BIOSTAR 945P-A7A (8.0) LGA 775 Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Price, feature-rich bios, stability. Color scheme is attractive. Pure Intel chipset.

Cons: Only (1) IDE header. Two would have been nice, but no big deal... but that's me. if you plan on using (2) IDE removable drives (i.e. CD burners) and burning on the fly, it would be advantageous to have a separate IDE channel for each drive, as your throughput will always be sacrificed when working with two devices on the same IDE channel.

Overall Review: If you haven't already made the jump to SATA drives, now's the time. Due to the only IDE header's extreme south location, you may find difficulty landing the cable at your devices depending on the size of your case, plus you're obviously limited to (2) IDE devices. Your cables may end up being too short, so be sure to pick up something longer if you're going to stick with IDE devices. Either that or start springing for SATA hardware :) Nonetheless, running core 2 duo E6300 @~2.4ghz on stock hsf and stock voltages. Board is rock solid at this setting, 8-hours of prime95 torture test and it didn't break a sweat. makes my old A64 setup seem like a commodore. You really can't ask for more, especially at this price point. Recommended.

Pros: Good cheap board. Has almost everything I needed (see cons). Installs XP or Vista without needing install disks (fortunately because I don't have a floppy).

Cons: ACPI support is limited: I spent a few days playing with Vista, then XP and couldn't get S3 standby (fans off) to work in either. Turns out, according to Biostar, that they don't support it - only S1 and Hibernate. :-( Vista installed but BSD'd an awful lot. I tried the very latest + beta drivers of everything. The onboard Realtek AC'97 appears to be poorly supported and seems to conflict with either of my two nVidia cards (both gForce 6 series). No such problems in XP.

Overall Review: Biostar were responsive on two counts: first a dead BIOS which Newegg RMA'd (they rock) and second on ACPI issue below. I wish newegg would list ACPI compatibility. Very few manufacturers provide it either.

Pros: C2D support, pcie16, SATA2, easy to work with m/b. Good for gaming on a budget. with the rest of my rig i can play every gfx intense game in at least medium-quality. has many idiot-proof features

Cons: i know i shouldnt expect too much from a $78 board, but when overclocking mine goes unstable @ fsb of 301mhz on e6300. also, b careful bcuz the 945p chipset cant run RAM at cas 3, which ticks me off cuz i got a really good deal on some ddr2 667 @ 3-3-3-10.

Overall Review: i've only tried minor voltage mods so as not to fry my C2D, which may be why icant get the fsb past 300. Just do your research b4 buying a mobo or any other pc parts. My Rig: C2D e6300 @ 2.1Ghz (300mhz fsb vs 266 stock) 2x512 Gb ddr2 667 @ 4-4-4-12, bf* 7900gs, WD 160Gb SATA2 HDD, bio* 945p-a7a, 500watt ul*ra psu

Pros: It sort of works now

Cons: I am on my second one of these. First board arrived with a video card slot that is not working so I returned it. I just got my replacement in the other day and put my PC together again...I've got video this time but now one of the DIMM slots is dead. I've already got it all set up and the OS installed so I guess I am keeping this one.

Overall Review: I would stay away from this board if I could redo this purchase Neweggs return system is really smooth. Only down side is I live in South Florida and it takes awhile for the parts to get to Cali.

Pros: Excellently adaptable. Quick to set up and upgrade with. Overall a good card.

Cons: **Do not, repeat: DO NOT buy this MoBo if you're running, or planning to run, more than 3GB of RAM!!** Even w/ a 64bit OS you will NOT get more than 3.25 GB registered on this MoBo. The Chipset is limited to that max value.

Overall Review: After weeks and weeks of dealing with Biostar (the numbskulls there insisted that it was an OS limitation. I kept telling them it's not the OS, it's the board, cause I am running Win XP pro x64 which has a rediculous high memory limit). I asked them if they will come out with a Flash upgrade to remedy the problem ... no response from them so far.

Pros: Not much.

Cons: PCI x16 slot does not work. Could not get a video signal to my monitor, tried 2 different cards to be sure the card was not causing the issue. I hope the second one actually works for me.

Overall Review: Neweggs RMA process is great.

Pros: I am impressed with this board...build and performance. It worked without having to fiddle with any settings. I usually buy the boards with latest chipsets and all the bells and whistles so I can get a big OC but this time I'm on a budget and just wanted a board that runs out of the gate...mission accomplished. this is a wonderful board and it's quick

Cons: It could have a fan header for a 3 pin fan near the rear of the case.

Overall Review: I'm not dissapoited in the least. This thing is solid. No problems and it's quick. I don't plan on OC'ing my C2D 6600 until it is absolutely necessary, but I do see some potential to do it...how well I don't know..but its there.

Pros: Easy to install, worked perfect out of the box. Highly recommended for Core 2 Duo, unlike the Asus P5NSLI that I originally tried to use.

Cons: None yet

Overall Review: As mentioned by another reviewer, the default BIOS setting is for a floppy drive. Change that setting and you should be good to go.