Monday, January 21, 2002

Introduction

Coming on strong following the success of the K7V Dragon, Soyo has followed up with the release of a newer board based on the VIA KT266A chipset. Though identical to its predecessor in most ways, the SY-K7V Dragon Plus also benefits from an overwhelming package of Overclocking features and functionality - something that makes it one of the most compelling boards in recent memory. Its thus with great pleasure that we partake in its review.

So, let's say we get down to it, shall we?

Audio

The SY-K7V Dragon Plus's sound capabilities are provided by an integrated C-Media CMI8738 audio-chip. The CMI8738 supports 5.1 configurations, with 4 to 6 audio-outs, including a central base-line.

As part of its standard equipment, the SY-K7V Dragon Plus also includes the ability to treat incoming and outgoing digital & SPDIF signals to optical fiber connectors and gold plated RCA jacks.

From a sound standpoint, the C-Media¨ CMI8738 has very little to envy of other audio-chips. It supports up to 32 polyphonic voices, EAX effects, and supports both Microsoft DirectSound 3D, and Aureal A3D.

As we've mentioned before, the CMI8738 is head and shoulders above the audio circuitry that is typically included as part of most VIA chipsets, and its sound reproduction is simply excellent. Whether you're playing MP3s, CDs, or 3D games, the CMI8738's sound quality will often surprise you with its fidelity.

The configuration

Much like its predecessor, the Soyo SY-K7V Dragon Plus does not force users to contend with jumpers. In fact, the only two on-board jumpers worth mentioning are used to reset the BIOS, and the RAID controller respectively.

Configuration of the processor then, falls to the BIOS, and is handled neatly from within the "Soyo Combo Setup" menu.

From there, users will find the option permitting them to set the FSB frequency to between 100MHz and 233MHz in 1MHz increments.

Next on the list, we found an option that allowed for the adjustment of the Vcore voltage, as indicated by the table above. Unfortunately, no function for adjusting the Vio voltage is included.

The clock multiplier, for its part, can be set to between 6X and 14X.

As you might expect, the "Advanced Chipset Features" menu also includes the option to set the memory bus frequency to 100MHz, 133MHz, or SPD (Serial Presence Detect).

One last feature worth mentioning concerns the RAID controller. Not only can it be used to stripe or mirror a system's hardrive through RAID modes 1 or 0, but it is also possible to deactivate RAID-functionality altogether, and use the chip as an extra IDE controller. This little feature effectively allows users to attach up to 8 drives to the SY-K7V Dragon Plus simultaneously.

Next: Technical details.