SOYO SY-KT333 DRAGON ULTRA PLATINUM

 

Specifications

Processor	- Supports AMD Socket-A type processors, including AthlonXP, Athlon and Duron (up to 2200+)
Chipset	- VIA KT333 / 8233A chipset - Supports 200/266 MHz FSB - VIA V-link chip interconnect (266MB/s) - Highpoint HPT372 ATA 133 RAID controller - Realtek 8100B Ethernet 10/100Mb LAN controller - CMedia CMI8738 6 channel audio chip
Memory	- Three DDR 2.5V DIMM sockets support up to 3GB (DDR 333/266/200) - 184-pin PC2700/PC2100/PC1600 non-ECC, unbuffered DDR SDRAM memory
On-Board EIDE	- Four independent channels for 8 IDE devices (2 for RAID) - Supports up to PIO mode 5 & Ultra DMA 66/100/133 - Two PCI bus mastering ATA E-IDE ports
Integrated Super I/O	- Two RS-232 serial ports (16550 UART compatible) - One parallel printer port (SPP/EPP/ECP mode) - Provides IrDA with optional cable for transceiver - PS/2 Mini-DIN mouse & keyboard ports - Four USB 1.1 ports - One RJ45 connector - Audio I/O: LINE-OUT x 1, LINE-IN x 1, MIC JACK x 1 - One game port - One FDD port (supports 3 modes, 1.2/1.44/2.88MB FDD) - Provides 4 USB 2.0 ports (2* rear, 4*front)
Expansion Slots	- Five 32-bit Bus Mastering PCI slots (V2.2 compliant) - One Universal AGP Pro slot (supports 1x/2x/4x modes) - 4 x cooling fan pin header
Form Factor	- ATX Form Factor (245mm x 305mm)
BIOS	- Award PCI BIOS with ACPI function - Supports multiple-boot from E-IDE / SCSI / CD-ROM / FDD / LS120 / ZIP - 2 Mbyte Flash ROM
Other Features	- Suspend to RAM - Suspend to Disk - On board voltage monitors - CPU fan speed monitor - CPU temperature monitoring through flexible thermal sensor - CPU overheating protection

Almost the same features as Gigabyte's board but with something extra. 6 channel audio with CMedia chip and the RAID is run by Highpoint's controller. This board is something similar to motherboards as Mercedes is for cars. If you want to try to find what is missing that would be Firewire. That can be easily added with an add-on card so there is no real need to integrate it with motherboard which is so full featured as this.

 

 

Package

Package

For some reason I didn't receive the manual but it will be included in the retail package.

With the motherboard you will receive the following bundle:

• User's manual
• Two CDs with the following software
• Drivers and manual
• Norton Antivirus 2002
• Norton Ghost 2002
• ActiveShare (file sharing)
• Autosave ( backup )
• WinDVD
• Adobe Acrobat eBook reader
• Adobe Acrobat reader
• ImageMore
• Three ATA133 cables
• Floppy drive cable
• Sigma Box ( 2 x USB2.0 and Compact Flash/Smart Media reader for your 3.5" or 5.25" bay)
• SPDIF audio riser with optical digital in/out connectors
• I/O plate

Sigma Box

SPDIF

Easily the best bundle of these three. Only downside is that you don't get that many available USB connectors but with CF/SM reader already included you don't need as many.

Features

Socket

Dragon Ultra was the only board in this review that had socket turned 90 degrees from the others. This gives you more room to work with if you are using a smaller case. In my case I have to take the powersupply or the motherboard away to be able to change cooler but with this turned socket I don't have to do that anymore. There are four mounting holes like in other boards and Soyo has left a nice gap between those capasitors so you can install the mounting clip more easily.

IDE

RAID

All the IDE connectors are color coded. Blue for primary and white for the secondary. Yellow is reserved for the RAID connectors. All the connectors are facing to same direction so installing the cables is easy. On the RAID image you'll see the Highpoint's controller chip and the connectors for speaker, reset switch etc. One thing that Soyo left out are those handy painted labels around the pins on the motherboard telling which is which. New you have to resort to manual.

ATX power connector

Power connector is place behind the joystick port like in Soltek's SL-75DRV5. Some might like this place and some might not. I personally prefer this location because it takes a lot of wiring off from the front part of the board.

Active cooling

Soyo has added a cool looking transparent fan over the North Bridge's heat sink. Active cooling can make a difference if you plan to overclock your motherboard. KT333 should produce less heat than KT266 so maybe the fan isn't that necessary but when you are looking for that final MHz, you know that you have to have proper cooling for the hottest parts on your system.

Chips

Soyo uses the same VIA VT6202 chip as Gigabyte's GA-7VRXP to add support for USB2.0. Also the chip for networking support is from the same manufacturer although the model of the chip is RTL8100B. Only difference between these two chips is the packaging. Audio is handled by CMedia's CMI8738 chip that supports digital in/out, 6-channel analog out and A3D/EAX/D3D. Best available integrated audio in boards that use VIA chipsets.

Connectors

The usual connectors plus RJ45 for network support. Soyo also included a new I/O plate to support this.

AGP pro

Soyo Dragon Ultra was the only board in this review to include AGP pro slot. The AGP Pro slot differs from a normal AGP slot in that it can supply more voltage to future AGP cards.

Handy jumper

This was such a nice detail so I decided to mention it here. Soyo has used this kind of jumper for CMOS clearing. It's basically the same old jumper but they have stretched it a bit so you can pick it up more easily. Hope that other manufacturers start using the same kind of jumpers.

BIOS

Health monitor

Main settings

Memory settings

Everything is bios adjustable so you don't have to worry about dip switches.

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