Biostar TZ77XE4 Z77 Motherboard Preview

Biostar aren’t a brand that we hear much from, at least not in the UK, but that’s not to say they aren’t any good, but simply don’t have the resources that other brands have and with a big push for Intel Z77 upon us, they wanted in on a piece of the action.

Intel Z77 is the new chipset that is due to come out in April, opening lots of new features including PCI-Express 3.0 and native USB 3.0 support, though the biggest new feature is of course support for the new 3rd generation Intel processors. While Intel won’t confirm, we all know these to be called Ivy Bridge, and will lead to new architecture based upon the already great selling Sandy Bridge CPUs.

As the date looms closer and closer, we’re finding more and more boards coming in to our labs from a variety of manufacturers, including Gigabyte and MSI. Today however, sees the turn of Biostar, with their TZ77XE4 board boasting some great, new features and a unique colour scheme to boot.

As always, we wish that we could show you performance figures, but sadly NDA by Intel restricts that, but instead we will take a look at the package on offer, the aestethics of the board, and of course, any features that Biostar have implemented into this new Z77 based board.

Specifications

CHIPSET

• Intel Z77

CPU SUPPORT

• Intel Core i7 LGA 1155 Processor
• Intel Core i5 LGA 1155 Processor
• Intel Core i3 LGA 1155 Processor
• Maximum CPU TDP (Thermal Design Power) : 95Watt

MEMORY

• Support Dual Channel DDR3 2600(OC)/2400(OC)/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066 MHz
• 4 x DDR3 DIMM Memory Slot
• Max. Supports up to 32GB Memory

EXPANSION SLOT

• 2 x PCI Slots
• 1 x PCI-E x1 2.0 Slot
• 1 x PCI-E x16 2.0 Slot (x4)
• 2 x PCI-E x16 3.0 Slot (SLi / CFX x8)

STORAGE

• 4 x SATA2 3Gb/s Connector
• 1 x eSATA Connector
• Support SATA RAID: 0,1,5,10
• Support Intel Smart Response Technology
• 4 x SATA3 6Gb/s Connector

USB

• 2 x USB 3.0 Port
• 1 x USB 3.0 Header
• 4 x USB 2.0 Port
• 2 x USB 2.0 Header

GbE

• Realtek RTL8111E – 10/100/1000 Controller

MULTI GRAPHICS

• AMD CrossFireX
• NVIDIA SLI

INTEGRATED VIDEO

• By CPU model
• Supports DX11
• Supports HDCP

CODEC

• Realtek ALC898 8 Channel Blu-ray Audio

REAR I/O

• 1 x PS/2 Keyboard
• 1 x eSATA Connector
• 2 x USB 3.0 Port
• 4 x USB 2.0 Port
• 1 x HDMI Connector
• 1 x Display Port
• 1 x DVI Connector
• 1 x VGA Port
• 1 x RJ-45 Port
• 6 x Audio Connector

INTERNAL I/O

• 1 x USB 3.0 Header
• 2 x USB 2.0 Header
• 4 x SATA3 6Gb/s Connector
• 4 x SATA2 3Gb/s Connector
• 1 x Front Audio Header
• 1 x Front Panel Header
• 1 x S/PDIF-OUT Header
• 1 x CPU FAN Header
• 2 x System FAN Header
• 1 x Serial Header
• 1 x CIR Header

DIMENSION

• ATX Form Factor Dimension: 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm ( W x L )

OS SUPPORT

• Support Windows XP / Vista / 7

ACCESSORIES

• 4 x SATA Cable
• 1 x SLI Connector
• 1 x CrossFire Connector
• 1 x I/O Shield
• 1 x DVD Driver
• 1 x User Manual

FEATURES

• Supports uEFI GUI Interface BIOS
• Supports THX TruStudio Pro
• Supports BIO-Remote2
• Supports BIO-Remote
• Windows 7 Compatible
• Supports 100% Solid capacitor
• Supports Rapid Switch2
• Supports Rapid Debug3
• Supports HDMI Audio Ready
• Supports Toverclcoker OC software
• Supports GPU
• Supports Charger Booster
• Supports BIOS Online Update