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Biostar TA970 Plus

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#1 ·
Biostar TA970 Plus

Description:
AM3+ 8+2 phase motherboard.
 

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#2 ·
Biostar TA970 Plus AM3+ Good cost/features ratio.

review by undervolter

I received the Biostar TA970Plus and took some pictures for a superficial review, while i tested it to see if it works. Unfortunately, i didn't do a normal review, because i ordered it as a spare part. So i just put it on to see if it works and see the BIOS a bit. The rest is anyone's guess, but i figured since there is no internet review of this at all at the moment, it may have been useful to see even a few things. Forgive me for the image quality, but i was never good in taking pictures. I am sure sooner or later some "professional" review will appear in the internet with proper testing of features while working. The motherboard has now been packaged for storing, so please don't ask me to "test" anything, because i got already enough frustrated to take out spares i have in storage boxes and the CPU from another PC to do this.

The motherboard's official page is this, so i am not going to repeat things that one can easily or better see in the website.

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=787



1) This is the motherboard. First note: From Biostar's website (see picture above), one would assume that the PCB is black. It's NOT. It's dark brown (a bit darker than Asrock 970 extreme3) with some even darker patches that almost tend to black, but they are still dark brown. Under natural light, it's darker than what the photo would show, because the photo was taken with flash on, so the colours became brighter. Note also the CHOKES. They are... slimmer than what i 've seen until now... They are also GLOSSY. You can almost mirror something on them. It's not quite a mirror finish, but it's an opaque mirror finish i 'd say. The "piano" design is more "mirroring"/reflecting. And no, it doesn't have really keys that you can press. It's a solid piece with piano keys painted on it.
The motherboard construction is GOOD. It bends slightly under pressure, but not like the Asrock 970 extreme3. I 'd say it's a bit flimsier than the Gigabyte 970 UD3P, but certainly not "flimsy". I was pleasantly surprised, as i was expecting "Asrock extreme3"-like PCB. It's definitely better. Overall, from a distance, it looks almost black and it's definitely a good looking board, especially at night with the lights on the PCB on. I also tried to read the chips to discern the PWM chip, to see if it was analog or digitail, but the writings were so faint that my eyes hurt and still couldn't read.
The motherboard is 6+1 phase.

The capacitors are Apaq repainted of 2 different capacities (nowdays, Apaq has become the standard. ASUS set the trend several years ago, now all follow). One thing i didn't like in the layout is a lonely SATA port. 4 are grouped together in the corner, while one is alone near the front margin. It could help in case of high towers with optical drives and short SATA cables i guess, but otherwise i don't like this separation.



2) Back of the motherboard (interesting backplate design). Good soldering i must say.



3) Package: You get 4 (!) black SATA cables (generous, i am used to 2 from Asrock and Gigabyte 970 models), paper manual, CD, aluminum i/o shield, which isn't painted or something. Plain "silver" color.



4) This photo i took it to show better the heatsinks. Not very encouraging for overclocking i 'd say. Low fin density both in the chipset and in the VRM area. On the bright side, being flat, it should be easy to install small fans on them, if needed. Certainly not a problem for stock speeds.



5) Pleasant surprise! I couldn't possibly take a decent photo. I tried both with flash and without and neither makes it justice. Basically, when you run the system, the rear part of the Hi-Fi marked area, is illuminated. The heatsink with red and on left and right with a warm yellow. It's very nice to the eye. I think for those who have windowed cases, it will look GREAT at night! (the photos were taking during daytime, i simply didn't set the BIOS clock. Even at daytime, the lights were looking good).





Another small pleasant surprise, is that it has the best GPU latch i 've seen. Once the GPU is in place, even without using screws (since i didn't test it on a case), the GPU remained pretty firm. More so than with Giga or Asrock.

6) UEFI BIOS: In 2 words. WONDERFUL (Asrock and Gigabyte should take notes), very userfriendly, explanations on the side for everything, BUT, i fear, not for serious overclockers...PROBABLY good for mild overclockers and... surprise...surprise...an UNDERVOLTER'S HEAVEN!!!

