Help choose between biostar p43 & msi p43

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MenTaLLyMenTaL

Broken In
I'll be buying a comp after 24th nov. I've narrowed down onto these two mobos. Wont be OCing much - coz currently, i have no knowledge of OC and i wasnt thinking of OCing at all when i first started to search for mobos. But just so that it will be fun later on, i'll do some.

Things i need is
I need a serial and a parallel port for programming microcontrollers.
I need a firewire port for capturing video from my handycam

biostar tp43-d2a7:
> serial, parallel header only :neutral:
> No Firewire port nor header :(
> Solid capacitors :p
> 1600 MHz FSB without OC and support for 1066 MHz ddr2 ram without OC :)
> Price 4000 (in pune) :p

msi p43 neo-f
> serial, parallel port :p
> Firewire port or only header or none (both or any1 optional, confusion) :confused:
> spdif-out internal connector :?:
> 1600 MHz FSB wit OC and support for 1066 MHz ddr2 ram with OC :neutral:
> Price 5450 (theitwares) :(

Things i dont know and need clarification about are:
1) To use the headers on the mobo, i came to know that we can attach a bracket. How much will a bracket for serial port, parallel port, firewire port cost?

1.5) Can we get a single bracket having both serial and parallel port?

2) Does msi p43 neo-f come with ieee 1394a port or header only or none? They've put an 'Optional' logo on their site for these features. If i wanted that feature how much more can it cost? Anyone having a msi p43 neo-f or p45 neo-f board can confirm if they have this feature?

3) S/PDIF - where is it used generally? I'll be getting 2.1 AL or creative speakers which dont need it.
 

saqib_khan

I M A *STAR*
Go for biostar tp43-d2a7.

Regd ur first ques: U can get that bracket for very cheap. It will cost u arnd 200 Rs approx. But the main thing is it muust have header on mobo, then only. SO verify it first & then take ur decision.
 

furious_gamer

Excessive happiness
Get MSI P43 Neo F and seperately buy a bracket and attach with it...
AFAIK MSI is a solid Mobo and dunno abt BioStar ones....
 
OP
MenTaLLyMenTaL

MenTaLLyMenTaL

Broken In
Well the review on insidehw (*www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Motherboards/Biostar-TP43D2_A7-and-TP45D2_A7.html) was good. After searching more on the net i found just a couple of member posts saying they had some bios problems.

But the price and solid capacitors attracts me!
 
OP
MenTaLLyMenTaL

MenTaLLyMenTaL

Broken In
ok, after reading lots of user reviews on newegg about biostar tp43d2a7 and even their tp43hp i found out quite a lot of users complaining about the bios and also about ram not working even in 800mhz.
But checking the user reviews for msi p45 neo-f (could not find p43 neo-f on newegg) i saw a few users complaining about the board not being able to POST or not able to 'cold boot' and need a bios update just like the biostar mobo.
 
OP
MenTaLLyMenTaL

MenTaLLyMenTaL

Broken In
-bump?-

From the following - i'm not at all saying that i'm being stubbon about not wanting to go for msi p43 neo-f but just coz i found out newegg:
Customer reviews for MSI P45 Neo-F are poor -
5 - 26%
4 - 35%
3 - 17%
2 - 9%
1 - 13%
5-6 (out of 23) customer reviews said that they had boot issues / 'cold start' issues / needed bios upgrades.
Could someone having this board (p43/p45 neo-f) please share his/her experience?

I also gave a thought to Asus P5K VM deciding to sacrifice pci-e 2.0. But on the asus site its written "* Please update the latest BIOS to support Intel 45nm CPU". Can anyone enlighten me on how to do this bios update?
 

Psychosocial

Violent serenity.
Get MSI P43 Neo F and seperately buy a bracket and attach with it...
AFAIK MSI is a solid Mobo and dunno abt BioStar ones....

lolumad? BioStar mobos are better than MSI ones. Biostar i45 has set a world record for OC'ing and staying stable at that OC. Solid capacitors are a great thing. Good if u hav hot conditions. I say go for BioStar.
 

