Pros: 16GB RAM, 1066 DDR2 compatible w/ AM3 (haven't tried it though- seeking compatible RAM models). A wicked red light that keeps the case glowing throught the side holes? I don't know what it's for (hopefully not an error light), but it looks cool and haven't had any problems. Also, V12 overclocks my 2.2Ghz to 2.6Ghz automatically.

Cons: The new bulldozers probably won't be be compatible with DDR2, but at least there are some X6s that appear to work well with this board (not that I've tried). If you know of any 4GB or 2GB 1066 DDR2 RAM that works with this board, please post.

Other Thoughts: This is my first motherboard build. Bought mine Open Box here for 61.99. Added an OEM Sempron X2 2300 2.2Ghz and dual core runs plenty fast, but my HDD is probably a bottleneck. Built w/ cheap but apparently durable components under $200. Only re-used DVD Drive, RAM, and HDD. Plan to upgrade it eventually to a Phenom II X4 910e 65watt or an Athlon X4 e-series w/ SSD SLC. Maybe there will be a Thuban X6 65watter? My CPU temperatures run around 34C and at load are about 39C.

Biostar 785GE 128M
Sempron X2 2300 2.2Ghz Dual core (runs at 26watts idle)
1GB (2x512MB) DDR2 RAM 533Mhz (from a Dell XPS)
Seasonic S12 80+Bronze 330W
Apex SK-503-C Black Steel ATX Mid-Tower Case
Cooler Master DK-9 CPU Fan
2x MASSCOOL FD08025B1M3/4 80mm Case Fan
Quantum 40GB HDD (old)
Fedora 13 64-bit

Pros: This is a wonderful budget board, especially if your not planning on doing any heavy gaming.

Cons: The micro atx means if you get a large vid card you need some angled SATA cables.

I have had issues with the board assigning all of its IRQ resources to the same channel as the offboard video card I bought as an upgrade, resulting in crashes and blue screens. I emailed biostar and never got a response.

Other Thoughts: Other than my video issues, its a good enough board for most people. I would suggest at minimum a tri-core processor for this board though because of the onboard video.

Pros: Worked right out of the box. I got version 6.1 and have found no reason to upgrade bios. I installed Athlon II x4 635, 2 x 1Gb A-Data DDR2 800 memory and cooler master Elite Power 460w power supply (all purchased with board) and has been workig fine since first power up.

Cons: Have not found any yet.

Other Thoughts: This, along with the new processor, memory and PSU mentioned above, is the first purchase of new computer equipment I have made in 10 years. Other than my first few, all my systems have been used parts or systems that I have traded or purchased at pawn shops. The last two systems I owned were a hybrid HP with Sempron 3000+ , 1gb ddr333 ram and a Radeon9800, and a (don't laugh I bought it for $100) e-machines 1641 with a celeron 1400 dual core with 2gb ddr2 533 with integrated graphics. So this is a huge up-grade for me. I am very pleased with the board and would highly recomend it for a high end - low budget system.

Pros: See below

Cons: See below

Other Thoughts: Just wanted to update from my prior review where I only gave 2 eggs. I figured out what the problem was with the Power Switch. My case has a 9 pin Front Panel Header and this board has a 16 pin Front Panel Header attachment. After much research I finally decided to just take my 9 pin header and stick it on only pins 1-8 with pin 9 hanging off the end of the header (This is because the 10th slot is covered and can't be placed). Well, this worked and it seems to be working fine now. Overall this seems to be a great board and does everything I could ask of it. I have not tried to overclock or unlock the 4th core of my AMD Athlon X3 440 as it is plenty powerful for me and I don't want to risk making it unstable.

Pros: Boad seems to work great overall. I love the overclocking abilities. Seems like a lot of thought went into this board.

Cons: I put this into an older HP case when my HP Motherboard died recently. Everything seems to work okay except for a couple of things. There does not seem to be any place to plug the power on switch into. The only way I can turn it on is to press the teensy tiny button on the Motherboard itself. I have to take the case cover off every time I want to turn it on. Second, and this is probably my fault as I am a newb at putting Motherboard's in, but it is not detecting my DVD-Rom drive. I probably just did not plug the right cord into that or something. I'll figure that out I think.

