jmke

Biostar steps up to the plate with an $80 AM2 motherboard sporting the nForce 550 chipset. While this a budget motherboard is strapped for features, could it carry us to performance paradise? And yes, Biostar is making boards worthy of reviewing now days.

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goingpostale1

This motherboard is inside my current main rig, and I've been impressed by the feature set, and quality for the money I spent on it. The voltage options are meager when compared to a DFI, but it gave me enough room to push my 3500+ Orleans to 2.8 ghz @ 1.55 Vcore.
It also features an integrated version of Memtest 86 which REALLY impressed me and was extremly useful determining the G Skilll DDR 2 stick I was using was defective causing it to crash frequently. On the downside the northbridge fan isn't very quiet and spins at 5000 RPM .

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The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop.

jmke

that chipset fan can we swapped out

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goingpostale1

I also have 7 case fans to help keep the board cool (6x80 1x120) :P .

__________________
The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop.

jmke

not about silence then

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goingpostale1

Hehehe 6 Panaflo L1a's and a Yate Loon 120mm + fan controller @ 5v = silence when I need it, performance ( @ 12v of course) when I don't . Dunno maybe I have too many ? I'll post some pictures when I get home and see if anyone thinks I could do without a fan or two.