Test System

Initial Setup

Initial setup with the Biostar Hi-Fi A85W was uneventful. Everything worked as it should, and I came across no problems at all, or so I thought. Let me cover a few other things first, though.


I'm not too fond of the fact that the lower PCIe x16 slot is only an electrical PCIe x4 link, so I didn't bother to install my second HD 7950 VGA. There's nothing hidding, when it comes to slots, beneath the VGA I did install, so full use of all slots is possible no matter what dual-slot card you stick into the upper PCIex16 slot. There's room left between the cards for airflow, even if you decide to install a secondary VGA. The "reference" AMD heatpipe cooler I used with stock clocks came pretty close to the primary memory slot, shown in the second image above, but still left a bit of room to spare. The VRM cooler was, of course, quite a ways away from the other side of the CPU cooler, but it was low enough; the cooler's overhang was nowhere nearby.

Power Consumption

We measure CPU power consumption since one of our first tasks is to truly verify system stability. I isolate the power coming through the 8-pin ATX connector using an in-line meter that provides voltage and current readings as well as total wattage passed through it. While this may not prove to isolate the CPU power draw in all instances, it does serve as a good indicator of board efficiency and effective VRM design. I also measure total system power consumption, which allows you to get an idea of how much power the board and installed devices draw.




Power draw was a bit higher than with other products, which is mostly due to the VRM design. Biostar does have a product placed higher than this one, and it does feature what I would consider a better VRM design, so I wasn't shocked by this result, and I really did expect as much anyways.