by Doors4ever
03/27/2007 | 10:21 AM
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.
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:
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.
One glance is enough to see one drawback and one advantage. The power connectors are placed inconveniently in the middle of the PCB, but the expansion slots are positioned properly. The PCI-E x16 slot is at a distance from the others, so however large the cooler of your graphics card may be, it won’t block the PCI and PCI Express slots. The graphics card does block the memory slot latches, though.
The TForce P965 has a three-phase CPU power circuit that includes ordinary and solid-state capacitors:
The chipset is cooled with large aluminum heatsinks:
Most of the connectors are gathered around the South Bridge. It’s good that the front-panel connectors are color-coded and that the mainboard has Power and Reset buttons. On the downside, the FDD connector is placed inconveniently, and there are only two fan connectors (except for the CPU one) which are not placed properly, either.
Parallel ATA is supported through a VIA VT6410 controller. Network and audio are implemented through Realtek RTL8110SC and ALC888, respectively. An LPT header is available on the mainboard, but the appropriate bracket is not included.
The mainboard looks good overall. It seems to have neither extraordinary advantages nor catastrophic shortcomings. To sum everything up, I offer you a list of specifications taken from the user manual to the TForce P965:
Biostar’s series of mainboards based on the Intel P965 Express chipset includes a similar model called Biostar TForce 965PT. Judging by photos and specs, it has only one significant difference – it uses a Realtek ALC883 audio codec. Besides that, it doesn’t claim support for quad-core CPUs, lacks a Windows Vista verification logo (although has a Vista Ready Hardware emblem), and lacks a ROHS compliance sign.
The PCB of the discussed mainboard has a surprisingly high revision, 5.0. The user manual also mentions revision 6.0 which comes with an ALC861VD audio codec.
Extended BIOS options are one of the three key features of Biostar’s T series mainboards. The BIOS of the TForce P965 is based on Award’s microcode, but has a few interesting peculiarities.
The unusual Menu in BIOS option attracts the eye in the first page. It is evoked with the F9 button. This is an interesting idea, but not quite well implemented. You are shown a page with the manufacturer’s thanks for the purchase, some outdated or at least incomplete information about the mainboard’s capabilities, and the pin layout of some connectors.
But if you are reading that, then you have somehow managed to connect everything right and successfully started the system up, and all that information is useless for you. It would be better to have some tips on configuring the BIOS instead.
The BIOS sections are titled according to their contents. There’s nothing unusual here: Standard CMOS Features, Advanced, Integrated, and PC Health Status. Let’s go into the latter one.
Theoretically, the mainboard can control the CPU fan speed, but I didn’t spot any changes during my tests. Perhaps a 4-pin fan is required for this feature to work correctly. That’s a drawback, of course. What’s good is that the main system parameters can be monitored during the startup procedure:
This feature has been traditionally available on EPoX mainboards: if a parameter deflects too much from its nominal value, it is highlighted in red and you have time to enter the BIOS and correct the settings. The drawback of Biostar’s implementation is that this information is shown after the POST and after the screen is refreshed, right before the OS begins to boot up. So, you can only read this information, but can do nothing about it, as opposed to EPoX mainboards.
The next BIOS section you may be interested in is called Overclock Navigator Engine. This section contains options necessary to overclock the CPU as well as memory. This is good as you don’t have to move around several sections to make all the changes.
Entering this section you can see one more good point of the Biostar TForce P965. It shows the current values of parameters like multiplier, frequencies and voltages in a straightforward format.
The parameters are of course all at their defaults when you start the mainboard up for the first time, and you can try the Auto Overclock System (AOS).
Choosing from three variants, you can overclock the system by 5-10% with the V6 Tech Engine, by 15-25% with the V8 Tech Engine, and by 25-30% with the V12 Tech Engine option. AOS works indeed, but is not very interesting for overclockers. For example, when I chose the V12 Tech Engine option, my Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 was overclocked from the default 266MHz FSB to 285MHz FSB only.
You get much wider opportunities if you specify the parameters manually (Manual Overclock System – MOS).
Here’s a list of adjustable parameters:
The DRAM Configuration subsection is where you control the memory timings:
It’s handy that you can adjust necessary timings independently of the others. You can change just a few of them, leaving the rest at their defaults.
The last item in this section is called Integrated Memory Test. When you enable it, MemTest86+ v.1.65 is run after the POST to check memory for errors before booting the OS.
So, I have no complaints about the options offered by the Overclock Navigator Engine. Everything is easy to work with. The next section – CMOS Reload Program – is of some interest, too.
