Biostar K8VHA-Pro

This motherboard won our 'Editor's Choice' award in our July issue group test.

Price: £61.49

Manufacturer: Biostar

Ratings

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Verdict

Pros:
Price; 5.1-channel sound.

Cons:
Two Dimm slots.

Overall:
The K8VHA-Pro is a good foundation for a budget Athlon 64 PC, but it lacks some of the bells and whistles of more expensive motherboards.

Rory Reid, Personal Computer World 30 Jul 2004

The Biostar K8VHA-Pro is one of just two motherboards with a communications and network riser (CNR) slot. This is unusual, since the modems and audio devices it was designed to accommodate are now more commonly integrated into the chipset or on separate devices.

Other additions to the K8VHA include its onboard Firewire port. It is capable of supporting a further seven ports, but Biostar has supplied only one extra connector on an expansion header. Amends are made to some degree thanks to its six USB2 slots, but we would prefer to have seen a more even spread of USB2 and Firewire support.

Although it is a full-sized ATX motherboard, the K8VHA has just two memory slots. If you've got more than two memory modules for use in your new system, you may find yourself having to buy new memory, or having to put up with left-over Dimms.

Difficulties may also arise if you've got more than two IDE devices, as Biostar has only included a single data cable. Fortunately, there are two Raid-compatible Sata channels, each accompanied by the necessary cables and power adapters.

The K8VHA has a basic layout and colour-coded ports to ease installation. It has a rather simplistic user manual, but this is generally well written.

Performance was surprising for a motherboard costing just £61.49. Hot on the heels of the Asus, the K8VHA-Pro beat the rest of the group, thanks to its PCmark score of 4,507. Its hard disk performance score was less impressive than we'd hoped, but it achieved strong results in all other areas.

We've given the Biostar our Editor's Choice award as it stands up well against the competition in several areas. It offers value for money, good performance and a number of useful extras for overclocking and system monitoring.

Contact: Biostar 01952 461 141
www.biostar.com.tw

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