14 DAY TRIAL // The Z87 chipset may be Intel's best core-logic, complete with overclocking support for Haswell CPUs, but it's not the sort of technology that most people will be willing to pay for, which is why the H81 chipset exists, like on the Biostar H81MLC.
Biostar has not provided a price for this platform, but it's bound to be within affordable limits for most people, the so-called mainstream market.
That's actually pretty important now that the PC market is losing customers. Not quite fast, but at a significant rate.
Anyway, the company didn't actually disclose the price of the newcomer, which is called H81MLC, but it did add the product page to its website, so at least we know what it has in store for us.
Since this is an H81 model, the motherboard supports Intel Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 and Celeron central processing units, with up to HD 4600 integrated graphics.
The top TDP has to be of no more than 95W though, so the best high-end Intel chips are out.
That said, the newcomer has a pair of memory modules, which run DDR3 at up to 1600 MHz. The top capacity is of 16 GB.
One PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot is available as well (although it might be a typo since PCI Express 3.0 is supported by H81), along with a PCI Express x1 slot.
Two SATA III connectors are also present (SATA 6.0 Gbps), along with four SATA 3.0 Gbps connectors and two USB 3.0 headers, plus HDMI, HTCP, 24 bit/ 192KHz audio output and Blu-ray audio DRM support.
Everything is crammed together on the micro-ATX platform, which means you can use the Biostar H81MLC to build both normal-size and small desktop computers with gaming capabilities. Intel Rapid Start Technology and Intel Smart Connect Technology will help if you buy an SSD in addition to an HDD.