Conclusion
| General |
|
+ |
- |
| With the Hi-Fi Z77X, Biostar leaves quite
a good impression. We really
liked the design of this board. The black matte PCB combined with black
expansion slots and blue coolers and capacitors looks really nice.
Furthermore there is the beefed up audio solution. Isolating the audio chip from the rest of the board
makes a lot of sense and
so does an EMI shield as well as additional capacitors. Altogether you
get quite a decent audio experience with this board. A little
disappointing, that's what the BIOS is. Biostar should really put some
more effort into making the BIOS look nicer and it could also use some
more structure. |
|
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Design
- Audio Solution |
- BIOS |
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|
|
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| Layout |
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|
Basically the Biostar Hi-Fi Z77X's Layout has been
very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as
well as the power- and reset-buttons. There is also a debug display
which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in
your system or the board itself. Even the placement of the PCI-Express
x16 is very well chosen. There is a total of two of these slots. For a
board like this which is targeting a budget segment this is ok. But
there is something about this board we really don't understand. Why is
there no optical out? Since Biostar says that this board has been built
for Hi-Fi enthusiasts there should definitely be such a connector. If
you build an HTPC you could use the HDMI to get digital audio but
otherwise you will have to use the analogue connectors.
|
|
-
Angled SATA connectors-
Power/Reset-Button onboard
- Debug display
- Space around the CPU socket |
- No optical out |
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| Performance |
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+ |
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| A closer
look at this boards performance reveals that the Hi-Fi Z77X is a very
good contestant. In our 2D as well as our 3D comparison tables the board
is able to score very well. In both cases the board reaches third place.
If you add power consumption to the equation then things start to look
even better. In this case the Hi-Fi Z77X is able to score second an keep
all the other ATX boards on a safe distance. |
|
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2D Performance
- 3D Performance
- Performance/Watt |
|
| |
|
|
|
| BIOS / Overclocking |
|
+ |
- |
| This is the one thing Biostar should really put in
some more effort. The BIOS looks a bit untidy and it can take time until
you find the settings you're looking for. We would really love to see a
BIOS that is better structured. Biostar could for example add more
submenus for easy and advanced overclocking. Furthermore it's ok to do
some easy air overclocking but it's really not what you're looking for
when you want to get the absolute maximum out of your PC. |
|
|
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Untidy
- Design |
| |
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|
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| Recommendation |
|
+ |
- |
| If you should be
looking for an ATX motherboard which is good and cheap and also comes
with a beefed up audio solution, then the Hi-Fi Z77X is a very good
choice. Furthermore there is the beautiful Design as well as the
excellent performance under standard conditions. |
|
-
Desktop
- Gaming |
- Enthusiast
- Overclocking |
| |
|
|
|
| Rating |
| We give the
Biostar Hi-Fi Z77X four out of five stars. |
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch m.calegari@ocaholic.ch
