Software TL;DR
While the included software package may be lacking in quantity it more than makes up for it with quality. To be blunt this is a software package that is extremely potent and does not feel like a last-minute addition. The fact that it allows owners to easily control the built-in LED lighting controller is just icing on the cake.
Included Software
Consumers interested in massive amounts of ‘free’ software included with their next motherboard purchase will not be overly impressed with Biostar has included. The same holds true of consumers who actually want bloatware to be preinstalled along with the necessary drivers. On the other hand, if you just want a low overhead program that gets the job done then this package is sure to please… as it even offers things you may have not even known you wanted.
Also on the positive side Biostar does not expect you to install numerous packages instead Biostar has rolled all their various applications into one centralized app. Aptly named Biostar Racing GT, this app is your one stop shop for viewing and controlling many of the advanced features include with this motherboard. To be precise this application is basically made up of five smaller apps, each one which is focused with laser intensity on one small area of features.
The first tab is the System Information viewer application and as the name suggests it gives you a very detailed over-view of your system. While this may not sound all that important it can come in handy when troubleshooting an issue -as the first step in TS is to ensure the system is actually recognizing the misbehaving hardware – so as to determine if the problem is indeed hardware or software based.
The Smart Ear tab allows you to adjust the volume output as well as the gain. Once again this is an app that really will not appeal to many people, and certainly not if it was its own application that needed to be installed, but when you do need a quick way of over-riding the OS audio settings it just may come in handy to say the least.
The third tab is easily the most important and the most value-added feature of this software package. What the Vivid LED DJ allows you to do is not only control the integrated LEDs on the motherboard but also any LED strips attached the 5050 Led header on the motherboard. More impressive still is you can not only choose a very specific color combination but Biostar has include some very nice presets… that can all be customized depending on which mode (normal, Eco, or Sport) the system is in. This too is very nice addition as with just a quick glance you can tell if the system is overclocked or not. Better still is you can choose which mode the system will be in via pressing one of those three big icons at the top – further making it even more useful.
The H/W Monitor tab gives you a real time over-view of temperature, FAN sped, and voltages. It also allows you to control the fans in a fairly sophisticated manner so that noise is minimized while still keeping CPU temperatures in check.
Overall a very nice little software package that has almost no filler. We wish more companies would take the ‘less is more’ approach and stop bloating out their software package with nearly useless applications.
