ASUS TUF Z97 Mark S In The Box

The biggest potential for in-the-box bundles is when a motherboard manufacturer releases a themed motherboard. The majority of themed motherboards are aimed at overclockers and gamers, while channel motherboards tend to be rather thin or heavy on everything. The TUF range, which is a themed range, has a large opportunity to make the purchase of something like the Mark S more of an event than it already is (especially when you opened the package and saw it was #0001).

In the box we get:

Driver Disk
Manuals
White rear IO shield
Four SATA Cables
Rigid 2-way SLI Connector
Q-Connectors
35mm and 40mm fans with assoicated screws
3 PCIe x16 slot covers
3 PCIe x1 slot covers
2 DRAM slot covers
Rear IO Dust Filter
Connector cap set
3 Thermistor cables
7 SATA caps
8 USB caps
2 Onboard USB caps
5 Audio Caps

Many thanks to...

We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our test bed:

Thank you to OCZ for providing us with PSUs and SSDs.
Thank you to G.Skill for providing us with memory.
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU.
Thank you to MSI for providing us with the NVIDIA GTX 770 Lightning GPUs.
Thank you to Rosewill for providing us with PSUs and RK-9100 keyboards.
Thank you to ASRock for providing us with some IO testing kit.
Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with Nepton 140XL CLCs.

Test Setup

Test Setup
Processor Intel Core i7-4770K ES
4 Cores, 8 Threads, 3.5 GHz (3.9 GHz Turbo)
Motherboard ASUS TUF Z97 Mark S
Cooling Cooler Master Nepton 140XL
Thermaltake TRUE Copper
Power Supply OCZ 1250W Gold ZX Series
Corsair AX1200i Platinum PSU
Memory G.Skill RipjawsZ 4x4 GB DDR3-1600 9-11-9 Kit
Memory Settings 1600 9-11-9-27 1T tRFC 240
Video Cards MSI GTX 770 Lightning 2GB (1150/1202 Boost)
Video Drivers NVIDIA Drivers 337
Hard Drive OCZ Vertex 3 256GB
Optical Drive LG GH22NS50
Case Open Test Bed
Operating System Windows 7 64-bit SP1
USB 2/3 Testing OCZ Vertex 3 240GB with SATA->USB Adaptor

ASUS TUF Z97 Mark S Overclocking

Experience with ASUS TUF Z97 Mark S

While the Mark S uses the Z97 chipset, it is safe to say that overclocking is not its primary concern. Some users will testify that overclocking reduces the longevity of a system, but the benefit of the TUF system is that it should last longer overall. I like overclocking on almost everything anyway, and I came into relatively few issues with the Mark S. But as mentioned, TUF is not focused in that area, and as a result the only way to really overclock the system is via the BIOS. Though if you pile in some good fan settings, there is the opportunity to perhaps knock off a few degrees on a good overclock.

Methodology:

Our standard overclocking methodology is as follows. We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with PovRay and OCCT to simulate high-end workloads. These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.

For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed. The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed, and the process repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (100ºC+). Our test bed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air.

Overclock Results

As with most of the Z97 motherboards we have reviewed, our slightly-better-than-average CPU is the limiting factor. We pushed it easily to 4.6 GHz, although the temperatures were getting rather hot during OCCT loading.

ASUS TUF Z97 Mark S Software System Benchmarks
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  • WithoutWeakness - Monday, November 10, 2014 - link

    Solid board with good looks. The last paragraph is on point and more than one person will most certainly pair this with a GALAX HOF card, some Dominator Platinums, and white LEDs throughout for a very clean, high-performance rig. Glad to see more options on the market, especially considering the recent trend of every manufacturer pumping out black/red boards.
  • MrRez - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link

    Here is my build using this board as the centre piece :)

    http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/257519-my-firs...
  • lilmoe - Monday, November 10, 2014 - link

    If a screw falls in there, you're "screwed".
  • Yuriman - Monday, November 10, 2014 - link

    Plastic covers over hot components, requiring the use of small fans seems like a bad idea.
  • Flunk - Monday, November 10, 2014 - link

    Never fear, the plastic doesn't actually cover anything hot. It serves basically no purpose past dust protection and looking pretty, but it shouldn't cause any overheating.

    Don't get me wrong, I love ASUS (I have a P8Z68-v PRO in my gaming desktop), but the "thermal armor" thing is totally pointless. It wouldn't stop me from buying a board, but it's entirely for looks.
  • Samus - Monday, November 10, 2014 - link

    it does look good, for those that care. me, well, I put a cover on my case and might look in there 2 years later...
  • Wwhat - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link

    I think the idea might be that the CPU cooler and GPU cooler's heat that gets into the case doesn't get to the motherboard? Or maybe it's just nonsensical bullshit, *shrug*
  • pocketdrummer - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link

    Actually, it still seems like a bad design especially if it's for dust protection. They put an UNFILTERED intake fan on the rear of the computer (right next to the exhaust fans, mind you) and pipe it underneath the plastic cover. If anything, you're going to inject dust up underneath the cover that's supposed to prevent dust.

    This makes no sense.

    Basically it looks cool. That's about it.
  • Tamarocker88 - Monday, July 13, 2015 - link

    The intake fan on the rear of the computer is actually filtered. There's a small removable filter included. As for dust getting stuck under the plastic cover, the BIOS includes fan controls to automatically reverse the flow of the board's fans periodically, preventing buildup. This combined with the bottom and front of the case having removable filters should provide for a great dust protection system.
  • ZeDestructor - Monday, November 10, 2014 - link

    I have the older Sabretooth Z77 right now. I installed, then removed the fans, and there was no meaningful change in temperatures.

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