Other Thoughts: If anyone can tell me how to fix it so I can plug in my power on switch I would really appreciate it. Is it that I am going to have to get a new case? I hope not but if so I may have to do that.

Pros: Decent boards, and low prices.

Cons: Lacking in support, and failure to acknowledge rebate issues. Don't count on the rebate. It is a 50/50.

Other Thoughts: At the end of the day there are many brands that offer similar prices and hardware, so why support a company that randomly declines rebates. I have both a scanned copy of the envelope and the application/serial number. When I finally heard back tried to first claim that the writing was illegible for the written code on the back of the envelope. Funny thing is that is was printed and taped on. When I sent in the scanned image I received no response. A month later and I'm still being jerked around. Poor service poor company.

Manufacturer Response:

Sorry to hear, unsure which rebate company is handling your claim, but you can contact Biostar directly at rebates@biostar-usa.com if the third party rebate companies are not assisting you.

Pros: Great board so far...only been a month so does what you would expect. Big fan of Asus so this was a chance for me, but so far I'm fine with it..I like the smallest details, like their choose to use Solid Caps which is marketing talk for better/enclosed capacitors and included a velcro strap to hold the SATA cables they included. Board looks quality built, DVI supports HDMI w/HDCP with optional adapter that you can buy anywhere in case you too almost thought the other boards with hdmi is better choice..onboard reset button is nice touch when you need it when diagnosing issues. Also, allows 533 memory is great in case this is a replacement board. See other thoughts for the real reason I wanted to post so soon after purchase.

Cons: My board is the v6.1, but only con I see is that it didn't come with any IDE cable. Not that it matters as we all probably have a dozen around, but first motherboard ever bought that didn't come with one. Plenty of SATA cables however.

Other Thoughts: In Windows XP Pro w/SP3 applied and latest BIOS installed, the pc would freeze and display black and white vertical lines, or sometimes just black, other times white when say opening your brower, boom, crashed - restart is your only option. The culprit is the graphics card or drivers and then figured a solution: disable the the sideport memory in the BIOS and it now works flawlessly...I know, a good reason I choose this over the Asus' M4A785-M or Gigabyte's GA-MA785GM-US2H was for this. Hope this helps someone, a half-day's worth of figuring out a solution.

Pros: Picked up this mobo for $59 at a local computer parts store. My Gigabyte board was having issues, and I wasn't very impressed with it. Put in the 1055T CPU, and it let me install Windows before the BIOS had to be updated to recognize the CPU. The Gigabyte mobo wouldn't even post before it needed a BIOS update. I went back to Biostar because I've never had problems with them in the years I've been building PC's, and now I know I didn't make a mistake. Very solid board!!

Cons: Nothing that I can see really. It even supports 140W CPU's. I guess you could maybe use the fact it supports DDR2 against it, but that was the main reason I bought it - so I didn't have to buy DDR3 (yet).

Other Thoughts: System specs:
* AMD Phenom II x6 1055T @ 3.43 GHz (stock vcore)
* 4 GB DDR2 @ 1066 MHz
* WD 640 GB Drive
* ATI 4870 @ 790/1100 MHz clocks
* OCZ 700w StealthXStream

Pros: It just works. I updated the bios to the 5/17/10 version and now it unlocked my 950 Black Edition Phenom II X2 to a quad core! I'm a happy camper

Cons: I shopped and shopped and shopped and picked a board that fit right for me. So, I have no issues with it. With the bios update, I'm even happier.

Pros: Absolutely does the job. Lots of OC function in the bios.

Cons: none I can think of...

Other Thoughts: For whoever has a problem in the unlocking sempron 140, you can go to the biostar website to download the latest bios version 88GCO112. The embedded Bio-UnlocKing makes the unlock quite easy. I wasn't able to unlock the sempron 140 using ACC function before I flashed the BIOS. But with the Bio-UnlocKing, simply press F3 or F4 during the bootup process, and the job will be automatically done.