[Fr3ak] Biostar Tpower I45

[Fr3ak]

I got the board today, but it looks like I will not have enough time to do any decent testing with the board before I go to Computex at the weekend. I already took some pictures of the board and I will add screenshots of the BIOS as soon as the board is set up. I will try to make a quick OC test on air before I leave too.

http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/attachments/overclocking-mainboards-speicher/16105d1211923775-pcgh-extreme-biostar-tpower-i45-pcghx-biostar-tpower-i45-01.jpg

More pictures here:
http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/overclocking-mainboards-speicher/17453-pcgh-extreme-biostar-tpower-i45.html#post141472

BIOS shots:
http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/attachment.php?attachmentid=17455&stc=1&d=1213426943

http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/attachment.php?attachmentid=17456&stc=1&d=1213426943

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http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/attachments/overclocking-mainboards-speicher/17476d1213427580-pcgh-extreme-biostar-tpower-i45-pcghx-biostar-tpower-i45-bios-22.jpg

[hstuehmeyer2000]

how many bios bugs does it have:p:, but seriously is it a good board so far?

[Fr3ak]

All I saw of the board so far is the look of it. I am burried with work, but I think I will have the board running by tomorrow evening..

So I cannot comment on the BIOS yet. As soon as I enter the BIOS I Will post pictuers =)

[Leeghoofd]

Looking at Victor Wangs and Windwithme this mobo is a scorcher !! and P5Q Dlx is heading the same way (FSB wise mean :) Hope all manufacturers get these P45 chipsets running so fast...

Looking forward what you can squeeze out of it Jedi :)

[metro.cl]

Mine is trapped in customs!!! I've already seen the bios and might know why it overclocks the FSB so great :) now if they only made it DDR3 it would be great

[Fr3ak]

There will be a very special DDR3 version, trust me =)

I am really sorry about not being able to update the review. I spent a week at Computex and had a lot of work to finish until today. I will be leaving for the weekend, but I will post pics of the BIOS tomorrow, the rest of the review will follow in the comming week.

I spent like 15 mins with the board and booting with 525 MHz FSB was a pice of cake. My old E6600 cannot do any better on air. I should have the E8400 back I lent to a friend by next week, so I am good to go =)

[tiborrr]

Clocking the FSB on Wolfdales and Conroeos is something completelly different. Post with E8x00 please.

[Fr3ak]

Added BIOS screenshots in post #1

[Pt1t]

Added BIOS screenshots in post #1

Nice !!

but upgrade with new bios , the voltage section is different.

Add of Vpll
and Current voltage :)

[Fr3ak]

I am away for the weekend, but will update the BIOS next week.

[cstkl1]

freak pmed u for the latest bios..
please send to my email..
thanks

[Fr3ak]

I am sorry, but I don't have any new BIOS files yet. Did you check the Biostar website?

[sofarfrome]

Mine is going back to Newegg as I can't get the nvidia drivers to install no matter what I do. I have been at it for 6 hours today and finally I swapped out the board for a DFI Blood Iron and guess what, the system now runs flawlessly. Now they want to charge me a $25.50 restocking fee plus $10 to ship it back to California. I am not sure how they can feel good about that one as there is no doubt in my mind the b oard is defective.

EDIT: link to latest bios (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3080217&postcount=73)

[Hutch]

Mine is going back to Newegg as I can't get the nvidia drivers to install no matter what I do. I have been at it for 6 hours today and finally I swapped out the board for a DFI Blood Iron and guess what, the system now runs flawlessly. Now they want to charge me a $25.50 restocking fee plus $10 to ship it back to California. I am not sure how they can feel good about that one as there is no doubt in my mind the b oard is defective.

EDIT: link to latest bios (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3080217&postcount=73)

You RMA'd the board for that?!?!?!?!?!? :shocked:

[sofarfrome]

You RMA'd the board for that?!?!?!?!?!? :shocked:

yes...there is an issue with the PCI-e bus. One shouldn't get BSODs for installing a graphics driver at stock settings. All of the exact same equipemnt is currently running on a DFI Blood Iron and worked previously on an Asus Rampage Formula with absolutely no problems.

