Soyo KT400 Dragon Ultra Platinum Edition
Soyo KT400 Dragon Ultra Platinum Edition
Price: £160 at time of writing
Site: www.soyousa.com for information
Uses: Latest motherboard technology
Bios
This board uses a 2MB flash bios from AWARD. The normal features are all included with the addition of many tweak options which allow you to push the board further if you wished. As with most boards you can increase the frequency of the CPU by 1Mhz steps. The ranges offered are from 100Mhz all the wayto 255Mhz so if your a overclocker etc you have some room to play with this board.
another option in the bios is the ability to alter the PCI divider which is best modified if you areincreasing the speed of the FSB. Its a feature that doesnt really appeal to me personally but is worth noting that it is a very useful if not essential tool when clocking.
Although 400Mhz DDR isnt officially supported yet if you look under the timing options you can view the option of 200Mhz included (200 = 400Mhz DDR | 166 = 333Mhz) So this board is 400Mhz ready.
Other normal options include the ability to alter the voltage of your cpu and agp systems. Another essential item is the antiburn systems which are called different things from maker to maker but essentially it monitors the temperture of you CPU if it gets to hot it will automatically shut down the system. If only the world had this feature in the early days.
Testing:
Setup used was a XP1800 384MB 2100DDR
Sandra 2002 Pro - CPU, Memory, & Multimedia Bench Marks
PCMark 2002
I have really enjoyed reviewing this board, right from the start from opening the great looking box (complete with carry handle) to opening the packet and seeing the stunning silver PCB this board looks and performs so well.
The first thing many will look at is the price tag yes this Soyo KT400 Dragon Ultra does cost £160 and it is likely to appeal to the pc user who knows their stuff and is looking for great performance and features from a great name.
However i do think the price is justified the board comes with many options ok so the performance jump from KT333 to KT400 isnt that big at present but the 400Mhz combined with the ovious benifits of USB 2.0, Raid this is the latest spec here.
Also for users with digital cameras etc Soyo make it even more appealing for you they have bundled this board with the prementioned Sigma Box giving you both Smart Media and Compact Flash read / write options which can be used at the same time.
Audio is supplied by a fully fledged 6 channel controller and with the SPDIF allowing for optical and increased in / out options this board can handle anyhting.
The only thing i was surprised to see not included was a firewire option this isnt that big of a deal unless of course you already have enabled devices. This board can be made Serial ATA by purchasing a additional add-on card direct from vendors and Soyo themselves, this allows you to expand the boards capabilitys further as the technology develops.
The Bios and board overall has many options to keep the hardended tweaker and clocker happy. the board comes with holes surronding the cpu socket to enable users to connect coolers and pumps to keep your cpu nice and under control.
Of course another reason for peole to by this board could be the colour case modders who have got all the cathodes and neon fans / light shows in there system case.... whats next well a cool looking silver PCB would look great and of course for the silver case owners out there compliments it nicely.
For:
Latest in board technology
Colour, overclock features and support
400Mhz Ram support
6 channel audio inc SPDIF
RAID, USB 2.0
Sigma box
Against:
Price - may put people off
No Firewire support
