BIOSTAR A68N-5200 Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing 

Currently, the BIOSTAR A68N-5200 is available in the US from Newegg.com for $59.99 plus $2.99 delivery. UK customers can purchase the product for £57.99 from the respected retailer eBuyer.com. Evidently, this is a better value package for those residing in the USA and an enticing prospect for users on a tight budget requiring a simple, all-in-one solution.

Overview

BIOSTAR appear to be establishing themselves as a motherboard vendor which specialises in low-cost, reliable embedded products. This is epitomised by the A68N-5200 which offers users a wonderful entry point into cheap computing. Instead of having to find compatible parts and install the CPU and cooler yourself, the BIOSTAR A68N-5200 takes away the hassle for those without prior PC building experience and makes it easy to conjure up a no-frills office PC. Despite targeting the low-end audience, BIOSTAR has upheld a high standard and employed a moisture proof PCB and comprehensive ESD protection. Not only that, the CPU fan is extremely quiet and there’s a copious supply of SATA ports. On another note, the motherboard has a logical arrangement and utilises dependable capacitors. Rather surprisingly, the basic audio solution is able to respond well at numerous bit rates and exhibit good audio clarity.

The BIOS’s user-interface needs to be modernised via better icons and a more streamlined layout. To be fair, I didn’t encounter any issues navigating around the BIOS but it felt counterproductive at times. Additionally, the inability to set the memory speed to 1600MHz caused a great deal of bewilderment and I couldn’t remedy the situation. Thankfully, it’s not a huge deal and the 1333MHz is ample for video playback or office applications. Another area which could be improved upon is the software suite. BIOSTAR’s collection of applications isn’t great and they’re far too simplistic. Granted, I know many people disregard bundled motherboard utilities and select freeware alternatives, but it would be beneficial to have some decent applications to try out.

Judging the motherboard’s performance is tricky because the embedded CPU isn’t designed for heavy rendering tasks or playing demanding titles. As a result, the Cinebench scores are low and potential frame rates the Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC can achieve are held back by a large degree. Putting these elements aside, the motherboard provides acceptable storage performance, although the SSD rates could be faster. The TCP networking was excellent and fairly close to expensive products sporting the Z170 chipset. Sadly, this benefit is short-lived as the UDP average is well below the range I’d expect. To summarise, the motherboard doesn’t excel in any benchmark but this doesn’t really matter. The main aspect to focus on is the product’s stability when running low-power applications such as Microsoft Word. If you’re using the motherboard for its intended purpose, the user-experience is great and without any major hiccups.

Pros

• CPU fan is silent in idle scenarios
• Decent USB 3.0 write speeds
• Excellent all-in-one solution for a home office or media PC
• Good storage performance
• Impressive electrostatic protection
• Moistureproof PCB enhances the product’s longevity
• Thoughtful motherboard layout

Cons

• BIOS isn’t the easiest to navigate for beginners
• Disappointing UDP networking
• Software package is extremely basic

“The BIOSTAR A68N-5200 is a solid option for users requiring an embedded low-cost computing solution. Additionally, the reliable MOSFETs, premium capacitors, moistureproof PCB and extensive electromagnetic protection makes the product a sound investment.”

BIOSTAR A68N-5200 Motherboard Review

Thank you Biostar for providing us with this sample.