Biostar Hi-Fi A85W Motherboard Review

We are quite impressed with the Biostar Hi-Fi A85W overall.  It offers an impressive feature set in a very attractive package which is sure to let you create an attractive-looking system.

We were a little disappointed that we couldn't squeeze a fully stable 4.4 GHz out of our AMD Vision A8-5600K APU with this motherboard but 4.3 GHz is still fairly respectable.  In our tests, performance was very similar to the Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H that we reviewed recently.

One of our minor gripes with this motherboard is the placement of the internal USB3.0 header.  It has been squeezed in between two of the Expansion slots, creating possible conflict issues.  It will also make cable routing difficult.

We think that the Biostar Hi-Fi A85W offers fairly good value for money.  It can be purchased from Ebuyer for around £65, making it an ideal choice for a low cost ATX solution.  Those who don't mind sacrificing the attractive colour scheme and the ATX form factor should consider the Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H instead as it's £10 cheaper.

Pros:

• Good value for money.
• Well featured.
• Better onboard audio than most motherboards.
• Attractive design.

Cons:

• Dated UEFI design.
• Illogical USB3.0 header placement.

KitGuru says: Biostar is showing that it can compete with the big three motherboard manufacturers with this quality addition to their range.

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