The TA970 Plus is a full-sized ATX motherboard that was revealed by BIOSTAR today, enhanced with AMD OverDrive and Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC). This board supports AM3+ processors from AMD such as the AMD FX, AMD Phenom II, AMD Athlon II and the AMD Sempron (Maximum TDP going up to 140 Watts). With it’s ability to support Dual Channel DDR3 2133MHz when overclocked and can support up to 64GB of memory 4-DIMM configuration.
Taking a look at what expansions slots we have on the BIOSTAR TA970 Plus; It comes with 2 PCI-E x16 slots (PEX16_1, PEX16_2) in x16-mode on the first slot and x4-mode on the second slot for AMD CrossfireX compatibility — however at those modes, I would not recommend CrossfireX –, 2 PCI-E 2.0 slots and 2 PCI slots. For Storage solutions we see 5 SATA3 (6Gb/s) connections (1 in the middle and 4 at the bottom. Weirdly, facing different directions) and 1 mSATA connector. The SATA3 configuration supports RAID0, RAID1, RAID5 and RAID10. We also see what looks like a piano keys-styled heat sink over the MOSFETS and the BIOSTAR Hi-Fi badge and module below the CPU socket.
On the rear I/O, we have our P/S2 connectors, 6 USB2.0 ports, 2 USB3.0 ports, the RJ-45 port for LAN and the 6-input audio connectors. The codec used on this motherboard is the Realtek ALC892 which supports BIOSTAR Hi-Fi for audio and the Realtek RTL8111GR for LAN. Some extra features include the ACC which allows power users and enthusiasts to precisely calibrate clock timing between the processor and the RAM Chips. The board also comes with BIOSTAR’s exclusive BIO-Remote II, Smart Speed Lan and PURO Hi-Fi (192KHz/24-bit) — which is designed with a built-in amplifier for your multi-channel speakers or high-end headphones.
This looks like a promising entry-level AMD board for anyone thinking about picking up overclocking with AMD chips which also supports some insane DDR3 memory speeds but may be a little dated, given that DDR4 memory sticks are available (at pretty steep prices). If you’re looking for a cheap solution for building a gaming rig, this may be it. But, for future proofing, it’ll be better to look at motherboards that have DDR4 support.
For more information, visit the manufacturer’s page here.
