Price/Where to Buy
US: $129 – BIOSTAR RACING B350GT5 on Newegg
PH: TBA
BIOSTAR continues its tear into mainstream glory as it releases a series of AMD AM4 motherboards designed for AMD Ryzen processors and upcoming AM4 APUs. BIOSTAR has been on a streak since the inception of their RACING series motherboards which is an evolution of their high-end product line and in this release, we’ll be seeing BIOSTAR put its RACING series pedigree into the AMD side of things. Today we have the BIOSTAR RACING X370GT7, the top-of-the-line AM4 motherboard for BIOSTAR.
Read on!
About the AMD AM4 Platform Chipsets
AMD X370 Chipset
Enthusiast Class Features And Control
For overclockers and tweakers who need robust platforms, the AMD X370 chipset offers comprehensive, low-level control and supports dual graphics card configurations thanks to two PCIe® 3.0 graphics card slots.
AMD B350 Chipset
High Performance and Flexibility
AMD’s B350 Chipset is perfect for power-users who value flexibility and overclocking control, but don’t need the maximum PCIe bandwidth required by multi-GPU configurations.
AMD A320 Chipset
Essential Computing and Media Playback
For plug-and-play users who need their PC to “just work”, AMD’s A320 chipset provides a simple, stable platform and more than enough connectivity and bandwidth options to satisfy both demanding home users and media aficionados.
AMD X300 and A300 Chipsets
Ideal for the Smallest Form Factors
To satisfy customers who value the smallest form factors, AMD’s X300 and A300 chipsets provide processor-direct access for excellent performance. The enthusiast-oriented X300 chipset is perfect for enthusiasts and overclockers, while the A300 chipset is geared toward practical users who need simple, small solution.
The differences between AMD chipsets may look daunting on paper given that AMD has released four chipsets for mainstream alongside the Ryzen processors. Thankfully though, the chipset are more indicative of the features you’ll be getting with your motherboard rather than compatibility with any specific processors so any AM4 processor will be compatible with any AM4 chipset.
AMD launches four chipsets for AM4 as highlighted above with the X370 and B350 serving the mainstream audience while the A320, X300 and A300 serving the entry-level segment. Well, sort of so let’s get into details first. First off, the major distinction between chipsets is the amount of connectivity between them. The X370 has the full package with six USB3.1 Gen1 capabilities and four SATAIII ports. Depending on the board maker, they can either split the SATA Express lanes and convert them to M.2 or 2 more SATAIII ports. Overclocking is supported on all but the A300 chipset. Most of these I/Os are primarily embedded in the CPU leaving board makers to get creative on what they want to do with the provide I/O.
Features
- Support AMD Ryzen CPU / APU
- AMD B350 single chip architecture
- Support 4-DIMM DDR4-3200(OC)/ 2933(OC)/ 2667/ 2400 up to 64G maximum capacity
- BIOSTAR Double Hi-Fi Technology inside
- Realtek Dragon LAN
- Support USB 3.1 Gen2 Type C
- Support M.2(32Gb/s)
- Support HDMI 4K resolution
Closer Look
BIOSTAR has kept their packaging significantly uniform for this year’s releases alongside their Intel boards for their RACING lineup. That said, the packaging for the BIOSTAR RACING B350GT5 features a full colored box with the model name printed in bold at the front with detail highlights at the back. Inside the package we get the minimal bundle of four SATA cables, an I/O shield, the installation disc, manuals and a bonus VividLED Fan which is compatible with BIOSTAR’s VividLED DJ software.
Board layout is pretty clean for the RACING B350GT5 and is a good example of fully maximizing the I/O of the B350 chipset without any additional chips. The board has the signature checkered flag PCB print going across the motherboard with a matte black PCB. The back of the board is also done in black with nothing really distinct to point out.
BIOSTAR uses 7-phase power delivery design on the RACING B350GT5. Since overclocking is enabled on the B350, this does seem underwhelming especially for an 8-core CPU like the Ryzen 7 family but from our own testing, its enough for a mild daily overclock. Curiously, BIOSTAR leaves the remaining upper MOSFETs without a cooling solution giving the impression that it doesn’t need it and the ones covered are more for the lighting effect rather than cooling. Still, would’ve been greatly appreciated if there was some cooling on them.
As with all modern motherboards, the RACING B350GT5 supports DDR4 memory, up to DDR4-3200 speeds and 64GB total capacity. DDR4-3200 isn’t that easy to achieve though and you need to check with your compatibility list on what’s actually functional. On our test setup, you’ll see that we couldn’t manage to activate our DDR4-3000 or higher speeds on this motherboard but that’s acceptable, so we can see the baseline performance of the system.
As most of the work has been moved to the processor, there’s really little work for the PCH left so its up to a brand on how they go about their PCH heatsinks as gigantic metal slabs aren’t that much needed here as we can see from BIOSTAR’s example with their relatively thin yet stylized PCH heatsink.
BIOSTAR’s always prided themselves on their Hi-Fi technology for their audio components and its still present here in the B350GT5. It may not be as flashy as the previous iterations but its still a good improvement over more traditional audio solutions.
Performance Testing
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
Motherboard: BIOSTAR RACING B350GT5
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3000 (See notes)
Storage: WD Blue 1TB SSD
GPU: ZOTAC GTX 1080 AMP!
PSU: Seasonic P1000
Display: ViewSonic VX2475Smhl-4K
Note: Due to compatibility issues, the BIOSTAR RACING X370GT7 and BIOSTAR RACING B350GT5 running DDR4-2133 only.
We’re still working on our Ryzen 5 database and moving the BIOSTAR benchmarks to our X370 system so we’re presenting the data for reference. Again, as we’ve mentioned, we’re focusing more on feature coverage so we’ll talk about that in detail at the conclusion of this review.
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We check to see how motherboard makers tune their default BIOS settings and see how it impacts temperatures and power consumption. The system is left to idle for 30 minutes before readings are taken and load data is taken 30 minutes while AIDA64 stress test is running. Power readings are taken for the entire system from the socket. Power draw for the entire system is captured for this test via an outlet wattmeter and temperatures via the brand software and confirmed with AIDA64 and Intel Extreme Tuning.
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We’ll leave this here for reference and comparison only of the stock BIOS settings for voltages and such of the motherboards we have. As of this moment, brands are still refining their BIOS so we’ll save any final say once we feel they have matured their settings.
Conclusion
Once again this serves as a prelude to our Ryzen 5 performance analysis and do note that again, we’ve been struggling with memory stability across all brands when it comes to compatibility so we’re not holding this against BIOSTAR.
That said, we’ll talk more about features and pricing and overall experience with the board. As we’ve seen from our previous reviews, BIOSTAR has been growing more consistent in terms of quality over the years and in this instance, its a great opportunity for them to really flex their chops especially with the $129 price range of the RACING B350GT5. There’s not much you’re missing if you’re going for a Ryzen build with a single GPU planned out. No matter which Ryzen you’re going for, the RACING B350GT5 is solid enough to deliver decent performance out of the box although we still want to recommend sticking to a certified DDR4 memory kit if you want to maximize performance.
Overall, the price positioning for the BIOSTAR RACING B350GT5 is what makes it a very competitive option in the budget AM4 motherboard market. It packs all the essentials for a decent single GPU build and won’t break your budget but still offer the flexibility of overclocking and a few extra I/Os at nearly the cost of higher-end A320 boards.
BIOSTAR backs the RACING B350GT5 with a 3-year warranty. We give it our B2G Recommended Award!
