I was waiting for your review Dave although I had my eyes on this board since it was announced. Having used Asus and Gigabyte before, I wanted to try a different brand this time for my X79 build; it was between the Biostar and the EVGA X79 SLI but EVGA were/are(?) having lots of problems with the bios on their X79 boards and so far there are hardly any reviews out, a bit dodgy.
Biostar did contact us about a review, but I guess they never shipped the board out.
I'm not too sure what happened there, and I currently have a fairly large backlog of reviews to work through. I think I'm having my shoulder surgery on April 10th, or at least, I've gotta meet with the surgeon, so I'm a bit hesitant to get more samples for review until that day has come and gone, and I know jsut how muc hwork I'll be able to do. What I have now should keep me busy with one review a week until then, so maybe afterwords I'll touch base with my contact and see what's going on. I should have another memory review go live this week, just gotta finish the writeup today.
Honestly, I'd much rather wait a few weeks after boards come out so that BIOSes have matured a little bit, making my review job that much easier. While it's great to get products before any one else, there are difficulties that are included, too, so I don't mind reivewing that Biostar board a month from now...
EVGA boards, I guess they think TPU doesn't exactly fit with their "demographic", but I think they are missing out by thinking that. I really like the G.Skill ram and the ASUS P9X79 Deluxe that I've reviewed, and I've got a at least a few users here and elsewhere to buy that combo, and if EVGA can come up with a good product, they'd get the same benefits that everyone else does as well.
I pitch Biostar as the entry-level enthusiast product, for those with a budget, as Biostar offers a lot of features that more expensive products do, but with a lower cost. I am a firm beleiver in "you get what you pay for", but Biostar has consistenly provided MORE than what I expected in all the products they've sent me so far, so I am quite eager to see what else they've got cooking. I'm pretty confident that X79 board will treat ya well.