two GTX 970s in SLI to run GTA V on ultra settings @ 60 fps in 1080p resolution. I know that current drivers do not support DSR in SLI mode, but SLI will help push games like Dragon Age: Inquisition to 60 fps with maximum MSAA.
 
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bunta714

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I believe you can set the PCI-E speeds manually in the BIOS, but I would have to double check that.

The bottom PCI-E slot is a 2.0 x16 slot running @ 4x, so if your GPU could fit in there, you wouldn't even have to change anything manually, but depending on your setup, it could be a tight fit.
 
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Joseph DeGarmo

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OK, so I was going to go with the Sabertooth Z97 MARK 2 due to cost, but with the protective plating on both the front and back of the MARK S, I find it more appealing. So I'll work on setting a budget for the MARK S board. Perhaps I could sell my existing mATX board towards that gem. :)
 
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bunta714

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I think you'll be very happy with the Mark S.

As for your 970 SLI + SATA3 SSD vs the 660 PhysX + Sata Express question, I would say the 970 SLI will give you much, much better performance. I don't think having a dedicated PhysX card is really worth it if you could instead throw in a second full GPU. 970 SLI will give great performance even on ultra at 1080p 60+ FPS.

For the SSD, I really don't think you're going to notice any difference in speed between the two types, unless you're running benchmarks or copying huge files constantly. An SSD is going to be great for boot and loading times no matter which kind you choose.
 
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