BIOSTAR Announces Second Generation Racing Series Features

Ahead of CES 2017, BIOSTAR announced the new feature sets for their second generation Racing series motherboards which will support the 7th generation of Intel Core processors. And it is quite the nice feature set that we see, from protective covers for the M.2 slots over high-speed U.2 connectors to 10Gbps Ethernet.

The new features follow the same trend that BIOSTAR set with their first generation of RACING motherboards, but it enhances almost every aspect of them. One of the highlighted features is the new M.2 cooling protection which features a heatsink with great cooling efficiency. This protects M.2 devices connected to the onboard M.2 slot and chipset from thermal issues thus expanding M.2 device lifespan for long-term usage and overall stable operation even under high system load. And with the M.2 slots location right around the graphics cards, extra cooling is a great idea.

For me personally, the highlight is the new LAN controller used, the Intel X550. The Intel X550 is a 10GbE network controller which can deliver up to 10 times the transfer speed of traditional Gigabit Ethernet. With the addition of such controllers to consumer motherboards, we’re almost sure to finally get affordable 10GbE switches for home usage too. Oh, and the increased transfer speeds aren’t the only bonus here, it actually uses less power than traditional controllers.

Other features include the Lightning Charger function which supports QC2.0 (12V/1.5A output), Apple Mode (5V /2.4A) and BC1.2 for ultra fast charging of mobile devices. LED and RGB features seem to be the thing to add too and BIOSTAR also got a bunch of features here. The VIVID LED Armor enhances the protection for the I/O interfaces and electronic audio components without static electricity and it comes integrated with onboard LED lighting for DIY fun. The 550 LED Fun Zone is brand new and it combines two 5050 LED headers for DIY builders to let their ideas come out.

The last two mentioned features from the second generation Racing series are the Digital Power+ which uses IR’s digital power controller and high-speed U.2 32Gb/s storage connectors.

Overall, some nice features and we will surely see a lot more during our visit to CES next month.