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ROBERT R.

ROBERT R.

Joined on 06/29/10

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 4
Most Favorable Review

The other good Intel motherboard

Intel BOXDP67BGB3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel BOXDP67BGB3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: I like this board. I had an old P4 D865PERL which was tricked out for an 9 year old mobo. The DP67BG reminds me of it except for the Extreme Skull and actual overclocking. Some reviews have found multiplier limits or cold boot memory issues which are thankfully fixed on the new units/bioses. It's basically an attractive baseline P67 board. It's got some good features like Intel's ethernet, bluetooth/wifi N, firewire along with the stuff you'd expect -- USB3/sata 6, ect. I like that the board isn't garishly colored or adorned. Except for the skull and lighting, it's pretty much nothing but business. I especially like the excellent fan controls in the BIOS. It's hard to find but effective when used in conjunction with the 4pin headers on the mobo (of which there are many). The software included is also pretty good (Extreme Tuning Utility and desktop monitor). The IO backplate is actually pretty nice too. 6 non locking sata cables are included too. The PCIe slots are

Cons: The BIOS/UEFI implementation needs a little more work. I actually thought this mainboard would have a flashier UEFI like Asus. The BIOS is just kind clumsy and it's hard to find stuff, even the really useful stuff like fan controls. Its not the end of the world, but with a little more though it could have been stellar. Annoyingly, this board still has PCI slots. I would have been willing to pay much, much more just for -no- PCI slots. Intel doesn't think PCI is needed anymore, except on their premium motherboards. It costs more to add the bridge chip than putting no slots on there at all.

Overall Review: Most Intel boards are just not that exciting -- or that good. Which is strange since you would expect an Intel board to be the most stable. This hasn't been true for quite some time. This board is one of the two current Extreme series boards that are worth looking in to. Intel (or someone contracted by) designs their mobos which are then built by Foxconn or Asus (maybe others). Some of them seem great, and some seem like leftovers from 9 years ago. While the DP67BG doesn't have any of the features that stick out, it could be perfect with a few minor changes. Intel, please improve the UEFI and drop PCI support, then add the Intel internal USB 3.0 header. Then it will be perfection.

A few months later: Still Awesome

Intel BOXDP67BGB3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel BOXDP67BGB3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: After a few months with this board, I like it even more. Recent UEFI revisions have added a few features including a decent auto-overclocking function, but seriously? If you think overclocking with this board is hard with a K series processor, you're doing it wrong... just adjust the muli and be done with it if you don't want to delve deeper (which you can). 4.8ghz is the highest I've been able to clock stable, but I think my CPU's not going any higher. Unlike other boards I could name, this one doesn't run your top turbo bin for all cores when you manually set the memory (cough... Asus...). The best part is, after a few months, I like the board more. There's a lot to like and not much to dislike. Excellent UEFI restoration in case of a bad flash or bad UEFI image... very handy as is the back to bios button (and the BIOS jumper on the board, there are a few circumstances when you need this).

Cons: To the guy who had problems with his GTX560: UEFI BIOS revision 2053 wouldn't work with 4/500 series nVidia. You just need to have 2040 for right now, and the 2053 rev has since been remove from Intel's download page. With 2053 I couldn't even boot with memory set higher than 1067mhz... obviously whack. So your board may have shipped with that revision. I can't use the eSata port on the back because of the backplate, but I believe this could be limited to mine. I like the IO backplate very much... nice thickness and well labeled.

Overall Review: I'm thinking Intel's extreme series just needs to pick up a few new features to be the best. Dump the PCI slots, as most people are having problems with legacy PCI devices and this board anyway (another thing to consider). Keep the awesome Intel networking (install the latest drivers for this), keep the looks (the skull can be turned on/off), just improve. Make a clear case to consider Intel boards over the big three's offerings. That's pretty much it. This is still a great board even compared against newer Z68 offerings, and has enough features to not be barebones, but not too many either. I really like what Intel's Extreme motherboard designers are doing these days, and you can tell they're different people than the mainstream board division. Don't forget that this board has WiFi N and Bluetooth on a module... also awesome. The UEFI BIOS interface is clean and powerful, too. PLEASE MAKE A uATX VERSION OF THIS BOARD! or better yet, a Z68 uATX version of this..

