The truth is: there is almost no performance difference between motherboards targeted to Athlon 64 CPUs, since processor based on AMD64 architecture have an embedded memory controller, so the chipset doesn’t play any drastic role on performance. Because of this the decision on what socket AM2 motherboard one should buy must be based on extra features, price and overclocking capability.

On the feature side we only found one thing really missing compared to the most high-end socket AM2 motherboards from ASUS and Gigabyte we have reviewed so far (M2N32 SLI Deluxe and GA-M59SLI-S5), and that was the extra SATA controller, which provides more than six SATA-300 ports on these motherboards. These two boards from ASUS and Gigabyte also have an all-copper passive heatsink solution, feature not found on TForce 590 SLI Deluxe, and here is exactly where Biostar is saving some money. Gigabyte GA-M59SLI-S5 has also a third PCI Express x16 slot (which works at x8), feature not found on other socket AM2 motherboards based on nForce MCP 590 we’ve seen so far.

Other features are just the same. Even though this motherboard uses an “inferior” audio codec compared to those two other high-end motherboards, ALC882 provides an outstanding 103 dB signal-to-noise ratio plus 24-bit resolution and up to 192 KHz sampling rate on its output. The main difference between this codec and the ones used on the abovementioned motherboards is on its input circuit, which has a maximum resolution of 20 bits (compared to 24 on other high-end codecs) and a maximum sampling rate of 96 KHz (compared to 192 KHz on other high-end codecs).

Thus Biostar TForce 590 SLI Deluxe appears as an interesting solution for those users willing to buy a very high-end socket AM2 motherboard based on nForce MCP 590 but willing to save some bucks. However, if you miss the abovementioned features, maybe a motherboard from a different manufacturer will be a better pick.