Biostar Hi-Fi A88W 3D (AMD FM2+) Review

Name: Biostar Hi-Fi A88W 3D (AMD FM2+)
Brand: Biostar

cadaveca

on Mar 27th, 2014,

in Motherboards.

Manufacturer: Biostar

Board Software »

BIOS Walkthrough

BIOS Options
Clocks	Range	Step Size
CPU BCLK:	100.00 MHz ... 300.00 MHz	1.0. MHz
Memory Dividers:	x8 (800 MHz), x10.67 (1067 MHz), x13.33 (1333 MHz), x14 (1400 MHz),x16 (1600 MHz ), x18 (1800 MHz), x18.66 (1866 MHz), x20 (2000 MHz ), x21.33 (2133 MHz), x22 (2200 MHz), x24 (2400 MHz)
Voltages	Range	Step Size
APU Core:	Default... +0.50 V	0.020 V
DRAM Voltage:	-0.25 V... +0.49 V	Varies
FCH Voltage	Default... +0.49 V	0.010 V
APU NB Voltage:	Default... +0.50 V	0.020 V

The BIOS really took me by surprise when it first popped up. With a different background and a different color over what the board physically features, the red theme feels out of place, yet the contrasts these color choices provide are definitely more appealing to the eye than those of a blue and black theme. Everything is pretty well laid out, and there are quite a few options here that even I didn't know what to do with, which is pretty surprising to me since I have seen just about every BIOS type, but what Biostar provides is on a completely different level because the company sticks to far more traditional, technical labels, which can sometimes be pretty frustrating. However, what is here is, all in all, more than adequate for the average user and pretty close to what every overclocker needs, which is nice as this isn't your high-end overclocking board either.

When it comes to tweaking settings, Biostar offers a pretty good set with the Biostar Hi-Fi A88W 3D. There is, however, a glaring omission as there is no Application Power Management option to play with, which might result in overclocking not being as fruitful as it could be. With all that said, screenshots of all the BIOS pages are below: