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Biostar M7VIF??

personally im not a big fan of biostar motherboards... the ones ive used in the past werent the highest quality boards... most of them had weird quirks to them.


but that being said the kt333 chipset is probably the best socketA chipset right now, and any board based on it should "probably" work just fine 😀
 
I'am watching this one as well..newegg has sold a ton of these boards with no returns/problems I'am told. Doesn't have the overclocker tweak flexability as compared to other mob's but all the other bioStar boxes I've done are trouble free and stable. And it wouldn't seem unreasonable to expect the same preformance from the M7VIF. Recient zdnet article reguarded bioStar the best "out of the box " performer among mob mfgr's.
 
I am just bumping for a little more feedback as i want to buy my parts tomorrow, and this board is the only kt333 that tcwo has.
 
Here's a review I wrote about the board.

I've had good luck with Biostar boards in general and this one is no different.

The reason why Biostar is so inexpensive is because they are direct with their dealers and are not sold through middleman wholesalers. This is because Biostar's been around a lot longer and has had the opportunity to get screwed over by middlemen wholesalers that file bankruptcy. It has nothing to do with the quality of their boards. In fact, they're one of the few manufacturers that use 3 stage voltage regulation and are often the first boards to hit AMD's list of approved motherboards for the higher speed CPUs. They even have insane attention to detail like aluminum gussets in the reference fan mounting hole (the holes you would use if you were using a bolt-through-the-bolard-heat-sink like a Swiftech). Even Tom's Hardware stated that the Biostar boards are a better quality than Asus and Gigabyte boards reviewed in the same review. I run two. One in my machine and one in my wife's. Both are over a year old and have no "quirks" at all.

BTW: The board in the review was provided by <plug> TCWO and currently runs $84</plug>. 😀




 
That's good to hear and thanks for the feedback johnny GURU. I actually bought my M7VIF at 96.00 a few weeks ago. And now it's even at a better price. I recall it started out around 130.00 and hung there for a few weeks. So I wait for processor prices to soften up a little more and grab a xp2000 or xp2100 later on. Not in a hurry. My Athlon slot 950mhz doing just fine fer now...
 
If I read the review by JonnyGuru correctly, the USB 2.0 capability applies ONLY to the front USB header..... does it mean the rear port are only usb 1.1??? If I want USB 2.0 capability, Do I need to get the header for the front ports???

Thanks
 


<< If I read the review by JonnyGuru correctly, the USB 2.0 capability applies ONLY to the front USB header..... does it mean the rear port are only usb 1.1??? If I want USB 2.0 capability, Do I need to get the header for the front ports???

Thanks
>>



That's correct, Alex.

There aren't any Southbridges on the market that have USB 2.0 (yet). Everyone is currently doing this via a third party chip, like the VIA 6202. What this means for you is that the rear USB is mapped to the Southbridge and only USB 1.1 complaint. USB 2.0 headers in the front have to be wired up to a USB port. Fortunately, USB 2.0 is backwards compatible with USB 1.0, so any USB header connection (one built into a case, one that fits in a drive bay, etc.) should work just fine.


 
Neweggs price is $87.00 + $6.00 s/h =$93.00

TWCOs is $84.00 +$6.95 s/h = $90.95
and TWCOs s/h charge covers any order up to 150 pounds.

Neweggs shipping charges are cumulative.

I have had several Biostar Boards and have had excellent "luck" with all of them.
 
I was apprehensive about trying Biostar at first as well. Afterall, why would they be so inexpensive? I must say that I have had good luck so far with Biostar. Although I am not running the M7VIF, I am running the M7VKQ and it has had zero problems problems whatsoever.
 
Biostar boards are a great deal for their cost. Pass on them if you plan to do much overclocking, but for an inexpensive, quality board, Biostar is doing it right..
 
Read my notes here.

Thanks for the review link.

so any USB header connection (one built into a case, one that fits in a drive bay, etc.) should work just fine.

Ooooh....didn't realise that...I only have 2 port ones...will they work ok or I do I have to have 4 port ones?

Cheers,

Corm
 
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