Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe Motherboard

When Intel introduced the Socket 775
platform and the ICH6 Southbridge, it did something radical, it removed a parallel IDE channel. Intel reasoned that the IDE standard had reached its maximum capability and that Serial ATA would quickly replace IDE due to its vast technological advantage.

Hard drive manufacturers quickly adopted the new standard however it still took the public a few years to move over. Optical drive makers on the other hand (aside from Plextor) have not moved over to the Serial ATA architecture and to the dismay of other manufacturers and consumers, continue to release primarily IDE devices.

Like it or not, Intel is forcing the hands of everyone to adopt the Serial ATA architecture by completely dropping IDE from its ICH8 Southbridge. Other chipset manufacturers are also starting to loose support for IDE, with nVIDIA's latest nForce 500 series chipsets the latest example.

In this review, PCSTATS is testing the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe motherboard. This board is based on Intel's P965 Northbridge and ICH8 Southbridge chipsets. With Intel phasing out IDE, motherboard manufacturers have been scrambling trying to fill the void since Serial ATA optical drives are difficult to find. Biostar address the lack of native IDE channels by integrating a separate IDE controller onto the Tforce P965 motherboard in the form of a VIA VT6410. Other integrated goodies on this full sized ATX board include Gigabit LAN,7.1 channel high definition Intel Azalia audio, a flurry of USB2.0 jacks, and expansion slots.