BIOSTAR Introducing Built-In LAN Surge Protection For Motherboards

[btarunr]

BIOSTAR is introducing a new design for the boards, whereby they are adding an integrated chip to strengthen electrical stability and prevent damage from lightning strikes and electrical surges. BIOSTAR is the first Motherboard manufacturer to offer motherboards with these features and specifications so called "SUPER LAN Surge Protection". Going forward, all BIOSTAR series products will incorporate this technology.

PC systems can be damaged or destroyed by electrical surges. These are voltages which are much greater than the normal working voltage and which appear in a system for a short period of time.



BIOSTAR "SUPER LAN Surge Protection" wants to insure that the motherboards have a high degree of protection from such surges by the use of hardware devices, directly built into the motherboard, which limit surge voltages reaching protected equipment to safe levels.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[GreiverBlade]

well at last we know ASUS is not in the "competitor" bar of that chart ...

oh wait 4x protection meh ASUS do only ... 1.9x respectively 1.3x ahh damn just a ESD guard, my bad
oh well ASRock so ... full spike protection rate 10x ESD (component) and 5x lightning (lan) ... wait ... is this even a quantifiable method ? i guess i have to wait a lightning storm for testing my AM1B-ITX

 

[Blue-Knight]

PC systems can be damaged or destroyed by electrical surges.

This is true.

BIOSTAR is the first Motherboard manufacturer to offer motherboards with these features and specifications so called "SUPER LAN Surge Protection".

Well, I already see a lot of motherboards claiming to have some type of surge protection. But LAN surge protection I think it is the first time.

SUPER LAN Surge Protection™

 

[GreiverBlade]

But LAN surge protection I think it is the first time.

SUPER LAN Surge Protection™

so nope Biostar isn't the first

 

[rtwjunkie]

If the cable line to the modem runs through surge protection, then there is no reason for LAN surge protection to the router or at the motherboards is there?

 

[Jorge]

Folks this so called "surge protection" is intended for low level power fluctuations and very minor / remote lightening strikes. What most people should be using is a quality USP with proper built in surge protection (including for LAN), as a typical mobo even with "surge protection" has no chance of handling real grid power surges, let alone lightening hits nearby. The mobo protection would be more for like brown-outs than real power surges or lightening strikes. 2x, 4x 27x means nothing without knowing what actual energy reference is being used. It's typical marketing hype.

My advice is don't buy a mobo expecting it to do the job of a proper UPS with clamping forces high enough to prevent damage to your PC or other sensitive electronic devises. A quality UPS is one of the best financial investments a PC owner can make. Shop wisely however as there are considerable differences in surge protection ability and product quality amongst the different brands and models of UPSs available.

 

[GreiverBlade]

Folks this so called "surge protection" is intended for low level power fluctuations and very minor / remote lightening strikes. What most people should be using is a quality USP with proper built in surge protection (including for LAN), as a typical mobo even with "surge protection" has no chance of handling real grid power surges, let alone lightening hits nearby. The mobo protection would be more for like brown-outs than real power surges or lightening strikes. 2x, 4x 27x means nothing without knowing what actual energy reference is being used. It's typical marketing hype.

My advice is don't buy a mobo expecting it to do the job of a proper UPS with clamping forces high enough to prevent damage to your PC or other sensitive electronic devises. A quality UPS is one of the best financial investments a PC owner can make. Shop wisely however as there are considerable differences in surge protection ability and product quality amongst the different brands and models of UPSs available.

Yep 2kv rating (2000volt) is far under a lightning strike.... but still way above a normal powersurge

 

[Batou1986]

First to offer this ?
lel
My Gigabyte P45 board had this.

 

[tomkaten]

Back in the day, when we had all the small neighborhood internet providers, outside ethernet cables would be plugged directly into my mainboard's NIC. Two of them got fried during thunderstorms.

But these days, when there's at least one device between your ISP's box and your box, is this really needed ?

 

[ypsylon]

Anyone with a bit of brain understands that surge protection must be placed outside motherboard.

If surge does reach mobo it's all over. Proper surge protection for any phone/network cable (named in many ways: net protector, net surge filter, adsl protector etc) is connected to UPS via TVSS screw or to any other grounded medium. Placing surge protection on motherboard is totally idiotic.

Surge on motherboard = dead motherboard.

On my side I unplug all network cables after filters anyway. And waiting some time after storm passes with connecting them back. Phone/network cables are ideal for harnessing charged particles during thunderstorms. Even residual charge can burn mobo, it does not require 'direct big hit'. Protecting from thunderstorms is fairly easy to do and not very costly for home PC. Certainly one of those ways is NOT mobo with surge protection. Stupid marketing ploy. Guess many (most?) people must learn this lesson the hard way. Read/heard plenty of horror stories which could easily been avoided. Oh well...

 

[RejZoR]

That's why I have a surge protection that is at the very entry point. All power sockets and VDSL2 goes through it. If you're on fiber optics, it's even easier since fiber is not conductive. You just need to protect power sources.