Derrick
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- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
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While this board has a few niggles, they are not severe enough to detract from what is essentially a fantastic motherboard. Hybrid-SLI isn’t working as well as it should be, but with further driver updates from NVIDIA, implementation should improve. Performance is right up there with the best money can buy.
NVIDIA 8200-powered motherboards are not new to the local market, but very few are of the calibre the Biostar TF8200 A2+ is. More often than not, the 8200 chipset powers microATX motherboards, which are perfect for HTPCs and office use.
However, for the T-Series, Biostar has decided that basic capabilities are not enough. Biostar has chosen to not only build a full ATX motherboard based on the chipset, but has tuned the motherboard for performance.
The number of performance-boosting options in the BIOS and in the included software is surprisingly comprehensive for this type of motherboard, especially at this price. The board not only sports LEDs that light up to show you any errors during boot-up, but it also has a power and reset button on the motherboard for DIY specialists.
The layout of the board may not be to everyone’s liking, especially if you make use of an IDE drive where the cable will limit accessibility to the SATA ports. This is easily overcome with careful planning of the order in which the components should be fitted. The only other issue with the design of the motherboard is the orientation of the CPU relative to where the RAM slots are.
If you use an aftermarket cooler these days, which tends to take up some room around the CPU socket itself, fitting RAM into the primary yellow slots could be problematic.
The 8200 A2+’s scores were a pleasant surprise. Not only were they higher than that of any other 8200-based motherboard we have tested, but the Biostar board also ran the coolest.
With eight-channel audio support, Gigabit Ethernet, DVI, VGA and HDMI outputs, the TF8200 is among the better motherboards in this price range. Some may be disappointed by the presence of only four USB ports at the rear, but the board compensates for this shortcoming with four USB 2.0 headers, which can support an additional eight devices.
FireWire support is absent, but with many drives and devices these days supporting both USB 2.0 and FireWire, not many people will miss it.
Overall, the TF8200 A2+ has some features that are more relevant to a gaming machine than an HTPC. However, should you choose to make use of this motherboard in an HTPC, you will not be disappointed, as it’s as comfortable in a home-theatre environment as it is in a gaming rig.
For the price, very few AM2+ motherboards are better than the 8200 A2+. The component quality features and performance are nothing short of impressive. Without a doubt, the TF8200 A2+ is the best 8200-based motherboard we have ever tested.
NVIDIA 8200-powered motherboards are not new to the local market, but very few are of the calibre the Biostar TF8200 A2+ is. More often than not, the 8200 chipset powers microATX motherboards, which are perfect for HTPCs and office use.
However, for the T-Series, Biostar has decided that basic capabilities are not enough. Biostar has chosen to not only build a full ATX motherboard based on the chipset, but has tuned the motherboard for performance.
The number of performance-boosting options in the BIOS and in the included software is surprisingly comprehensive for this type of motherboard, especially at this price. The board not only sports LEDs that light up to show you any errors during boot-up, but it also has a power and reset button on the motherboard for DIY specialists.
The layout of the board may not be to everyone’s liking, especially if you make use of an IDE drive where the cable will limit accessibility to the SATA ports. This is easily overcome with careful planning of the order in which the components should be fitted. The only other issue with the design of the motherboard is the orientation of the CPU relative to where the RAM slots are.
If you use an aftermarket cooler these days, which tends to take up some room around the CPU socket itself, fitting RAM into the primary yellow slots could be problematic.
The 8200 A2+’s scores were a pleasant surprise. Not only were they higher than that of any other 8200-based motherboard we have tested, but the Biostar board also ran the coolest.
With eight-channel audio support, Gigabit Ethernet, DVI, VGA and HDMI outputs, the TF8200 is among the better motherboards in this price range. Some may be disappointed by the presence of only four USB ports at the rear, but the board compensates for this shortcoming with four USB 2.0 headers, which can support an additional eight devices.
FireWire support is absent, but with many drives and devices these days supporting both USB 2.0 and FireWire, not many people will miss it.
Overall, the TF8200 A2+ has some features that are more relevant to a gaming machine than an HTPC. However, should you choose to make use of this motherboard in an HTPC, you will not be disappointed, as it’s as comfortable in a home-theatre environment as it is in a gaming rig.
For the price, very few AM2+ motherboards are better than the 8200 A2+. The component quality features and performance are nothing short of impressive. Without a doubt, the TF8200 A2+ is the best 8200-based motherboard we have ever tested.