Six month later...

BIOSTAR TH67+ LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
BIOSTAR TH67+ LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: After half a year with an on/off relationship with this board, I'm even happier with it now. At it's current price, it's the best deal going. One thing I love about this board in particular is the speed with which the BIOS boots. It's super quick, and so if you're using a Sata III SSD, power button to desktop is supremely fast. One of my issues with this board was some difficulties with the Realtek GbE. It's been rectified by (I think) updates, and the graphical UEFI upgrade is nice to see. At first I was confused with some of the UEFI options, but it looks like most of them don't really work as intended with the H67 chipset. Most are more applicably to the P and Z boards in overclocking scenarios. RAM compatability is quite good as well.

Cons: Biostar, please, this board could be absolute perfection. Please, drop the PCI PLX. Drop the PCI slot completely. It's not supported in the chipset, I can't see how it's cheaper to implement, and it's time to move on. Lastly, drop the Realtek. How could it be cheaper than the Intel GbE setup included in the H67 chipset? It's very much an inferior product.

Overall Review: This does everything you could want in an H67 board. This is my first real Biostar and I'm very much impressed. While I've moved on to a higher end P67 board, I'm rebuilding this board into a HTPC with a tuner, sound card, and probably a G620 processor. I realize that many (or all) H67 boards are similar, so I say get this one. It's only a little more than H61 boards but has a full desktop loadout. If you have to skim, get one of the 1155 Pentiums. I've had great fun with this board and an 2500K, and power consumption is marvellous. In fact, its so low, my 80+ gold 650w Seasonic is probably only about 60% efficient down at 24w. I pull down 30w at idle at the wall, so 10w of that is just inefficiency.

A great H67 implementation

BIOSTAR TH67+ LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
BIOSTAR TH67+ LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: When paired with a i5 2500k you get a speedy, stable platform with all of the benefits of SB without the heat and noise. I ran into a few speed bumps, but nothing major. I was able to fully populate all the memory slots with a variety of memory and was able to make it work at 1066 and 1333 with just a few tweaks. The appearance of the board is good. I like the colors, the red LEDs and the autobot-esque heatsink. I had no problems using the IGP with any of the outputs, nor did I have a problem using a GTX 460. I used a very small ATX case so I had room to use a Noctua U12 heatsink which basically never gets warm, even with one fan running at 800rpm. The included software is terribly useless, except for the BioRemote 2 server (which you have to download). This allows you to use an iPod/iPhone/Android phone as a touch pad and remote control.

Cons: After reading some of the reviews, I think some of the negative reviews could have been avoided by a more comprehensive (and helpful manual). Some of the BIOS settings are mislabeled, or just make no sense (like some of the power settings are labeled as AMPS and some as WATTS). The BIOS descriptions are like this: BIOS SETTING ----> this adjusts BIOS SETTING. Biostar isn't the only one to do this (since all BIOSs are kinda like that) but with newer UEFIs, I think more useful BIOS descriptions can be worked in somewhere. The BioOverclocker utility is useless with the H67 chipset, but just don't install it. The real tragedy is that the BioRemote2 server software isn't included on the CD - you must download and install it from the Biostar website. BioRemote "1" is something totally different, and not related in anyway. I would have like a nicer I/O back plate. My largest complaint is the realtek onboard ethernet -- I kept having driver issues, esp on resume.

Overall Review: I bought my TH67+ when it was the only 1155 motherboard available after B3 revisions made it back to the Egg. I bought it because it was the only one I could at the time (which was just for a day). I wasn't disappointed at all. I liked this motherboard. It always ran stable and I liked the BioRemote 2 software to use my iPod touch as a remote. Overall, it's a good motherboard without all the features H67 can't use anyway. It's everything you need for an H, without the junk you don't. No legacy junk here, except for PCI. Manufacturers, please dump PCI connectivity. It has to cost more money to ad a PLX bridge chip... add in another PCIe 1x slot instead. Please. Please. Please. I dream of the day when I can get a motherboard without PATA/IDE/floppy support, or PCI. It's time to go. The months I've spent with this board have been happy ones. No real frustrations, just a motherboard that gets out of the way.