Biostar is gearing up for AMD's Ryzen release with the launch of several new AM4 motherboards using the X370 and B350 chipsets. At the top of the product stack is the flagship X370GT7 motherboard.
The X370GT7 is part of Biostar's racing series and features a black PCB with checkered flag artwork and LED-backlit "armor" over the rear IO edge. The motherboard surrounds the AMD AM4 socket with two large heat spreaders cooling a 8+4 Digital Power+ power phase (PowIRstage IC), four DDR4 slots (up to 64GB at 2667 MHz), and a M.2 (32 Gbps) slot with bundled SSD heat spreader that matches the racing and carbon fiber aesthetic.
The bottom half of the AM4 Motherboard houses the X370 chipset, six SATA 3 ports, two PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots (running 1 at x16 or both at x8 with Ryzen, Bristol Ridge is limited to one x8 slot), one PCI-E 2.0 x16 (electrically x4) slot, and three PCI-E 2.0 x1 slots. Biostar also highlights the inclusion of 5050 LED headers and a USB 3.1 front panel header with "Lightning Charger" which supports Quick Charge 2.0 (12V@1.5A) as well as Apple devices (5V@2.4A).
Around back, the X370GT7 has the following rear IO ports:
- PS/2
- 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C
- 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2
- 4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0)
- 3 x Video Outputs:
- 1 x DisplayPort (4K@60Hz)
- 1 x HDMI 2.0 (4K@60Hz)
- 1 x DVI-D (1200p@60Hz)
- 1 x Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8118AS)
- Audio (Realtek ALC1220, 8 channel Blu Ray Audio, "Biostar Hi-FI")
- 5 x Analog out
- 1 x S/PDIF
While an Intel NIC would have been nice to see, the Biostar board looks to offer up a decent package of connections and the Realtek audio codec has been around for a while and should be fairly well developed at this point though we will have to see how well Biostar's Hi-Fi implementation fares. Further, Biostar also offers a small touch panel on the board called GT Touch that lets users switch UEFI profiles between performance and eco-friendly modes as well as power and reset buttons for testing outside of a case. For LED fans Biostar bundles software called "LED DJ" that lets you configure an LED light show that responds to music being played on the PC. (Yes, this is a thing now hehe.)
It is nice to see Biostar rising to the occasion and offering up more options for Ryzen CPUs. Unfortunately as is the case with more things there is no word on pricing or availability yet though rumors would suggest an early march release to coincide with Ryzen processors hitting store shelves.
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When will we get motherboards
When will we get motherboards with 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T finally?
Likely NEVER on consumer
Likely NEVER on consumer machines. 2.5, 5, 10 and up for the time being is slated data-center only technology.
Single LAN port is a
Single LAN port is a disappointing decision.
A second LAN jack allows the user to connect a second computer to the network without running a second cable from the router. Even mid-range switches often don’t work well when paired consumer routers.
I’m curious as to why a
I’m curious as to why a high-end AM4 motherboard sports a single M.2 slot when even fairly cheap H/Z270 boards come with two. A manufacturer choice or some limitation of the architecture?
WTF is vivid LED DJ and what
WTF is vivid LED DJ and what with checkered flags lol one ugly board.
With the correct prices,
With the correct prices, Biostar can see an increase in it’s market share this year. If it tries to cash in with prices that look more like Intel mobo prices, they will stay in the bottom that they are now.
So if Ryzen doesn’t have a
So if Ryzen doesn’t have a built-in GPU/IGP, what’s powering the display outputs? Motherboard GPU?
Later this year AMD will
Later this year AMD will introduce Zen based APUs. There are also Bristol Ridge APUs that I guess will become available(?) in retail.
Have you ever seen a discrete
Have you ever seen a discrete GPU! look at the back end of the PCIe/GPU card and that is what is driving the display outputs. I’d have to guess at what the Motherboard makers have in the UEFI/firmware to cope with things like running the GPU at low resolution so users can install the OS and GPU’s full drivers. So all discrete GPUs can be used with some standard UEFI/BIOS display/configuration mode driver before the OS is installed and the GPU’s main drvers are installed.
Discrete GPUs can run in a basic mode without drivers but that basic mode is limited to low resolution for the user to be able to install the OS and the fully operational drivers for the GPU’s full feature set.
The AM4 boards are also
The AM4 boards are also compatible with Bristol Ridge APUs. And maybe Raven Ridge (Zen based) APUs unless AMD goes with AM4+ or something?
Can the recent HP machines
Can the recent HP machines with amd a series socket 4 bristol ridge cpu be upgrade to ryzen – hp will not say?