This section allows to save current BIOS settings and load them again later as necessary. This feature is available on mainboards from Abit, ASUS and DFI, but Biostar surpassed them all – the mainboard allows saving as many as 50 different profiles with settings!
I checked this feature out and it did work, but my patience and imagination were not enough for all the 50 entries. These entries do not vanish if you clear the CMOS, but they do when you update the BIOS.
The last BIOS item is called Integrated Flashing Program. This sound like a good option, but the program works only with floppy diskettes and cannot save the previous version of the BIOS. Its usefulness is thus rather limited.
To check the Biostar TForce P965 mainboard at practical overclocking I assembled a system with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU cooled with a Zalman CNPS9700 LED, and with Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 memory. I installed a low-speed 80mm fan to cool the chipset heatsinks and memory. The tests were performed in Windows Vista.
Although the memory timings were left at their defaults in the BIOS (4-4-4-12 as was written in the modules’ SPD), the mainboard would set them higher at 5-5-5-12. This is just what you need for overclocking, though, so let’s put up with this defect for now.
Knowing the potential of the CPU, I set its voltage at 1.45V right away. I increased the memory voltage to 2.2V, the FSB Termination Voltage to 1.4V, and the North Bridge voltage to 1.45V. After that I set the FSB frequency at 450MHz. The TForce P965 mainboard conquered it easily. Then I set the FSB frequency at 490MHz which was in fact the maximum the CPU was capable of, and there were no problems again. The system would boot up and pass all tests normally.
The Intel Thermal Analysis Tool refused to work, probably due to the operating system I used, so I checked the mainboard’s stability by running two copies of Prime95 simultaneously. The mainboard passed the test successfully.
I was amazed how simple and easy it was to overclock the CPU on the Biostar TForce P965. If I had ended my tests then, the mainboard would have had high marks only. Its advantages seemed obvious while its drawbacks were few and negligible. Unfortunately for Biostar, I continued my tests with an Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 processor and found a whole lot of problems.
The particular sample of the CPU was capable of overclocking to a 360MHz FSB as I had made sure on an ASUS Commando mainboard, which was based on the Intel P965 chipset, too. The CPU has a higher multiplier (x9) in comparison with the E6300 and a lower default FSB frequency (200MHz). I started my tests from 350MHz FSB, but the mainboard would start up and then freeze immediately. The Self Recovery System, which was supposed to roll the parameters back at over-overclocking, would not work. I somehow managed once to enter the BIOS and lower the frequency to 340MHz, but I had to use the Clear CMOS jumper afterwards.
Starting from 330MHz FSB, the mainboard refused to start up altogether but the Self Recovery System worked fine – the mainboard would restart automatically with default settings after an unsuccessful start. Unfortunately, I had to lower the frequency for very long because the OS booted up at a frequency of 260MHz FSB only. I didn’t perform any stability tests because the result was unsatisfactory regardless of the mainboard’s passing or failing them.
I eventually discovered more problems about the mainboard in its regular operation mode, too. As I mentioned above, the mainboard does not read timings from the memory modules’ SPD. My attempt to select the default 4-4-4-12 was a failure as all diagnostic programs would show 3-4-4-12. Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 is good memory, but I doubt it can work at 800MHz with a CAS Latency of 3.0. So I guess the displayed value was just wrong.
The TForce P965 was not doing quite well with USB devices. My USB keyboard would periodically shut down, just stopping any work. Data could be written onto a USB flash drive, but the system would freeze on an attempt to read it. The access indicator was blinking, but nothing happened. I would have blamed unstable Windows Vista drivers, but system was also unable to boot up from the flash drive with the same symptoms: the mainboard sees the boot device, begins to start up and freezes while the access indicator is blinking all the time.
There were some other troubles. For example, Vista would often find some problems on the hard disk and run Scandisk after the system had been shut down or reset normally. But I’m not sure if it is the mainboard’s fault after all. However, the overall stability of the system based on the Biostar TForce P965 was rather low.
Among unique features of Biostar’s T series mainboards I have so far discussed the hardware (i.e. the mainboard itself) and the BIOS. Now it’s time to check out the software aspect. You’ll see the following screen when you insert the drivers and utilities CD into your optical drive:
There are no floating tips to appear on your moving the pointer over the icons, but it is easy to guess that the chip icon in the top right of the window begins driver installation. The book with a question mark will open up the electronic user manual. But where are the programs and utilities? I looked up in the manual and found that another icon, a gear, was supposed to be between these two.
