Connectors and I/O

Totally Biostar equipped the Hi-Fi Z77X with six angled SATA ports. This is enough for any office setup, gaming system, overclocking setup or an HTPC. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons in the top right corner of the board. There is also a debug display. It seems like Biostar would really like to see overclockers use this board.

 

Totally you'll find three fan header on the Hi-Fi Z77X which is the absolute minimum, to provide a well equipped gaming or an overclocking-system with fresh air. The fan headers are located next to the CPU socket as well as on the bottom edge of the board. A closer look at the audio chip shows that this is a beefed up ALC898 chip from Realtek. Biostar added an EMI shield as well as additional capacitors. Furthermore the audio area has been separated from the rest of the board. Like this Biostar wants to keep inteference as low as possible.

  

Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel Biostar equipped the Hi-Fi Z77X with a P/S2 connector, two USB 3.0/2.0 ports, four USB 2.0/1.1 ports, one gigabit ethernet port, an HDMI, DVI and a VGA connector as well as an analogue audio panel. What we don't understand is why there is no digital audio out. We would have expected such a connector since Biostar says that is a board for audiophiles.