BIOSTAR A68N-5200 Motherboard Review

A Closer Look

Typically, I endeavour to provide a detailed analysis of a motherboard’s aesthetic qualities. In this case, it seems a little unfair given the product’s target demographic and you’re unlikely to pair the motherboard with a chassis which has a windowed side-panel. As a result, I’ve decided to be more forgiving about the motherboard’s appearance and believe it’s important to focus on the core layout. The BIOSTAR A65N-5200 adopts the Mini-ITX form-factor and has a brown PCB. The PCB is constructed from a moisture-proof material which slows the rate of oxidisation and ionic migration. In theory, this should extend the motherboard’s lifespan.

On another note, BIOSTAR has deployed low resistance 8-pin MOSFETs which operate at lower thermal loads and offer enhance conductivity. The motherboard features a special circuit design which detects overvoltage and stops surges from damaging the PCB as well as connected hardware. In terms of memory support, the product can accommodate up to 16GB of DDR3/DDR3L at a maximum speed of 1600MHz. As you can see, it’s possible to install a discrete graphics card using the motherboard’s x16 PCI-E slot, although I wouldn’t recommend attaching anything substantial because you’re going to encounter a huge bottleneck from the embedded CPU.  The motherboard houses two SATA connectors in the centre which should be ample for low-end circumstances and the traditional ATX power arrangement.

BIOSTAR has taken the risks of electrostatic interference very seriously and ensured the motherboard incorporates adequate ESD safeguards. Once again, this should improve the product’s longevity and help it to withstand environmental conditions or misuse rather well. The product’s audio solution is relatively barebones and based on the Realtek ALC662 codec. Clearly, this isn’t an ideal solution but it should be decent enough and provide good clarity at various sampling rates.

Connectivity-wise, the motherboard has a PS/2 keyboard port, PS/2 mouse port, HDMI, VGA, two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, RJ45 and three audio jacks.