Where is it I wonder? Is it the OS’s fault again? The Biostar TForce P965 earned Windows Vista certification for its technical capabilities, so why couldn’t they update the software?
I had to install the programs one by one using an ordinary file manager and the best one of them was the Windows-based BIOS re-flash utility.
It reports the mainboard model as well as the date and current version of the BIOS (P96BAC29 BS). You can save or re-flash the BIOS and even download the new version via the Internet after installing the additional Live Update module.
I can’t say anything bad, and anything good either, about the system monitoring program:
The program for controlling the speed of the fans takes a long time to calibrate at first:
When the calibration is over, it reports the current speed and temperature:
The Biostar TForce P965 could not control the fan speed through the BIOS and it couldn’t do that with the special utility. I couldn’t slow the fan down even manually.
The screenshot from the manual shows that there appear sliders on the right that can be used to set up the desired speed. But the speed remained the same irrespective of the position of the sliders.
The last program is meant to overclock your system from Windows.
There are no tips or hints here (kind of traditionally for Biostar as I have come to realize) while the icons are not very intuitive. I thought the bottom left icon with the spanner would open a settings window, but it turned to be the button to minimize the program window.
The program shows its wealth of options on your clicking the arrow icon in the top left.
Some of these windows are only informational. For example, you can’t change the PCI bus frequency. The other parameters can be adjusted by clicking on the small arrows. The FSB frequency is changed with a step of 1MHz and the new parameters are applied after each click, so this is a slow process. You can’t enter the desired value from the keyboard, which is inconvenient. And if you launch this program when the CPU is already overclocked, the FSB frequency is immediately dropped to 400MHz. Perhaps because the top FSB frequency the program supports is 450MHz whereas I had overclocked the Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 with the BIOS options to 490MHz FSB. So, this is a pretty-looking, but virtually useless program.
Well, I won’t count the software among the drawbacks of the Biostar TForce P965. I don’t know any exclusive program from a mainboard manufacturer, even from the major ones, that would surpass third-party utilities in user-friendliness and functionality. After all, we don’t require the authors of good software to design good mainboards. So, we shouldn’t wait for good software from mainboard manufacturers either, although that would be great, for sure.
There were no problems with overclocking an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, so there should be no problems with higher-frequency CPUs. But inexpensive mainboards like the Biostar TForce P965 are mainly bought for use with junior, inexpensive CPU models rather than with Intel Core 2 Quad the manufacturer declares support for. Right now the junior model is the not-very-cheap Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 and the mainboard cannot overclock it. That’s not a big deal since you can use the E6300 which costs almost the same money. On the other hand, a price cut is expected in April, and this summer there’ll appear a whole family of inexpensive CPUs (Pentium E2xxx and Celeron 4xx) working with a 200 (800) MHz FSB which the TForce P965 cannot overclock, either.
So, I see no reason why you should prefer the Biostar TForce P965 to other mainboards. Low price? If you are into overclocking, there is an excellent alternative in the form of junior mainboard models from ASUS and Gigabyte which are based on the Intel P965 chipset and can easily overclock Core series processors, including those that work with a 200 (800) MHz FSB. And if you don’t care about overclocking, you can choose from the innumerable i945-based products that support the new CPUs. They can even overclock them just as much as the Biostar TForce P965 does, but have a lower price.
It looks gloomy for the TForce P965, yet there is one solution the company can use. They can start an advertising campaign, touting the TForce P965 as a mainboard for enthusiasts. It may sound paradoxical, although it is not.
There are overclocker-friendly mainboards that allow overclocking processors. And there are mainboards for enthusiasts which are meant for practicing overclocking. From this point of view, the Biostar TForce P965 is ideal and not worse than any other mainboard with such positioning. For example, the DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G mainboard on the ATI RD600 chipset has so many settings that you can spend weeks learning what they do and how they affect overclocking (for details see our article called DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G Mainboard on ATI RD600 Chipset Review). The Biostar TForce P965 will provide you a lot of exciting problems you can spend hours to solve. People at forums discuss modified BIOS versions, how to change the memory modules’ SPD to achieve the desired timings, and how to BSEL-modify E4300 CPUs to achieve normal overclocking. So, that’s quite an enthusiast-targeted mainboard!
So, if you don’t plan to overclock Core 2 Duo processors with a 200 (400) MHz FSB, and you don’t care about the noise of the CPU fan, and you are not interested what memory timings you have, and you don’t have too many USB devices, and the auto-run feature is disabled on your optical drives, then the Biostar TForce P965 mainboard is surely for you. Otherwise, think again if you’ve chosen the right model !