But the board is still here so if you have any suggestions feel free to send them my way. I did everything I know of to remedy this problem to no avail. 2 clean install each of vista32 and xp32, all power connections secure, all jumpers set correctly, read the manual carefully, card seated well, driver installed after chipset drivers only installed, etc. I completely removed the board from the mobo tray and set it up with one stick of memory and one HD. No LAN and no on-board audio installed or turned on. One hour bios clear, re-flashed the original bios, flashed to a new bios. I used DC-Pro to clean all driver remnants between install attempts. I tried installing over the previous failed install in safe mode. I could go on but I was at it for 6 hours. I have posted on the nVidia site and here in the general hardware section but so far I haven't recieved a response from anyone (72 people have viewd my posts) other than you being shocked. So, again, if you or anyone else has any clue on what is wrong I am all ears...I would like to keep this board.

[Pudi]

Does it have RAID?

[sofarfrome]

Does it have RAID?

no raid, single HD

[Pt1t]

Mine is going back to Newegg as I can't get the nvidia drivers to install no matter what I do. I have been at it for 6 hours today and finally I swapped out the board for a DFI Blood Iron and guess what, the system now runs flawlessly. Now they want to charge me a $25.50 restocking fee plus $10 to ship it back to California. I am not sure how they can feel good about that one as there is no doubt in my mind the b oard is defective.

EDIT: link to latest bios (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3080217&postcount=73)


Bios P45AA620.BSP (http://download.biostar.com.tw/upload/Bios/P45AA620.BSP) right click -> save as

1. Added several memory timing option
2. Added FSB Compensation FineTune
3. Some brand's 8800GT/9800GTX hang during 3dmark06, and fix nvidia drivers install (it's intel BIOS spec issue )


This bios Fix Nvidia Graphics card issues.

[Fr3ak]

I did some more testing with my 4th R8500 under single stage. 600 MHz FSB is only stable enough for the BIOS, booting at 550 MHz works like a charm. Clockgen in windows up to 580-595 MHz depending on the mood of the hardware :)

I tested my D9GMH from G.Skill with the board. They can run up to 740 MHz single channel, single stick, so I am pretty sure the CPU is the limiting factor here. The board features a lot of BIOS options as shown above. Higher voltages are not always better. In some cases it causes instability, so you have to play a lot with different values in order to find the right combination.

So far, all BIOS options works like they should, which is not always the case with other P45 boards from MSI and Gigabyte that I tried.

[Don_Dan]

I tested my D9GMH from G.Skill with the board. They can run up to 740 MHz single channel, single stick, so I am pretty sure the CPU is the limiting factor here.

I would love to see a picture of that, just for the big numbers... :)

If you have time, could you take a photo of it, MemSet included? Would be very much appreciated! Thanks!

[Movieman]

nice review!:up:

[Fr3ak]

Well, a "nice" review would contain a lot of text, benchmarks and pictures. I only posted pictures so far, so the whole "thing" is not even close to a nice review and probably never will get to that state. I need 36 hour days here :/

After I installed the chipset drivers, my USB functionality is gone. That means I cannot install memset for now. Have to fix that issue first, but not within a week.

[Don_Dan]

After I installed the chipset drivers, my USB functionality is gone. That means I cannot install memset for now. Have to fix that issue first, but not within a week.

No problem, take your time, Oliver. It's not that important, though nice to see. ;)

[Bobsama]

I definitely want this board--it looks EXCELLENT from the overclocking topics... anyways--is there a download for the board manual?

[coltsrock]

bump, is there any review now?

[Blacky]

Does crucial B memories get along this board? *please say yes*

[mrcape]

Got this board up and running yesterday - just like all the other results out there 620fsb + is a breeze on air. Can get good clocks with wolfdale no problem, same voltages required as DFI UT P35. But the big difference I can see is ram performance. So far it won't run PL7 with tight timings and therefore is not as efficient for normal use. I lose time in 1m and everest read and latency totally stink with PL8 44412 vs PL7.

If someone can share settings for 500x8.5 4444 PL7 that would be cool. Don't want any jacked voltages for that either. 1.2vtt, 1.4nb would be nice.

[SeLecT]

Is undervolting possilbe with this board?

[Fr3ak]

Yes, but only by 0.3 Volt if I remember right.

[acileli]

Picked up this board recently and install/oc was relatively painless even for a newb like myself. Updating the BIOS is especially easy.

