Biostar TA890FXE Review
Introduction
Published: 14th September 2010 | Source: Biostar | Price: £106 |
Introduction
So it would seem that the release of AMD's Hex Core processors have helped the underdog Socket AM3 platform gain popularity amongst performance users. Further refinements in the 45nm process has shifted the overclocking goal post to the sunny side of 4.00GHz and even operating power consumption has been improved. This combined with competitive price tags have made AMD a reasonable alternative for a number of users; but what do we make of today's Socket AM3 motherboards?
Alongside the computer chassis and power supply unit, a motherboard purchase is one where corners should never be cut. Let's face it, who would actively choose to replace the base of a jigsaw puzzle on a regular basis? In an ideal world, a motherboard should last through multiple CPU, Graphics Card and Memory upgrades. So with that in mind, we're constantly on the lookout for quality motherboards that meet the demands of performance users. We've already had a play with AMD 890 series boards from Asus and ASRock, but what about Biostar? Today we'll be taking their range topping TA890FXE 890FX Motherboard for a spin.
OK, so Biostar doesn't tend to be on the top of most people's lists of motherboard brands, but one must not lose sight of the fact that they have created some very capable equipment in the past. Given how easily products can be placed in the shadow of better known competitors over crude perception, we are keen to see what exactly the TA890FXE has to offer. To begin with however, let's quickly run through its specifications.
| Form Factor | ATX, 12" x 9.6" (30.5cm x 24.5cm) |
| Processor Support | AMD Socket AM3 Sempron 100/Athlon II X2/X3/X4 and Phenom II X2/X3/X4/X6 Processors |
| Chipset | AMD 890FX / SB850 |
| Memory | 4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB 1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory Dual Channel memory architecture |
| Expansion Slots | 4 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (16x/16x Dual CrossfireX) |
| Multi-GPU Support | ATi CrossfireX Supported |
| Onboard Video | N/A |
| Storage | AMD SB850 Southbridge |
| LAN | One Realtek RTL8111DL 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN |
| Audio | Realtek ALC892 8-Channel HD Audio |
| USB | AMD SB850 Southbridge - 9 x USB 2.0 ports (6 x Rear, 3 x Internal) |
| Firewire | 2 x 1394a ports (1x Rear I/O, 1x Internal) |
| Back Panel I/O | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x e-SATA 1 x LAN 6 x USB2.0/1.1 ports 1 x IEEE1394a port 6 x Audio 1 x SPDIF |
The feature set and brand/model of internal components are strikingly similar to many other AMD 890 series motherboards available today. The TA890FXE may seem competitive on paper, but physical design also plays an important role.
Most Recent Comments
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Originally Posted by tinytomlogan
Edited, although the link is the same, it is working now |
just thought i should warn you
it is weird with the pcie slots all being together thoughFirstly the colour scheme is horrid. Red and black? win. Red black and white? lose.
The slot layout is absolutely awful meaning you could (as has been pointed out) only get away with dual double slotters, meaning the whole excercise is a bit pointless.
And the price? 'sa bad kitty.. The MSI fuzion thing reviewed last week costs less, looks a metric ton of poo better and is an MSI. I know it only had two PCIE slots (full size) but you ain't giving up anything considering this one here is laid out so that you can only use two at once any way.
I mean, who would want to fit single slot cards into a high performance PC?
So the MSI wins the day here for me. It also has Lucid and costs less (though arguably not by much) but when you consider that Lucid chip and the royalties cost a pretty penny? It just packs the mud down even harder over the grave of the Biostar's sealed fate.
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Originally Posted by silenthill
(lack of ability to recover from failed overclocks) now that is a big problem and I don't recommend buying this board only if there is a solution with a later BIOS update. |
Our biggest gripe about the TA890FXE was its overclocking performance. Whilst ~265MHz HTT is far from abysmal, it doesn't offer as much headroom for non Black Edition CPUs as we would have liked. Granted, it is most likely that the end user would buy a Black Edition CPU to start off with, but no one can underplay the flexibility of having a board that is capable of high base frequencies. Even if we were to turn a blind eye on this, we remain particularly disappointed by the TA890FXE's (lack of) ability to recover from failed overclocks. We hope that a later BIOS update will solve this!
Change your ram slots and it will recover
Not sure how you only got that htt... 320htt stable is *easy* on air.The menu says "Enter Update" but pressing enter does nothing but refresh the screen.
Side note:
This board recovers quite well from failure.
It even has 10 slots to back up your BIOS settings built in, plus a method to recover the BIOS by USB memory stick.
It doesn't have a convenient switch so you can reset the CMOS without getting your hands dirty.
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Originally Posted by Que Quotion
How can you change the reference clock? The menu says "Enter Update" but pressing enter does nothing but refresh the screen. Side note: This board recovers quite well from failure.It even has 10 slots to back up your BIOS settings built in, plus a method to recover the BIOS by USB memory stick. It doesn't have a convenient switch so you can reset the CMOS without getting your hands dirty. |
This didnt.
My board will reset itself if the CPU goes wrong, but when I did the RAM OC and went too far, then I had to reset CMOS
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