Connectors and I/O

Totally ASUS equipped the Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 with eight SATA ports, where six of them have been angled by 90 degrees. This number of SATA ports should be sufficient for any office PC or gaming system. Other than six SATA 6Gbps ports that have been wired natively to the PCH there are also the two straight connectors, which have been connected to an ASMedia chip. Apart from that there is also one SATA Express port. Right next to the SATA ports there is a USB 3.0 header which has also been angled by 90 degrees. Unfortunately you won't find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons. ASUS also didn't equip the Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 with a debug display which would have been useful if you should once have issues with one of the components in your system. Regarding the full size PCI Express slots, there is two slots space inbetween the first and the second one. This means, that graphics cards, even in SLI/CrossFire won't run into temperature issues.

 

Totally you'll find seven fan headers on the ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped midrange or even a high-end-system with fresh air. Apart from that there are two additional, special fan headers to connect 35 millimeter assist fans to the board. These fans can be used to improve airflow underneath the thermal armor. Furthermore all the fans connected to the different fan headers can be controled via the software you use for the thermal radar.

  

Looking at I/O-panel ASUS equipped the Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 with four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, four USB 2.0 port, two gigabit ethernet ports, an analogue audio panel, an optical out and an HDMI as well as a DisplayPort connector. Furthermore there also is a BIOS flash back button.