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Since the KT333 chipset was first released, we've seen a
steady improvement in what Athlon-based motherboards have to
offer. With the new USB 2.0 and ATA133 standards, as
well as 333MHz DDR PC2700 DRAM support, system boards have
gotten a much welcomed boost in overall performance and
features. Today we'll be taking a look at one of the
latest additions to the KT333 lot, the Soyo KT333 Dragon
Ultra.
Soyo
has been producing the "Dragon" line of motherboards since
the release of the original KT266 chipset. As time
went by, the Dragon series has earned a reputation for being
the cream of the Soyo crop, embodying the best of what Soyo
has to offer. With its latest incarnation though,
we've heard talk of a great looking board, with less
than stellar performance versus other KT333 variants.
Several websites and print magazines alike were reporting
how the Dragon Ultra had fantastic features, yet it didn't
quite keep up with the competition when push came to shove.
Needless to say, once we got a hold of our test sample, we
were anxious to see for ourselves if these stories were
true.
So let's
get to it and see what all the fuss is about...
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Specifications of the
Soyo
KT333 Dragon Ultra Motherboard |
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Look At All The
Pretty Colors! |
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Below
is a list of the items that accompany the
Soyo
KT333 Dragon Ultra Motherboard
When it comes to
a complete package, the Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra comes as
close to "complete" as we've seen. Included is an
installation CD with a clean and easy to understand menu
that guides the user through the installation process.
A comprehensive manual is also included that covers the
setup of the board and BIOS and RAID configurations, in
excellent detail. The package also comes with 1 floppy
& 3 80-Pin ATA133 data cables for connecting the drives to
the system. A small packet of thermal grease is also
provided to apply to the processor before mounting an HSF to
it. An SPDIF audio connector and cable is included
that connects to the systems on-board audio, making all the
necessary connections readily accessible. A bonus
"Sigma Box" (SB-P4SX) featuring four front USB 2.0 ports is
included, with all the hardware needed to mount it in either
a 3 1/2" floppy bay or a standard 5 1/4" bay. Two USB
connector cables are provided to connect the Sigma box to
the two USB 2.0 sockets on the motherboard. The Soyo
"8-in-1" CD comes complete with the following titles:
Norton Anti-Virus 2002, Ghost 2002, Adobe ActiveShare,
Acrobat Reader, Acrobat eBook Reader, WinDVD 2000, and
trials/samples of AutoSave and Imagemore. All in all,
this is a complete and thorough package that should make
even the most critical end user more than delighted with all
the extras.
Aside from the
Bonus CD, the drivers CD comes with a decent Audio Control
Utility program, to take full advantage of the on-board
audio capabilities. To be honest, this reminds me of
the audio rack software that used to come with Sound Blaster
cards a few years back. Some of you older folks may
remember what I'm talking about. It wasn't the most
robust software, but you had the tools needed to use all of the
hardware's functions. The Audio Rack included with
this motherboard is no different. The software is
comprised of four key components, a CD Player, Midi Player,
MP3/Wave/VCD player and a Mixer, offering a fair amount of
functionality.
Now that we've
covered what comes with the Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra, let's
move on and take a closer look at the motherboard itself.
Quality,
Setup and the BIOS
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Supports AMD Socket-A type processors, including
AthlonXP, Athlon and Duron (up to 2200+)