After being used to Asrock and Gigabyte UEFI, i was like: "WOW!" I used my FX6300 with 8GB 1600 Corsair C9 RAM. The motherboard set the RAM to 1333 spontaneously, but had many RAM settings, i am sure one can put it back to 1600 (although i didn't try). The GPU is a semi-fried Club3D 6450, which i keep around for testing, so that i don't have to unpackage my spares everytime. A curicocity. The small lever of the CPU socket, was unusually loose. To the point that i wondered if it was broken or something. But once installed the CPU on and latched it, it felt...unusually tight. Just a small thing that i hadn't seen before.

Without flash:



With flash:



"Advanced" Features:



- Fan Control. Haven't tried it, but the settings leave to imagine that it should be good. Better than Asrock's for sure!



- HW Monitoring (good). By GUESSING, it would seem handling temp not too bad, considering the CPU is taking 1.35v and the cooler is a "simple" Scythe Katana3, installed WITHOUT TIM.



- Chipset settings (north, south, onboard):



- Performance:

No LLC (overclockers will dislike this)



You can change voltage only by selecting "Cpu overvoltage". The limit is +0.5v. In this case, stock voltage was 1.35. So 1.35+0.5 = 1.85v (as per Miklkit's kind observation).



- An undervolter's dream. You can edit EACH P-State to your liking through BIOS!!! No need to rely to 3rd party programs like AMDMsrTweaker! Why aren't the others doing the same!!!



Overall:
- My doubts remain on its overclockability because of lack of LLC and slim chokes. But it should still best 4+1 models.
- The UEFI BIOS is wonderful. The display, the colours, the userfriendliness.
- The motherboard is a looker. Perfect for undervolters/running stock/running mild overclocks (say 4Ghz) with windowed PC.
- I guess it has particular appeal to audiophiles that will probably like the "piano" heatsink.
- Heatsinks nothing to write home about. Probably assuming high overclocks are possible, additional cooling will be needed.
- Great feature for undervolters.
- Unknown overclockability (not tested).
- Uknown stability (not tested). But nowdays AM3+ sockets are mature and drivers too.

For 72 euros, i think the board is very good. With a question mark about its overclock limit (that i am sure professional reviews will solve soon). Direct competitors for the price, should be: Gigabyte 970 UD3P, ASUS M5A97 EVO R2.0. Everything with 4+1 phase should be considered inferior.

I give it 4 stars instead of 5, just because it lacks LLC and has "slim" chokes, although i am not sure about whether this hinders overclockability or not. From an undervolter's point of view, assuming no odd stability issues, it should get a 5/5, if not for anything else, for the inclusion of custom P-states in BIOS... For the money it offers much.

UPDATE 3/10/2016.

I actually installed the motherboard, on fresh Windows. The motherboard has two major flaws. One, there is a temperature, not showing in BIOS, which is high already at idle. Under stress, even with FX8320 stock, this temp arrives to approx 90C. A hypothesis would be that this is VRM temp. Overclocking to 4Ghz, causes throttle at about that temperature.

The second flaw, is that once you overclock, you lose Cool N Quiet. There is no excuse for that in any AM3+ motherboard.

As for the overclocking itself, it's done by editing a P-State. There is also no mention about CnQ, APM or clock in the BIOS. Turbo boost is "CPB", "CnQ" is Power now, APM is AWOL. Once you edit the final P-State (which is actually the only one you can edit, contrary to my previous belief) and raise clock to 4Ghz, CnQ is gone, despite having "Power now" enabled. With Prime95 it throttles at 3.5Ghz too. Now, unless there is APM hidden somewhere, there is no excuse.

As such, i must give the motherboard 1/2 star, because such flaws are inexcusable. I also can't fathom how they managed to make a 6+1 motherboard, throttle at 4Ghz...

Maybe i got a defective one, but i must judge with what i have on hands.

 
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