Biostar Hi-Fi Z77X Motherboard Released

Biostar’s Hi-Fi A85X AMD FM2 Trinity motherboard made the news just days ago, and now we get to see an Intel platform part of the same lineup: Hi-Fi Z77X.

Biostar made a point of emphasizing one particular feature that the newcomer possesses, the "Puro Hi-Fi Technology." We'll first summarize the normal specs though, starting with the socket: through the Z77 chipset, Biostar chose LGA 1155, for Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPU compatibility. That means both second-generation and third-generation (respectively) Intel Core i-Series processors. The Hi-Fi Z77X is an ATX-sized motherboard with four DDR3 memory slots (up to DDR3-2600 performance), three PCI Express slots, Gigabit LAN, Wi-Fi, multiple USB 2.0/3.0 ports (and headers) and video ports (VGA, DVI, HDMI). And now we finally reach the Hi-Fi Technology, and we'll advise people not to mistake it for a wireless connectivity standard. Puro Hi-Fi has nothing to do with Wi-Fi.

Instead, the technology grants the mainboard an integrated, independent audio power design with a built-in amplifier (thus, Hi-Fi would stand for high fidelity). With 7.1-channel surround sound support, it features a sampling rate of 192 kHz/24-bit, which is close to the quality of high-end add-in sound cards. The noise-blocking multi-layer PCB layout helps in that regard, as does the employment of high quality ''Non-Polarized Electrolysis Electric audio capacitors'' for each individual audio channel. What's more, Puro Hi-Fi includes resistors made out of metal-oxide films (tin oxide is one example), whose electric characteristics (stability and reliability) are better than those of regular film resistors, especially in a broad working temperature range. Thus, the Biostar Hi-Fi Z77X will make life easy and convenient not just for high-end gamers, HTPC owners or audiophiles, but also for certain applications reliant on high endurance.

Finally, the IT player tossed in THX, Lucid MVP and SmartSpeedLAN. Unfortunately, Biostar didn't provide a price, but it did call the newcomer “a unique gaming masterpiece even with a limited budget.”

Biostar Hi-Fi Z77X
Images credits to Biostar

Posted in: Hardware, Preview