14 DAY TRIAL // 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.”
