Biostar M7NCG Motherboard

CHIPSET

SPECIAL FEATURES

MEMORY

EXPANSION SLOT

I/O

INTEGRATED AUDIO

LAN

HARDWARE MONITOR FUNCTION

SIZE

CERTIFICATION

Features

Like all motherboards based on one of the nForce chipsets, the M7NCG comes with a wealth of standard features. That's why I like nForce motherboards, and this Biostar motherboard is no exception. It has everything you need in a basic computer, built in and ready to go: GeForce4 MX graphics, a network port, 6 USB 2.0 ports, 2 IEEE1394a (FireWire) ports, and a great sound system. This motherboard also has useful features like a CPU overheating protection circuit to protect your AMD CPU from burning up (by cutting power if the CPU temperature gets too high). That's a very important feature, since AMD CPUs do not include automatic thermal throttling like Intel's P4.

The M7NCG is missing a few enthusiast features, however. There is no RAID hard drive controller and no serial ATA hard drive connections. You can always add an adapter board later, but if you want advanced hard disk features, you should probably consider a different motherboard.

Because this motherboard is a Micro-ATX design, there are only 3 PCI slots, which should be sufficient (even if your graphics card cooler blocks one slot), since the nForce chipset includes most of the peripherals you'll ever need. However, due to the reduced slot count, you should be considering a Micro-ATX motherboard because you want a smaller, lighter system. I measured the weight of the M7NCG and found it was only about 2 ounces (56 grams) less than a standard-sized motherboard (the ASUS A7N266-C), so you'll probably only notice the difference in a lightweight aluminum system (if at all).

The BIOS is overclocking friendly; you can change the CPU multiplier setting by 1 MHz steps as well as letting you adjust the on-board CPU, AGP, DRAM, and IGP Voltage Regulators, for improved overclocking potential. In addition, Biostar includes a force-the-system-bus-frequency-to-100-MHz jumper on the board, so that you can recover from that "Oops, I've overclocked too far!" situation. I'm glad to see that jumper, since not every nForce motherboard has it (even though it was on NVIDIA's reference design), which has caused major problems for more than a few overclockers.

Bundle / Package Contents - 7 out of 10

Of course, you expect one of these

And here's the manual, CDs, 4 USB 2.0 ports, 2 FireWire ports, and drive cables
(notice the LACK of a back cover-plate)

The bundled Norton utilities (AntiVirus, Ghost, and Firewall 2003) are a nice touch, and I like the extra USB and FireWire port connections.

Unfortunately, the printed manual is lacking important details, like configuring the BIOS and what the documented jumper settings actually do. (What's the difference between the 5V and 5VSB selections for "KB:JKBV1" and why would I want to change the jumper selection? Using Google, I've determined that 5VSB is 5V standby, which means that power is cut to the USB ports when the system is in standby mode, which saves power.) Also, some of the diagrams in the English section of the manual are labeled in Spanish (!), as shown below:

The BIOS manual is included only on the installation CD, which is mighty inconvenient at times. (You may want to print it out.) I'm deducting a point from the Bundle score for the poor quality manuals.

More importantly, the back cover-plate for the integrated motherboard ports was missing! Luckily I had a spare one that fit, but this could be a real issue, especially if the motherboard was purchased mail-order. This omission raises my concerns about Biostar's QA department. While this is a great motherboard, you should make certain you buy it from a reputable dealer, so that you can easily get any missing/replacement parts. I'm also deducting a point for the missing cover-plate.

Installation - 6 out of 10

The motherboard layout is very good. All the cables, including power, are located on the outer edges of the board, so wiring does not block airflow across the memory and CPU. There's plenty of room around the CPU socket; I measured a clearance of 2.75 x 3.0 inches (69 x 73 mm) before large capacitors would touch a heatsink. All jumpers are well-marked, and the 3 fan connectors are in convenient places. The included USB and FireWire ports went in without a hitch. Once installed, the system has been stable, fast, and reasonably quiet. It's not silent, however, since there is a small fan on the nForce2 Northbridge chip (to cool the built-in GeForce 4 MX).

Because of a Micro-ATX motherboard's smaller size, it should easily fit into most cases. I previously had a full-size motherboard in my system, so I did have to move most of the motherboard support posts to new positions. Also, the installation was made more difficult than it should have been by the manual's lack of detail on jumper settings and BIOS settings. This motherboard should only be installed by someone who knows what they are doing and has installed other motherboards in the past.

The missing cover-plate noted above might have meant leaving it off (and later, perhaps, removing the motherboard, installing a new plate, and reinstalling the motherboard). Luckily, I had a spare face-plate on hand; with a little Dremel work (cutting a hole for the network connection), I soon had a suitable replacement.

I do not recommend the M7NCG for novices.