- Joined
- Jun 16, 2010
Biostar TA890FXE
If any of you were looking at this motherboard and wondering if it was any good, the answer is yes. I decided to pick this up for my first AMD build since C2D hit the scene and I'm glad I did. Like many people, I always thought Biostar was a "low end" budget parts company...and for the most part they are, but once in a while (more recently as of late) they release a flagship motherboard. I started looking into Biostar when I was competitively overclocking Intel 775s and they came out with the T-Power i45. Once that motherboard picked up a couple world records (with Intels) I jumped on board the Biostar train and I haven't jumped off yet. Their new AMD offering, the TA890FXE is no exception. I think it's probably on it's way to breaking another world record...
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1192969
I picked mine up for $139 from the 'egg...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138193&Tpk=ta890fxe
It is really is tough to beat a $130 motherboard that performs like this. In addition to that, Biostar's customer service treated me great when I thought I murdered one of their ATI 4890s. I don't work for Biostar or anything, but I like to give props when props are due.
Pros: Overclocks easily, built like a tank, cheap, good colors, has post code display, good cooling, good CS, core unlocking feature...did I mention its $130?
Cons: No USB 3.o support, layout might be cumbersome for some setups (PCIe arrangement issues, good for 2 card X-Fire and use of PCI slots...poor for 4 card X-fire ***see picture below), only 5 SATA ports.
Here are your basic screens though. This one is the main screen. Pretty obvious.
This is a subset of that for multiplier and CPU/NB settings. Also, you can increase voltage from here in smaller increments to the CPU/NB and CPU by adjusting the VID. Otherwise in the previous screen you can simply add .50v to either.
And the RAM screen.
All in all it's pretty straight forward. I'll post more pics of other subscreens if you would like.
I mentioned the cons of the PCIe layout for some, like I said, that depends on your setup. For me it's perfect, I can run two double slot cards, and I still have access to both the regular PCI slots (wireless card and a TV tuner). I'm able to easily get above 3.8ghz on stock voltage with my 965 BE, and I here the Tubians are doing so as well. It's RAID performance is pretty good, it will run 4 sticks of RAM at 1600mhz plus on stock 1.1v CPU/NB voltage, recovers well from bad overclocks, looks pretty sweet if your going for a red/black/metal color scheme, the fan speed controller works pretty well...even with a 3 pin CPU fan as found on my Enzotech, NB and Mosfets run pretty cool, documentation and CD are aveage, and the BIOS is very simple yet flexible.
Anyways, if any of you have any questions in regards to this motherboard post up and I'll do my best to answer them. xoke
If any of you were looking at this motherboard and wondering if it was any good, the answer is yes. I decided to pick this up for my first AMD build since C2D hit the scene and I'm glad I did. Like many people, I always thought Biostar was a "low end" budget parts company...and for the most part they are, but once in a while (more recently as of late) they release a flagship motherboard. I started looking into Biostar when I was competitively overclocking Intel 775s and they came out with the T-Power i45. Once that motherboard picked up a couple world records (with Intels) I jumped on board the Biostar train and I haven't jumped off yet. Their new AMD offering, the TA890FXE is no exception. I think it's probably on it's way to breaking another world record...
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1192969
I picked mine up for $139 from the 'egg...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138193&Tpk=ta890fxe
It is really is tough to beat a $130 motherboard that performs like this. In addition to that, Biostar's customer service treated me great when I thought I murdered one of their ATI 4890s. I don't work for Biostar or anything, but I like to give props when props are due.
Pros: Overclocks easily, built like a tank, cheap, good colors, has post code display, good cooling, good CS, core unlocking feature...did I mention its $130?
Cons: No USB 3.o support, layout might be cumbersome for some setups (PCIe arrangement issues, good for 2 card X-Fire and use of PCI slots...poor for 4 card X-fire ***see picture below), only 5 SATA ports.
Here are your basic screens though. This one is the main screen. Pretty obvious.
This is a subset of that for multiplier and CPU/NB settings. Also, you can increase voltage from here in smaller increments to the CPU/NB and CPU by adjusting the VID. Otherwise in the previous screen you can simply add .50v to either.
And the RAM screen.
All in all it's pretty straight forward. I'll post more pics of other subscreens if you would like.
I mentioned the cons of the PCIe layout for some, like I said, that depends on your setup. For me it's perfect, I can run two double slot cards, and I still have access to both the regular PCI slots (wireless card and a TV tuner). I'm able to easily get above 3.8ghz on stock voltage with my 965 BE, and I here the Tubians are doing so as well. It's RAID performance is pretty good, it will run 4 sticks of RAM at 1600mhz plus on stock 1.1v CPU/NB voltage, recovers well from bad overclocks, looks pretty sweet if your going for a red/black/metal color scheme, the fan speed controller works pretty well...even with a 3 pin CPU fan as found on my Enzotech, NB and Mosfets run pretty cool, documentation and CD are aveage, and the BIOS is very simple yet flexible.
Anyways, if any of you have any questions in regards to this motherboard post up and I'll do my best to answer them. xoke
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