Biostar's TP35D2-A7 and TP35D3-A7 Deluxe motherboards

BIG NAMES LIKE Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI overwhelmingly dominate the motherboard market, making it hard for smaller players to carve a slice of the pie for themselves. However, the enthusiast market has provided fertile ground for enterprising mobo makers to build their names. We tend to root for the underdog, and smaller firms like Abit and DFI have done a good job of catering to our tendency to be a little high maintenance.

Lately, Biostar has tried its hand at indulging enthusiast desires with a line of T-Series motherboards built with tweaking and overclocking in mind. Unlike Abit and DFI, however, the Biostar name is a little short on pedigree. So, instead of banking on its reputation, Biostar is coming at enthusiasts from a different angle: price.

Enthusiasts crave bargains—perhaps even more than we lust after performance—and Biostar's new P35-based motherboards are very affordable indeed. The TP35D2-A7 can be had for less than $90, for example, and the TP35D3-A7 Deluxe rings in at only $160. But there's more to a bargain than a budget price, and the market is already teeming with good enthusiast boards based on Intel's P35 chipset. The question, then, is whether Biostar's affordable P35 boards can compete with more expensive offerings. Read on for the answer.