Biostar Releases Intel Z97 Boards That Look Like ASUS Designed Them

When you think about high-end motherboards what brands that comes to mind? Biostar announced earlier today that they have “launched the first development of what might become a possible series of high-end gaming boards”. Biostar might not have worded their press release that well, but it sounds like they have come out with a board called the Hi-Fi Z97Z7 that they feel is comparable to other high-end boards on the market. The press release talks about things like super durable ferrite chokes, the super conductive heatsink design, super durable box headers, super durable solid caps, super Hi-Fi audio and super rapid debug 3. This $120 (MSRP) Intel Z97 motherboard must be super right?

The only thing I keep thinking about when looking at the Biostar Hi-Fi Z97Z7 is the ASUS Z97 series of boards. Why? Take a look below.

That Biostar design sure looks like it was clearly ripped off the ASUS Z97-A. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but why would a board maker come out with a high-end line of boards and design it to be so similar in appearance to ASUS? Where is the innovation in that? Biostar could have easily come up with a different shape for the PCH cooler, color scheme or even the lines on the VRM coolers. We are glad that Biostar has a decent Intel Z97 board now, but we just wish it looked like a Biostar board. It might be time for Biostar to find a ‘look’ for their high-end boards and stick with it for a bit.