VarDOS

15.0 GHz
Yeah go for Biostar.

My Friend with same mobo OC'D his Proccy from 2.2GHz To 3GHz...... Itz Good For OC'ing
 

desiibond

Bond, Desi Bond!
yep. But when you compare biostar P43 with Palit P35, I couldn't find much difference except that P35 support RAM till 800MHz but on the bright side "4-phase PWM with solid state capacitor to enhance stability and reliability" and crossfireX (won't push for cf anymore given the perf of X2 cards)
 

Psychosocial

Violent serenity.
^^Ya, Palit P35A is the only <5k board to support Crossfire. I think that makes a better buy.

@OP, go for Palit P35A. Or if you can get your hands on BioStar i45, get that and send me one too :D. I am in love with this BioStar i45 boards but I aint getting one here :(.
 
OP
MenTaLLyMenTaL

MenTaLLyMenTaL

Broken In
thanx for the replies and sry for my late reply - woke up late and then load shedding :(

@desiibond and kpower
ya i had palit p35a also on my mind definitely. But i dont nee crossfirex really...not that much money. And if later i ever buy a new graphic card i'll be putting the current one into another comp. So i though later when i buy a new card it'll be a monster card which will need more bandwidth and so it'll need PCI-E 2.0 which p43 offers. Plus the biostar tp43 mobo is cheaper by ~500 than palit p35a. If at the last moment everything fails, i'll be going with palit.

@desiibond
what is meant by 4 phase PWM? on biostar tp43 review, there was a line "Nearby is located 4-pin P4 power connector under which is located 4-Phase power unit.". If thats the same thing u meant it would be gr8.

@all
Though biostar also has many negative feedbacks at newegg about bios, POST, ram etc (but overall less % than msi p43) i asked the vendor on phone about what he'll do to take care of these problems. He's said he can replace the board if any of those problems occurs during the 3 yrs warranty. So i've finally decided to go with it.

@kpower
biostar i45 is available here for ~Rs.7920(incl vat) and lynx-india has it for Rs.7786 - *www.lynx-india.com/index.php?productID=3236
 

Psychosocial

Violent serenity.
^^Thanks for the info. But I found that Abacus is the distributor in Mumbai and many of my relatives live there so I will get it from there :).
 

desiibond

Bond, Desi Bond!
thanx for the replies and sry for my late reply - woke up late and then load shedding :(

@desiibond and kpower
ya i had palit p35a also on my mind definitely. But i dont nee crossfirex really...not that much money. And if later i ever buy a new graphic card i'll be putting the current one into another comp. So i though later when i buy a new card it'll be a monster card which will need more bandwidth and so it'll need PCI-E 2.0 which p43 offers. Plus the biostar tp43 mobo is cheaper by ~500 than palit p35a. If at the last moment everything fails, i'll be going with palit.

@desiibond
what is meant by 4 phase PWM? on biostar tp43 review, there was a line "Nearby is located 4-pin P4 power connector under which is located 4-Phase power unit.". If thats the same thing u meant it would be gr8.

@all
Though biostar also has many negative feedbacks at newegg about bios, POST, ram etc (but overall less % than msi p43) i asked the vendor on phone about what he'll do to take care of these problems. He's said he can replace the board if any of those problems occurs during the 3 yrs warranty. So i've finally decided to go with it.

@kpower
biostar i45 is available here for ~Rs.7920(incl vat) and lynx-india has it for Rs.7786 - *www.lynx-india.com/index.php?productID=3236

If you have 8k in hand, my vote goes to ASUS P5Q Pro. I have not idea about Biostar i45 but I think I should leave this to KPower as he is more aware of P45 based boards.
 

Psychosocial

Violent serenity.
^^BioStar i45 is a great board. I dunno how it compares with ASUS's P5Q Pro.. but BioStar has set a record for OC'ing and stability...
 

desiibond

Bond, Desi Bond!
I take my word back dude. Just now I checked i45's specs and damn it, it's awesome. Go for it!!!!

sometimes, I need to look beyond asus and gigabyte :)
 
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