Help choose between biostar p43 & msi p43

[MenTaLLyMenTaL]

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
> No Firewire port nor header
> Solid capacitors
> 1600 MHz FSB without OC and support for 1066 MHz ddr2 ram without OC
> Price 4000 (in pune)

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

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]

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....

[MenTaLLyMenTaL]

Well the review on insidehw (http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Moth...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!

[furious_gamer]

^^ Then, u r ready 2 face the pbms with that Mobo.. rite...
My wise option is MSI P43 Neo F ....

[MenTaLLyMenTaL]

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.

[MenTaLLyMenTaL]

-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]

Originally Posted by rajkumar_pb

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]

Yeah go for Biostar.

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

[desiibond]

how about this for 4k:

http://www.palit.biz/en/products/mb_intel_P35A.html

Palit P35A

[Psychosocial]

^^+1.. but P35s are old, arent they ?

[desiibond]

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]

^^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 . I am in love with this BioStar i45 boards but I aint getting one here .

[comp@ddict]

COmparing a P35 and P43, I shell in for P35

[MenTaLLyMenTaL]

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 - http://www.lynx-india.com/index.php?productID=3236

[Psychosocial]

^^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 .

[MenTaLLyMenTaL]

ya same thing here - abacus.

[desiibond]

Originally Posted by MenTaLLyMenTaL

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 - http://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]

^^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]

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

[MenTaLLyMenTaL]

Ya i know its awesome. but its way out of my budget

[comp@ddict]

Well, u can stick for MSI P45 NEO-F @ 5.8k
That's the only P45 near ur budget.
Then comes various P35 boards, which I recommend over a P43