The First TUF Board
Thermal shock test? Check. Vibration test? Check. Mechanical shock test? Check. moisture resistance test? Check. Solder bath test? Check. The list continues on the certificate of reliability issued by an accredited third-party laboratory that's found with every unit of ASUS' latest motherboard, the SABERTOOTH 55i.
Yes, in case you're still puzzled, the first ASUS' TUF motherboard, the SABERTOOTH 55i is now available in the market. 'TUF', pronounced 'tough', here stands for 'The Ultimate Force', which is ASUS' new series of motherboards that are geared towards stability, durability and all-round compatibility. To ensure that it lives up to its claims, all the capacitors and MOSFETS used on the SABERTOOTH have to pass rigorous testing usually meant for military class components.
It's not the first time that we have heard of PC vendors going for the durability and stability angle, even to the extent of boasting military-grade components. MSI for instance has outfitted some of its graphics cards with military grade components, like the MSI N260GTX Lightning Black Edition.
Gigabyte too has been pushing the reliability slant earlier than most, with solid capacitors and an obsession with power phases present in its 'Ultra Durable' motherboards.
So it's not surprising that ASUS has chosen to travel down this route too. Besides the tough military grade hardware, the SABERTOOTH 55i also comes with the vendor's new ceramic-based heatsink coating technology that claims to improve heat dissipation on heatsinks. Throw in the usual multi-phase power design with active phase switching and you can see where ASUS is going with this new motherboard.
Going with the rugged theme, the ASUS SABERTOOTH 55i is decked in fatigue colors of grays and browns.
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ASUS SABERTOOTH P55i Technical Specifications
| CPU Support |
- Intel Lynnfield Core i7/i5 using LGA1156 package
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| Chipset |
- Intel P55 Express Chipset
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| Memory |
- Supports 4 DIMM DDR3 SDRAM
- Supports up to 16GB memory size (max 4GB per DIMM)
- 2000/1800/1600/1333/1066MHz dual channel
DDR3 memory
architecture
- Supports Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
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| Storage |
- Intel P55 Express
- 6 x SATA
3.0Gbps ports (black)
- Intel Matrix
Storage Technology
- Support AHCI controller with SATA RAID 0, RAID 1,
RAID 5 and RAID 10
- JMicron JMB363 PCIe to PATA controller
- 1 x IDE connector supporting up to two ATA-133 IDE
devices
- 1 x eSATA port (back panel)
- JMicron JMB322 (Drive Xpert Technology)
- 2 x SATA 3.0Gbps ports (orange and white)
- Supports EZ Backup and SuperSpeed
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| Audio |
- VIA VT2020
- 10-channel HD Audio CODEC
- Supports Jack-Detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel
Jack-Retasking
- 1 x Optical S/PDIF (at rear)
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| Networking |
- Realtek 8112L PCIe Gigabit LAN controller with AI NET2
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| IEEE 1394 (FireWire) |
- VIA 6308P controller
- 2 x IEEE 1394a ports (1 rear, 1 header)
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| Rear I/O |
- 8 x USB 2.0
ports
- 1 x eSATA port
- 1 x RJ45 LAN
port
- 1 x optical S/PDIF output connector
- 1 x IEEE1394a port
- 1
x PS/2
keyboard port
- 1 x PS/2 mouse port
- Audio jacks
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| Internal Connectors |
- 1 x Ultra ATA
IDE connector
- 6 x SATA
connectors
- 2 x Drive Xpert SATA connectors (orange and white)
- 3 x USB 2.0 headers (Up to 6 USB 2.0 ports)
- 1 x IEEE1394a connector
- 1 x S/PDIF output header
- 1 x COM port
- 1 x 24-pin ATX power connector
- 1 x 8-pin 12V power connector
- 5 x fan connectors
- Power and reset switches
- 1 x MemOK! switch
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| Expansion Slots |
- 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots (1 x16 or 2 x8)
- 3 x PCIe 2.0 x1
slots
- 2 x
PCI slots
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| Special Features |
- CeraM!X Heatsink Coating Technology
- CoolMem!
- T.Probe
- ASUS Fan Xpert
- MemOK!
- Drive Xpert
- ASUS Q-Connector
- ASUS Q-Shield
- ASUS Q-LED (CPU, DRAM, VGA, Boot Device LED)
- ASUS Q-Slot
- ASUS Q-DIMM
- ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
- ASUS EZ Flash 2
- ASUS MyLogo 2
- ASUS O.C. Profile
- Multi-language BIOS
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| PCB |
- ATX Form
Factor, 30.5 x 24.4cm
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| Terms Of Service
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