FRONTPAGE BIOSTAR Z590 VALKYRIE Motherboard Review

[Overclockers.com]

Today we're having a look at the Biostar Z590 Valkyrie. Biostar isn't a very well-known brand here in North America but has been around for over 30 years in the motherboard market.

Click here to view the article.

 

[Nebulous]

Great write-up Shawn. Looks like a solid board for intel. But looking at it reminds me of Asus' fugly Sabertooth/TUF series boards.

 

[Johan45]

Thanks Neb, definitely has a style of its own

 

[BugFreak]

Interesting gimmick with the backside heatsink. Not a fan of the big light on the IO guard but I prefer as little RGB as possible so that might be me.

 

[EarthDog]

Interesting gimmick with the backside heatsink.

Gimmick? While clearly not as effective as a full-fledged heatsink, both motherboard and videocard vendors have used this 'additional' cooling/support for generations. I cant imagine it making anything worse.

 

[BugFreak]

Oh I didn't mean it would do any worse. I also don't think it really do much good either. To me its just another "feature" to sell, nothing else really. I remember back in the day we used to put fans on the backside to help cool but I don't remember it doing much then either. This is just a passive version of that so a gimmick imo.

 

[Woomack]

Looks like it's a bit better than the ITX version that I'm testing. Feels like it's asking for a BIOS tweaking. The ITX version has the same 5.19 BIOS and is simply not working at Gear 1 at more than 3200-3466 (depends on RAM density). Other things seem similar so the same good CPU overclocking but problems with RAM overclocking regardless if it's at Gear 1 or 2.

 

[Johan45]

Looks like it's a bit better than the ITX version that I'm testing. Feels like it's asking for a BIOS tweaking. The ITX version has the same 5.19 BIOS and is simply not working at Gear 1 at more than 3200-3466 (depends on RAM density). Other things seem similar so the same good CPU overclocking but problems with RAM overclocking regardless if it's at Gear 1 or 2.

Check the 3600 memory strap. If it's 36x100 it won't work, I had them add 27 x 133 and now it can run 3600. Maybe that BIOS is a bit different?

 

[Woomack]

I think I had only one option and some ratio/bclk combinations were not on the list ... but I forgot to check that so will confirm some time later. On Supermicro 36x100 didn't work too. Today Biostar sent me a new BIOS so I will check it later this week.

 

[Woomack]

Update:
- there was only a 36x100 option on 5.19 BIOS for the ITX version, Gear 1 didn't work
- there is only a 27x133 option on 6.10 BIOS for the ITX version, Gear 1 works fine, 36x100 is no more on the list, was replaced with the 27x133

Tested with 2x32GB DDR4-3600 kit. XMP at DDR4-3600 works now too.

 

[Johan45]

It takes them a bit, good to see it's making its way through the line-up