Biostar TA785GE 128M Motherboard
Out of stock |
Similar in Motherboards
- Front Side Bus Speed: 2600 MHz
- Storage Controller Type(s): Serial ATA II x 6
- Form Factor: Micro ATX
- Video Interface: PCI Express
- Chipset: AMD 785G
- Compatibility: PC
- Overview
-
Reviews
-
Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
178
My Windows 7 Motherboard
Pros
Minimal functionality for low-power, small-footprint, modern PC.
Cons
Does not support older DRAM memory or AGP video.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I recommend this motherboard to anyone who is building a small, low-power PC on-the-cheap.
As part of the upgrade process to Windows 7, the first thing anyone with an existing PC will find is that performance can be improved dramatically with upgrades to the system's memory and CPU. Windows 7 will work with existing hardware, but many of the improvements are disabled if not accompanied by hardware upgrades. In my situation, that meant replacing everything except the case, floppy drive and DVD burner. The first thing to get put into the cleaned-out case was a motherboard.
Why THIS Board
In short, I chose this motherboard because it's what the Fry's salesman recommended. I wanted something multi-core, so he suggested a Phenom II processor. I also wanted something with RAID, so he found this board in-stock that supported both.
New Kind of RAM Memory
I had recently bought 4GB of brand new DRAM, but I didn't know there were different kinds. When the saleman asked if it was DRAM2 (or somesuch) I nodded my head like an idiot and ended up with this board, which doesn't support my old, obsolete RAM from 2 years ago.
I had to buy 4 new gigs of ram of the right kind, and find somewhere to unload the stuff I bought.
No AGP?
I was suprirsed to hear from the salesman that today's motherboards no longer support AGP. This is a real shame because I love my ATI All-in-Wonder AGP TV card. This board has PCI Express instead of AGP so I had to buy a new video card as well. That was OK by me because Windows 7 really, really, really wants a video card with at least a gigabyte of on-board RAM all to itself. Most pre-2010 video cards don't have that, so I went ahead and bought a supposed "OEM" video card (also a Biostar product) that has a gig of RAM.
Interestingly, the board includes a built-in ATI video card, with HDMI and DVI outputs. (There's no VGA, but adapters are available everywhere for less than $10.) If you install a particlular kind of ATI card in the board's PCI Express slot, it's supposed to enable some amazing features, but I didn't go that route. The feature did, however, prompt me to up my desire for having a mutli-monitor system.
AMD Only
Apparnently, this board is not appropriate for use with Intel or other non-AMD processors. It's exclusively for AMD Phenonom, Athlon and Sempron processors.
It maxes out at 16 GB of RAM (4x 4GB modules). They have to be of the DDR2 type.
There is a built-in Radeon HD 42000 with only 128MB of RAM, but there's a PCI Express 2.0 slot to upgrade it.
You can plug up to 6 SATA hard drives into it, and RAID them up for speed and performance.
It's got standard 5.1 surround sound audio and output jacks that can be configured in myriad ways to support all the speakers.
Smart Cooling System
I've never been a fan of tapping into the power outlets of a motherboard, but the fan connections on this one support smart fan technology. This was important to me because my case has a number of fans that otherwise must remain on all the time. With the "smart fan" technology on this board, plugging those fans into the outlets allows the system to power-down any fans that aren't needed, and even to control the speeds of the ones that are left on.
When my system starts in on a heavy load, I can actually hear the computer heating up under the stress.
[Note: As always, I recommend folks use a dryer sheet over the fan intakes to filter out pollution.]
Problem with the IDE
My DVD burner is still the old, IDE type - not the current SATA type. I'm not sure if that's the reason, but I have noticed that the system seems to freeze up for just a moment, when it accesses the DVD drive. This only occurs when I have a disk in the drive.
Why THIS Board
In short, I chose this motherboard because it's what the Fry's salesman recommended. I wanted something multi-core, so he suggested a Phenom II processor. I also wanted something with RAID, so he found this board in-stock that supported both.
New Kind of RAM Memory
I had recently bought 4GB of brand new DRAM, but I didn't know there were different kinds. When the saleman asked if it was DRAM2 (or somesuch) I nodded my head like an idiot and ended up with this board, which doesn't support my old, obsolete RAM from 2 years ago.
I had to buy 4 new gigs of ram of the right kind, and find somewhere to unload the stuff I bought.
No AGP?
I was suprirsed to hear from the salesman that today's motherboards no longer support AGP. This is a real shame because I love my ATI All-in-Wonder AGP TV card. This board has PCI Express instead of AGP so I had to buy a new video card as well. That was OK by me because Windows 7 really, really, really wants a video card with at least a gigabyte of on-board RAM all to itself. Most pre-2010 video cards don't have that, so I went ahead and bought a supposed "OEM" video card (also a Biostar product) that has a gig of RAM.
Interestingly, the board includes a built-in ATI video card, with HDMI and DVI outputs. (There's no VGA, but adapters are available everywhere for less than $10.) If you install a particlular kind of ATI card in the board's PCI Express slot, it's supposed to enable some amazing features, but I didn't go that route. The feature did, however, prompt me to up my desire for having a mutli-monitor system.
AMD Only
Apparnently, this board is not appropriate for use with Intel or other non-AMD processors. It's exclusively for AMD Phenonom, Athlon and Sempron processors.
It maxes out at 16 GB of RAM (4x 4GB modules). They have to be of the DDR2 type.
There is a built-in Radeon HD 42000 with only 128MB of RAM, but there's a PCI Express 2.0 slot to upgrade it.
You can plug up to 6 SATA hard drives into it, and RAID them up for speed and performance.
It's got standard 5.1 surround sound audio and output jacks that can be configured in myriad ways to support all the speakers.
Smart Cooling System
I've never been a fan of tapping into the power outlets of a motherboard, but the fan connections on this one support smart fan technology. This was important to me because my case has a number of fans that otherwise must remain on all the time. With the "smart fan" technology on this board, plugging those fans into the outlets allows the system to power-down any fans that aren't needed, and even to control the speeds of the ones that are left on.
When my system starts in on a heavy load, I can actually hear the computer heating up under the stress.
[Note: As always, I recommend folks use a dryer sheet over the fan intakes to filter out pollution.]
Problem with the IDE
My DVD burner is still the old, IDE type - not the current SATA type. I'm not sure if that's the reason, but I have noticed that the system seems to freeze up for just a moment, when it accesses the DVD drive. This only occurs when I have a disk in the drive.
