14 DAY TRIAL // Though ATX motherboard are the ones usually found in high-end gaming systems, there is still a market for motherboards of smaller form factors but considerable performance capabilities, such as the A880G+ micro ATX whose product page Biostar Microtech has only just added to its official website.
Needless to say, this board hardly compares to larger products, especially in terms of expansion capabilities and graphics, but the features it does possess give it an edge over the competition.
As its name implies, the A880G+ is built around the AMD 880G/SB710 chipset that has support for AMD central processing units designed for the AM3 socket.
Thus, the CPUs from the Athlon II and Phenom II series are supported, which already sets a quite high upper performance limit as far as small form factor boards are concerned.
The platform also boasts a pair of DDR3-1333 memory slots and, just as importantly, a PCI Express x16 slot.
What's more, Hybrid Crossfire is supported, which means that the integrated ATI Radeon HD 4250 graphics can be used in conjunction with a discrete card.
For storage purposes, Biostar threw in four SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, as well as an IDE connector, for compatibility with previous-generation hard drives and optical drives.
As for connectivity and I/O, Gigabit Ethernet is present, as are 5.1 channel audio, USB 2.0 ports and D-Sub, DVI and HDMI outputs.
Finally, so that the overall performance may be optimized, the company implemented the BIO-Unlocking and Game Boost technologies, which can, respectively, unlock CPU cores and, when application demand it, overclock the integrated GPU.
Already available in Europe, as per recent reports, the new A880G+ micro ATX motherboard carries a price tag of roughly 60 Euro. Those interested in seeing the exact specifications first-hand need only stop by the hardware maker's official website, located here.