Asus Sabertooth Z77 or Asus Maximus V Gene

[zyxer]

Yeah, I know you're going to ask me if I am into mATX or ATX but the motherboard size is not a problem with me. Just want to know what's the best of the two in overall feautures.

 

Thanks!

[wevsspot]

It's hard to make a head to head comparison in feature set because both boards battle it out in different areas.  I'll try and detail the differences the best I can;

 

Gene

Higher mfg. supported memory overclocking

 

PCIe x4

Gene - 1 / Sabretooth - 0

 

Mini Card Slot

Gene - 1 / Sabretooth - 0

 

SATA 3Gb/s

Gene - 2 / Sabretooth - 4

 

Audio

Gene - SupremeFX III / Sabretooth - Realtek ALC892

 

eSATA

Gene - 1 3Gb/s / Sabretooth - 2 6Gb/s

 

USB

Gene - 4 USB 2.0 / Sabretooth - 6 USB 2.0

 

I think that covers the primary differences other than power design and size of board.  If I didn't specifically mention it above the feature set for each board is the same or similar.  If I've missed anything everyone please feel free to chime in.

 

I'm not a huge fan of mATX boards unless I'm building HTPCs.  Otherwise I use a full size board for the extra real estate, especially for multi-gpu builds.

[zyxer]

Thanks for the reply wevsspot!

 

Currently using 2600k and Sabertooth Z77 in watercooled. I was thinking to trade my sabertooth to maximus v gene here in my country. Having mid tower (Arc Midi) still fine using the maximus v gene, if i'll trade my sabertooth, sooner im going to get new mATX case (probably Define Mini). One thing im concern in shifting to mATX are the radiators (360mm).

 

Thanks again!

[Puck]

If you plan on going multiple GPUS, the Sabertooth has tons of spacing between PCIE ports. It looks sick too, I saw a guy paint the shield white and it looked amazing with hard line WC and white Mayhems.

[Black64]

IMHO, my biggest mistake with my current build was getting a mATX board, go full size!

[d6bmg]

Unless you have budget constraint don't go for matx board, specially if you plan to use 2 GPUs.  More space is always better to work with.

[Hyper]

I also have a sabretooth z77 (3770k) in my main gamming rig, nice board and plenty of room, I have 2 x GTX670's a wirless card and a sound card tucked into that system without any issues   (and still have a pcie 1x slot availible).

 

I have an older gene x68 with a 2600k in it and it's been a good system as well.

 

It all depends on what kind of system your building, if your case fits an ATX us a an ATX...

[ccokeman]

Both are solid boards and will net you roughtly the same overclocks, If the ultimate goal is to fit your system into a smaller case then the GENE is the best option. As far as radiators in a chassis the board is not going to limit the size of your Rads. That limitation comes is directly related to the chassis.