X-bit labs

Biostar TForce P965 Mainboard Review

Category: Mainboards

by Doors4ever

[ 03/27/2007 | 10:21 AM ]

Today we are going to introduce to you a mainboard for Intel Core 2 Duo processors from Biostar. It will be an excellent choice for practicing CPU overclocking techniques thanks to the variety of overclocking-friendly features it supports. Read more in our review.

Table of contents:

• Package and Accessories
  
• Design and Functionality
  
• BIOS Setup
  
• CPU Overclocking
  
• Software
  
• Conclusion
  

Founded back in 1986, Biostar is not a new name in the computer world, but its products haven’t visited our labs often. All of the company’s mainboards used to be just ordinary. Things were changing, however, and I personally heard laudatory reports about Biostar’s mainboards based on the nForce 4 chipset. One good mainboard may be pure luck, but a second good mainboard is a tendency.

So when Biostar’s iP965-based mainboards began to gather positive reports too, we couldn’t help checking them ourselves just to make sure Biostar had changed for real.

Biostar is currently offering its T series of mainboards for gamers and enthusiasts. The letter T probably stands for Three as this series features a three-sided package of innovative technologies in BIOS, hardware and software. It is this mainboard series that has raised users’ interest towards Biostar recently.

Package and Accessories

I’m going to talk about the Biostar TForce P965 mainboard in this review.

It comes in an ordinary, standard-size box. Many mainboard manufacturers have become meticulous about the packaging of accessories, refusing to heap them up on top of the mainboard as before. Biostar follows the suit by putting the accessories to the mainboard into a soft pack with a zip fastener.

Unfortunately, there are very few things inside. Here’s what you’ll find included with the Biostar TForce P965:

• User manual
• CD with drivers and utilities
• HDD cable
• FDD cable
• SATA cable
• Power adapter for SATA drives
• I/O shield for the back panel of your system case

It’s clear the company tried to minimize the product price, so let’s not put too much emphasis on this shortcoming. Instead, let’s check out the mainboard itself and make sure this price-cutting didn’t have a negative effect on its quality.