But for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to turn off the Marvel Raid adapter to keep it from initializing everytime I boot up. I've tried messing with every BIOS setting pertaining to SATA and HD I could find with no luck.

Can someone please let me know if they were able to disable the Marvel raid init and how you did it, please?

[mrcape]

7/10 bios is rocking. PL7 is working now.

[marcolecorse]

I just receive my biostar Tpower but I have a problem! :( When I set the vcore manualy, the motherboard shutdown. In auto mode, no problem. I use the bios P45AA710.BSP. So, is it a fix or my new mobo should go in RMA ?


on air stock

[Fr3ak]

Hmm looks good, apart from the high CPU and memory voltage (on aircooling?).

I had some nice results with the mainboard at the weekend. Will post them later =)

[DonBanana]

I really hope this is not on aircooling but then it should be the source of your shutdown problem :yepp:

[Fr3ak]

The board is great. I posted about problems getting past 600 MHz FSB. I was finally able to get over that mark =)

http://valid.x86-secret.com/ccpuz.php?id=391714&nocache=1
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=391714

http://valid.x86-secret.com/ccpuz.php?id=391705&nocache=1
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=391705

NB was cooled by a ghetto construction with LN2. Temp was -186.6 C. I will post pictures of the setup later :)

[DonBanana]

Voltages? :)

[Fr3ak]

About 1.8V on the CPU, memory 2.5V, NB +0.7V (max selectable), VFSB +0.650V.

[DonBanana]

Looks like you did it in ease :D

[Fr3ak]

The board works well wit just +0.3V on NB and VFSB, but I had the impression the board is more stable with the high voltage, while I cooled the NB with LN2.

Seeing 650+ MHz with just +0.,V, I am pretty sure, the board can do more than that, but the CPU is limiting here. Too bad I didn't try to run 1M with that setup. I only ran it once with 5.8 ish GHz single channel and CL5, but didn't even take a screenshot. Was way too slow on my messed up OS :)

[railmeat]

The board works well wit just +0.3V on NB and VFSB, but I had the impression the board is more stable with the high voltage, while I cooled the NB with LN2.

Seeing 650+ MHz with just +0.,V, I am pretty sure, the board can do more than that, but the CPU is limiting here. Too bad I didn't try to run 1M with that setup. I only ran it once with 5.8 ish GHz single channel and CL5, but didn't even take a screenshot. Was way too slow on my messed up OS :)

LN2 ON THE NB,ROFL...water on mine pwnz 24\7

[Fr3ak]

Wait until you see the pictures. It was nuts. The USB-Ports were frozen.

[DonBanana]

Give us pictures. Want to see those frozen ports.

[Fr3ak]

There you go:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=195517

[vws]

7/10 bios is rocking. PL7 is working now.
How does it bench against DFI UT P35 now?

[Pt1t]

I just receive my biostar Tpower but I have a problem! :( When I set the vcore manualy, the motherboard shutdown. In auto mode, no problem. I use the bios P45AA710.BSP. So, is it a fix or my new mobo should go in RMA ?

on air stock
http://i49.servimg.com/u/f49/12/09/36/55/photo_87.jpg

OMG , you on XS , your are not banned here ?

I think he is the lamest guy i found on french forum.... :mad:

[noobzed]

I just receive my biostar Tpower but I have a problem! :( When I set the vcore manualy, the motherboard shutdown. In auto mode, no problem. I use the bios P45AA710.BSP. So, is it a fix or my new mobo should go in RMA ?

on air stock
http://i49.servimg.com/u/f49/12/09/36/55/photo_87.jpg

I sent msg to moderation
cause marcolecorse is banned
everywhere in french forums
had serious problems too

[SeLecT]

One user @ Hwluxx has some problems with the board. maybe you can help him. Here are his question:


Hello,



i´m a customer and i´ve bought the TPower I45 Mainboard. Now i want to ask you why i cannot put a lower Vcore like 1.15V?

The problem is in the Bios you cannot put an exactly setting. you have to choose these + and - settings. but now im at 0,025V

and to go lower ia have to choose the next step -0,050V and thats is too much. I can put better sets over the TPOwerII Software

but thats are only for testing. because the settings from the software will not be transfered to the bios. Maybe you have a newer Bios versionin future

or you have a Beta Bios Version. To fix this Problem? I´m using already the newest Bios version.