Biostar Releases the Hi-Fi A85W FM2 Motherboard

[Cristian_25H]

Taiwan-based Biostar Microtech has now announced a new motherboard supporting AMD's FM2 APUs, the Hi-Fi A85W. Powered by the A85X chipset, this board comes with a bunch of audiophile-friendly features like a noise-blocking multi-layer PCB design (isolates analog audio signals from digital sources), a built-in amplifier, Non-Polarized Electrolysis Electric audio capacitors for each audio channel circuit, 'Hi-Fi' resistors, and the Hi-Fi Power technology (audio components have an independent power design).

Biostar's motherboard also has four DDR3-2400 memory slots, eight SATA 6.0 Gbps ports, two PCIe x16, two PCIe x1 and two PCI slots, Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1-channel audio (Realtek ALC892 codec), a debug LED, two USB 3.0 ports, and D-Sub, DVI and HDMI outputs. The Hi-Fi A85W has a recommended price tag of €124.90.

[RCoon]

That is a beast of a motherboard for just an FM2... makes me want to build a mean htpc machine

[james888]

Is it just me or is biostar really trying to flex some audio muscle, not just with this board. They should integrate some asus or creative audio. My $10 xonar dg is worlds better than my onboard realtek 892, although my onboard doesn't have the same audio features as this but only the same chip. Other MB makers should take note and try to do a bit more on audio. I did not realize what I was missing till I got a sound card.

There is already a tpu review of the board from the 21st.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Biostar/Hi-Fi_A85W/

[micropage7]

its kinda nice to have another board that focus on sound quality without tagged too high

[NeoXF]

Meh, doesn't have Realtek ALC898 audio... Realtek ALC892 sucks donkey balls. with 898 there almost no reason to go for a dedicated audio card, unless it's extraordinary, like the Xonar Essence STX or wtv.

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by NeoXF

Meh, doesn't have Realtek ALC898 audio... Realtek ALC892 sucks donkey balls. with 898 there almost no reason to go for a dedicated audio card, unless it's extraordinary, like the Xonar Essence STX or wtv.

ALC898 can suck just as hard as ALC898, if the circuit is bad.


Oh look, I already reviewed this board. Last week. Whooops.

[GLD]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Oh look, I already reviewed this board. Last week. Whooops.

I thought so. I read your review (good work as always). Sucks the board is broken with the launch bios. Where is the X version is the question.

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by GLD

I thought so. I read your review (good work as always). Sucks the board is broken with the launch bios. Where is the X version is the question.

They'll get it sorted, as it's just a BIOS, and the board is functional. It was up for sale at Newegg when I reviewed it, too, so while the "launch" is just noted now, the boards been available for a little bit already.

[suraswami]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

They'll get it sorted, as it's just a BIOS, and the board is functional. It was up for sale at Newegg when I reviewed it, too, so while the "launch" is just noted now, the boards been available for a little bit already.

thats why I don't understand why is this a news, should it not be information/history