ASUS P8P67 deluxe or...Sabertooth P67

I'm building a new gaming machine and was wondering what the "professionals" think. Should i go for the ASUS P8P67 Deluxe or the ASUS Sabertooth P67? Here's what I plan on putting together.

Mobo: one of the above (need your help )
CPU: i7 2600k Sandy Bridge
Memory: 16gb G.SKill (haven't decided on the set need to pick my mobo)
Graphics: GTX580, might SLI down the road
Drives: SSD, haven't picked one out yet
PS: Corsair AX1200
Cooling: Corsair H70

Hello Dub, welcome to the forums.

Both of those boards are nice; personally I haven't used either one, but sticking with ASUS is a good idea in my book. You will probably be happy with either one.

I am very interested in the opinions on this one as well. Since they are so close to price.

Anyone who has purchased a sabertooth can say if they removed the cover or not? Is it something helping or just blocking your vision/making it harder to work with.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=672047

Look a few threads down and you will find Yes the cover can be removed!

As far as which is better? Deluxe has 16+2 power phase whereas ST is 8+3. Its been said that the ST components are a bit better quality hence the lower power phase. Doesnt seem to matter much though for overclocking on these things though. Either your cpu/board will do it or they wont. If the Deluxe/ST has what you need onboard, then grab it. If you dont need everything they offer, look into a Pro/Vanilla. Its all personal preference at this point as it seems things are a bit more chip limited for high end overclocks.

Well I think I will go for the deluxe one, prefer the overall layout + want the 2 ethernet ports. Also I don't know why the sabertooth has a front usb header on the motherboard without the actual front usb ...erm whatever its called... the thing that the deluxe has anyways . I guess you understood though.

Well I'd vote fore the Sabertooth, but I could be bias..

It will provide a chip with what it needs to get the clocks.. no prob..
and it's tough as 3week old jerky.. 5yr warranty too..

im not sure you could make a mistake with either board, but the deluxe is great board

since i am an owner of the P67 Sabertooth, i'd vote - anything but that board. have had this thing 10 days and still unable to get it stable with any OC of more than .1ghz until just now (more on that below)

if you haven't made your memory choice yet, make SURE you check ASUS' QVL .pdf's. (google - mobo QVL pdf) for compatible RAM.

also worth noting is that i bought this board to build my SandyBridge PC ASAP once the Rev3 boards hit the market and the capacitors were a huge selling point. in hindsight, i wish i'd have waited for a broader selection of boards. while the MoBo cover is nice looking, it complicates the P67's terrible design choice of placing the battery under the GPU. other boards allow you to remove the GFX card to reset the battery, this one requires you to disassemble to entire rig to reset the battery.

another issue i have noticed is that the other ASUS P67 boards seem to have an OS Overclocking utility. this one has some voltage tweaks but you cannot change the CPU clock outside of the UEFI Bios. most will suggest that's not a huge deal but take it from me, after 10 Windows installs and 100's of reboots, lacking that *ability stings.

although i haven't returned mine yet, Kingston 16gb (2x4gb x2) doesn't play well with this board. despite being compatible on Kingston's website and in reviews, on the latest MoBo revision (1305) it's XMP mode is completely unstable for more than 5 mins in any test @ 1600mhz. only now have i gotten through more than 3 of IntelBurnTest maximum by lowering it to 1333mhz. hopefully this test will finish this time as its been a horrible test of patience. (test running at 4400mhz, 1.32v, 55c temp - DDR1333 9-9-9-27). Prime95? forget it - that thing killed the PC in under a minute every time.