Interesting Biostar MoBo

[mousiness]

Lol i saw this motherboard i few months ago and i was just wondering, is it worth the extra monet to have fans and tubes on the back of the MoBo I/O plate to cool off the front of the pc? Is it really worth putting in these fans here? I was just interested in this MoBo because of this odd feature, half of the i/o integrated connectors have been taken away because of this possibly useless feature, does anybody have information about how this performs? A review maybe?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1740406&CatId=1572

[werty316]

Actuallyt those fans are for another purpose than cooling the front of the PC. They are there to cool the components around the socket.

Turbojet Technology
Situated around the hottest components on a motherboard, GIGABYTE proprietary Turbojet Technology helps to efficiently remove heat generated by the CPU, north bridge and memory, and is designed to cope with abnormally tough thermal conditions. This is achieved by directing airflow over and away from heat generating components; two fans are dedicated to sucking warm air out the back of the system while another two drive air over the system memory, an area on the motherboard that is often neglected by cooling systems.

Here are some reviews:

http://www.hardwarezoom.com/viewcontent.php?docid=270&page=1&doctype=Reviews
http://www.guru3d.com/article/mainboard/320/

[mousiness]

i still think its the stupidest motherboard ever, especially the fact no SLI even though physical, the chipset, and why not socket 939? Pointless...

[werty316]

One werid thing is this board does come with a SLi connector yet the board isn't even SLi. but it is Crossfire Certified.

[mousiness]

Yes, i saw that and thought that was not only odd but stupid, crossfire will not work with that MoBo either, the chipset is a 975X, as the reviews say the crossfire and sli are simply just physical when added to the MoBo just not software compatible.

[Kougar]

That is not a Biostar motherboard... it is a Gigabyte update to the 955x Royal ;) Better photos can be found here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128002).

It is intented as a high-end enthusiast motherboard, and as such those come with all the bells and whistles. While I have not seen any reviews focusing on the BTX like cooling system, I am sure it does help lower temps a few degrees in several critical areas, at the expense of noise that those four fans will generate.

There is a review using that board at Tom's Hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/14/intel_goes_dual_graphics_with_975x_chipset/page6.html) and another one at Anandtech's website.

Edit: This board DOES support Crossfire, as shown in the tests performed. You need to realize motherboard manufacturers make BOTH Intel and AMD boards. This one just happens to be Intel's 975x chipset. A Gigabyte socket939 motherboard for SLI can be found here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128301).

[mousiness]

AGH.. i got all my facts mixed up!!!!!!

[XJnine]

The cooling is similar to some of the ABIT Max series of boards that featured their OTES cooling. I own the Abit IC7-Max 3..... http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=130

[Kougar]

The cooling is similar to some of the ABIT Max series of boards that featured their OTES cooling. I own the Abit IC7-Max 3..... http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=130

I had really wanted one of those when I was building this system, but that's usually how it goes I know. ;)

Idle question, but how has the OTES fan on yours held up? Any noise from it? I'm sure the northbridge fan on yours died a horrid death long ago too, as it looks exactly the same version as mine...

[XJnine]

I'm sure the northbridge fan on yours died a horrid death long ago too, as it looks exactly the same version as mine...

Hahahah.. Funny you should mention that. It sure did die and it took the motherboard with it. Luckily it was still covered by Abit and I RMA'd it for a new one.

The OTES fan is doing fine. Quiet and still running reliably.

[Kougar]

I think someone else said the same thing happened to their IC7 board?? So your northbridge overheated and that was all see wrote?

I didn't think there was that much of a heat difference between the 965PE and 975P chipsets. I eventually just unplugged the fan on mine years ago and left it as is when the fan started that noisey death rattle they get.

I only recently completely stripped down the system and removed the northbridge heatsink, cleared away the Intel pink stuff and applied AS5 and left it as a passive cooled setup, with my Zalman CPU cooler blowing directly onto the thing from above...

I did notice after I applied the AS5, the heatsink gets shockingly warm considering that to begin with, with the fan pulled and original Intel thermal compound it always felt no different than room temperature.