Biostar BIOSTAR TA785 A2+ is it good enough?

[Joeteck]

I need to get a AM2 mobo because of a failed Asus board in an HP desktop. All this talk about Biostar had me thinking... I have a very tight budget. and I have chosen this board for its replacement. It needs to have 2 PCI-e 1x slots for the devices his old computer had. No idea about AMD boards but for $56 after rebate how could I go wrong?


Budget is $200 shipped, but that must include Hard drive (already have), case and mobo.

Thoughts..

 

[Archer0915]

Well you are replacing a ASUS Ultra low end board with a Biostar mid level board. What CPU will you be using?

As far as everything else it should do fine. I tend to stay away from the non T Biostar as they are pretty much on the level of the dead OEM you are replacing.

 

[Trap05]

Looks like it meets his needs and the price is right. I'd give it a whirl

 

[Joeteck]

What CPU will you be using?

Quad 9850

Strangely that CPU is not listed??

 

[Archer0915]

Quad 9850

Strangely that CPU is not listed??

Is that a 140 or 125 CPU?

 

[Trap05]

125w by his link

 

[Archer0915]

HMMM? I say send BioStar an email about this as it should work.

 

[Joeteck]

HMMM? I say send BioStar an email about this as it should work.

2500Mhz is not listed however the 2600 and 2300 is... weird!

Maybe it will come up as a 9950 and be overclocked by default! lol

 

[trents]

Yeah, I think it would work. The 9950z is listed and it has a TDP rating of 125W so the 9850 should be okay. It may have come along after the 9950z and just didn't get included in the table because newer generations of CPUs had already started coming out.

 

[Trap05]

I'm sure it's just an oversight on their part no reason it shouldn't work

 

[Joeteck]

Just got off the phone with Biostar. I'm intrigued! It will work fine.

I asked them why are your board so inexpensive and they said they focus on features rather than marketing...

Cool!

 

[madhatter256]

About all of the HP boards that are AMD AM2 use mATX motherboards. That biostar is a full-size ATX. It won't fit in the case if my assumption is correct.

So either buy a case, or look for an mATX board with two PCI express 1x slots.

The only ones I can find are here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

 

[Trap05]

First post states he's buying a case...

 

[xoke]

Just got off the phone with Biostar. I'm intrigued! It will work fine.

I asked them why are your board so inexpensive and they said they focus on features rather than marketing...

Cool!

Slowly another one comes to the darkside...no marketing, no magazine ads, no you tube videos, no keychains, no manual sometimes, lol, just a motherboard...

As much as I enjoy this, I wouldn't by anything without mosfet cooling if you plan on any overclocking at all, but for an OEM replacement I think it will fly.

I'm not sure if I totally understood, but you are getting a new case? Cause it's ATX...

 

[QuietIce]

I agree with xokeman. If it's just an OEM replacement and won't be overclocked then it should be fine but I wouldn't use it if you're thinking of overclocking ...

 

[Joeteck]

Slowly another one comes to the darkside...no marketing, no magazine ads, no you tube videos, no keychains, no manual sometimes, lol, just a motherboard...

As much as I enjoy this, I wouldn't by anything without mosfet cooling if you plan on any overclocking at all, but for an OEM replacement I think it will fly.

I'm not sure if I totally understood, but you are getting a new case? Cause it's ATX...

Yes, I'm getting a new case. Old mobo was a uATX, however I could not find a uATX replacement mobo with two PCI-e 1x slots, so I had to go the ATX route and a new case. I ordered it yesterday from the egg, and it will arrive here today. How sweet is that?

All things considered, this HP was high end for an HP.

First off the Delta Power supply is pretty beefy for an HP desktop. Model # DPS-460DB-1A

Three 12v rails. 16A, 15A, and 8A. Not to shabby. All three can't exceed 385 watts.

It has 6gig of DDR2 RAM, you already know it is a 9850, 9800GT, 750 gig PCI-e WinTV, PCI-e Wi/Fi. No wonder the freakin north bridge over heated and died. It was packed with all this unnecessary CRAP!

For a store bought PC, this was pretty good.

I agree with xokeman. If it's just an OEM replacement and won't be overclocked then it should be fine but I wouldn't use it if you're thinking of overclocking ...

Hell no! Stock all the way... This power supply probably couldn't handle it.


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I have to say if this board works out, Biostar could be the next bargain buster board for basic computing...

 

[Archer0915]

I have to say if this board works out, Biostar could be the next bargain buster board for basic computing...

It already is

 

[Joeteck]

It already is

Well, for me at least.