Test System

Initial Setup

Initial setup with the Biostar Hi-Fi A88W 3D was uneventful. Everything worked as it should, and I came across no problems. The board itself boots up in a fraction of a second, so you had best be ready to mash that "delete" key as soon as you hit the power button if you need to get into the BIOS.


Although the Biostar Hi-Fi A88W 3D isn't a full ATX design, the provided space for anything you might want to install is quite good, including clearance for aftermarket cooling. That in and of itself is definitely an inherent part of the AMD FM2+ platform, but Biostar has, rather than adding a bunch of things you might not use, kept additions to a minimum, which makes getting everything installed properly pretty easy.


I was a bit shocked to see ON/OFF and RESET switches and a POST display here, but they have their uses, and for the minor cost these additions incur and the huge problems that can be avoided by having them there, I was pleased with everything I found on the Biostar Hi-Fi A88W 3D.

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 with an in-line meter that provides voltage and current readings and total wattage passed through. While this may not prove to isolate CPU power draw in all instances, it does serve as a good indicator of board efficiency and effective VRM design. Total system power consumption is no longer reported as the figure can change depending on what VGA is installed. The sole board-only power measurements possible without physically modifying a motherboard are those taken via the 8-pin CPU connector, making it the only valuable figure worth reporting. I use wPrime with eight threads selected in the options since it provides a consistently high workload throughout the full length of the test and runs long enough for the VRM and CPU to produce a fair bit of heat. Most average workloads will draw far less than this, although distributed computing applications are quite similar. This is only supposed to provide repeatable power draw numbers that anyone can replicate as I test stability with several other applications. The meter used is an off-the-shelf Zalman unit that has been on the market for some time. It provides quite similar results in my testing environment when compared to a FLUKE 337 clamp meter.


The Biostar Hi-Fi A88W 3D managed to pull off some great power consumption numbers. Wattage via the 4-pin EPS connector at idle and load was comparable, if not better, to that of any other board out there.