Click to enlarge

With regard to the PCI slots, we often criticize Biostar of getting the configuration wrong - 4 PCIe followed by 2 PCI, for example on their TA890FXE.  This time, they’ve made an effort - a PCIe x16 (x8 in CrossFireX), followed by two PCIe x1, then a PCIe x8, and two PCI.  Thus if you fill both PCIe slots with dual slot graphics cards, there’s still a PCIe and a PCI available.  It’s a step in the right direction, sure, but there’s a better layout we would prefer (switch the first two, and also the PCIe x8 with the next PCI), meaning only the PCI card will have to deal with any direct heat from a dual GPU setup.  Aside from this, the livery is the distinct white and orange we’ve come to expect from Biostar.  Just don’t go mixing up the second PCIe with those PCI - which are both orange.  No matter how hard you try and jam a card into the wrong slot, something will end up breaking.

 

One thing of note on this board is the dual 8-pin 12V connectors near the socket.  In the past, only high end boards designed for extreme overclocking have two of these, to enable more juice to the processor.  Could Biostar be wanting to tackle the high-end overclocking giants of ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and EVGA?  Biostar may need to introduce a Dual-BIOS type system as a step in the right direction, then.

 

Given that all the Sandy Bridge processors currently announced will have integrated graphics, you may remember from our Sandy Bridge overview that the P67 boards will lose integrated graphics capability in order to fund 2 x8 PCIe lanes.  That being said, if this is truly a motherboard aimed at the high end, almost everyone in that segment will be using at least one discrete GPU. 

 

The rest of the board is what we have come to expect from the myriad of Sandy Bridge paraphernalia - two SATA 6Gb/s connectors with three SATA 3Gb/s, USB 3.0 supplied via the NEC controller, gigabit ethernet, eight USB 2.0 connectors in the back panel, another six available through onboard headers, dual channel DDR3, S/PDIF audio out, a sole PS/2 connector, firewire, an e-SATA connector, and a COM header.  In keeping with the overclockable theme, a two-digit error code display is also provided to debug and boot issues, as well as simple power and reset switches.  However, against that theme, is the sole non-CPU fan connector sitting at the bottom of the board. Keeping your RAM cool will thus require decent airflow, or fans connected directly to the power supply.

 

We don’t expect this board to set the world on fire compared to the high-end motherboards of other competitors, so in order to sell, Biostar will have to price this board very aggressively.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

 

First of which is the positioning of the SATA 6Gb/s ports.  Because they’re coming out of the board, rather than 90º to it, the minute a user decides to stick in a long card into the second PCIe slot , both of those ports will be covered by the card, leaving only three SATA 3Gb/s ports available.  Using both the large PCIe slots with dual slot cards will result in the PCIe x1 and the PCI being unavailable.

 

If you use only single slot PCIe, this motherboard could probably cater for your needs.  A similar back panel arrangement to the P67, though with a few less USB 2.0 ports in exchange for your D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI connectors.  USB 3.0 via the NEC controller is still there, along with onboard 7.1 HD Audio, gigabit ethernet, four USB 2.0 ports, firewire and e-SATA.  On the board itself, there’s enough headers for six more USB 2.0 ports, (again) a sole non-CPU fan header as well as easy power/reset switches.  No debug error code display this time though, but with this board, we wouldn’t really expect it.

Click to enlarge

 

Kudos to Biostar for giving the community something to dissect.  If these are indeed final production boards, we look forward to seeing improved layouts over future iterations over the socket lifetime. Then we’ll come and tackle your BIOS and performance.