Biostar is announcing its new Hi-Fi Z97Z7, a Z97 motherboard with the LGA1150 socket; it's a fairly mainstream Z97 board that has a couple of interesting features.
Wired to the LGA1150 socket are four DDR3 memory slots that support up to 2800 MHz overclocked memory. The CPU socket is powered by an 8-phase VRM circuit. The motherboard has two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, so SLI or CrossFire configurations will be possible. There are also two PCI-Express 1x slots as well as two legacy PCI slots. Like most Z97 motherboards, this one also comes with a SATA-Express connector and an M.2 slot.
Rear I/O consists of two USB 2.0 connectors, four USB 3.0 connectors, an old-school PS/2 port, Gigabit Ethernet, DVI, VGA, HDMI, and analog 8-channel HD audio connectors. No optical output is present, which we would expect from a board with Hi-Fi in its product name.
Biostar included its Hi-Fi technology, gold-plated audio connectors, and super conductive heatsinks. In short, this is stuff we also find on competing boards, perhaps under different names, but it's nice to see on this one just the same.
All things considered, there's not much that sets this motherboard apart from the crowd. If anything, its fairly simplified feature set will force retailers to sell it for a low price. Biostar expects the board to cost between $120 and $150 with availability expected for late-September.
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