Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/625

Soyo SY-K7VTA Socket-A KT133 ATX

by Henry Kuo on September 22, 2000 12:33 AM EST


Soyo has been around for 15 years, but they have just recently become known among hardware enthusiasts.  The release of their SY-6BA+III and SY-6BA+IV motherboards running the Intel 440BX chipset last year really helped to put Soyo on the map.  Now, the stability and performance of these boards is well known.

The Athlon series of processors from AMD helped to capture a considerable amount of CPU market, and the release of Durons and Thunderbirds in June took AMD to another level.  With the migration from Slot-A to Socket-A, it was a good time for a “new” chipset.  However, AMD did not do it alone; it got help from VIA.  VIA released the KT133 chipset with the new series of AMD processors.

Since then, a lot of motherboard manufacturers have released their Socket-A / KT133 solution.  Among them is Soyo, who released the SY-K7VTA.    Let’s see if the performance of the SY-K7VTA can surprise us in any way.

Soyo SY-K7VTA

CPU Interface
Socket-A
Chipset
VIA KT133
Form Factor
ATX
Bus Speeds
100 / 102 / 103 / 107 / 110 / 113 / 117 / 120MHz
Voltages Supported
Auto Detect
Memory Slots
3 168-pin DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots

1 AGP Slot
5 PCI Slots (2 Full Length)
1 ISA Slot (1 Shared)
0 CNR Slots

On-board Audio
Sigmatel STAC9744T AC 97 CODEC
BIOS
Award Modular BIOS 6.00PG


The Good

The SY-K7VTA utilizes a moderately sized PCB, though not as large as the ABIT KT7 or the ASUS A7V.  The layout of the PCB is quite “standard,” with most parts sitting where they usually are on most boards.  One thing to notice is that the ATX power supply connector is placed close to the back of the motherboard, next to the ATX I/O shield and a couple of large capacitors.  This means you’ll have to run your ATX power cable over your memory and CPU, potentially cluttering up the case with cables.  Also, by having the power supply connector there, the power cables may affect the cooling of the CPU by blocking airflow.

The VIA 8373 North Bridge sits between the 462-pin Socket-A connector and the AGP slot, which is the core of the KT133 chipset.  It provides all the major features of the KT133, including the 133 MHz memory bus and AGP 4X support.  Just like almost every motherboard in the market today, the AGP slot is a “universal AGP slot,” which means it is not keyed specifically for AGP 2X or AGP 4X cards, so the user can install almost any current AGP card in the slot.

The SY-K7VTA has a memory limit of 1.5GB, which is provided directly by the KT133 chipset in combination with three physical 168-pin SDRAM DIMM slots.  The 8373 memory controller is nice enough to let you run your memory at either 133MHz or 100MHz.  Therefore, users with PC133 SDRAM can take advantage of the increased bandwidth over PC100 SDRAM, going from 800MB/s to 1.06GB/s.



In order to maintain good stability, Soyo puts thirteen 1500uF capacitors around the 462-pin socket-A, which helps to ensure that the signals driving into the CPU is clean enough and there is sufficient power. 

The 5/1/0/1 (PCI/AGP/CNR/ISA) expansion slot configuration on SY-K7VTA should be enough to satisfy most users.  The lack of any CNR expansion slot should be good news for all hardware enthusiasts.  The ISA slot provides a chance for people that just cannot give up their ISA hardware, such as a modem or old SCSI card for tape drives.  Since the VIA 686A “Super” South Bridge features a integrated PCI-ISA bridge, the only additional cost of including an ISA slot on the SY-K7VTA is the cost of mounting the physical slot on the board. 

Moreover, the VIA 686A South Bridge also features support for up to 4 USB devices.  Beside the two traditional USB ports mounted at the back of the motherboard together with the serial / parallel ports, there is also a connector ready for USB 3 and 4 in the front of the board.  However, in our evaluation sample Soyo did not include the necessary cables for those extra USB ports.

The SY-K7VTA is using the Award Modular BIOS 6.00PG, which supports the Jumperless CPU setup.  The FSB settings can be found under Frequency / Voltage Control in the BIOS.  FSB settings include 100 / 102 / 103 / 107 / 110 / 113 / 117 / 120.  From our experience, the EV6 bus of AMD’s chips cannot maintain much stability at FSB higher than 110MHz (there are always some exceptions ;), so settings over 110MHz are not that useful.  We would have preferred more FSB settings between 100MHz and 110MHz so that users can squeeze the last bit of power from the CPU.

In the BIOS, users can also check the PC Health Status.  From there, users can get information on the CPU temperature, system temperature, and also the speed of two fans.  It also reports the voltage for the CPU and AGP.

The Sigmatel STAC9708T AC 97 CODEC provides some basic sound card features for the SY-K7VTA.  However, for users who care about their 3D PC sound would definitely want a PCI sound card to get some higher quality sound effects.

Another feature of the SY-K7VTA is the use a diagnostic set of LED’s, similar to MSI’s D-LED, that are placed at the left hand side and closed to the back of the board.  The 4 LED’s blink green and red during startup as different components on the motherboard is initialized.  When everything is done successfully, all LEDs will be green.  If there is a problem, simply compare the pattern of the LED’s to the various combinations shown in the manual for troubleshooting. 

There are also two other LED’s; one is to indicate whether there is power supplied to the motherboard, and the other one is to indicate if there is power supplied to the AGP slot, so users will know if it is safe to touch the motherboard or take out the video card.

Bundled with the motherboard there is the Soyo CD, which has all the drivers and utilities you need for your motherboard.  Although we could not find a manual in our evaluation sample package, but from experience Soyo usually includes a user manual with all the details for first time users, and there are also details on the BIOS settings.  Also included in the box is the Soyo “3 in 1” Bonus Pack, which includes the Norton Ghost, Norton Antivirus, and Norton Virtual Drive.  Norton Ghost is very useful in cloning hard disk; Norton Antivirus is definitely important for every computer system; and Norton Virtual Drive can copy your CD to hard disk for ultra-fast access.



The Bad

We have already noticed some manufacturers including ATA100 controller on their motherboards.  Although at the current time, there is no way we can have a sustained transfer rate of higher than 40MB/s, if Soyo had included an ATA100 controller, they could have probably “prolonged” the life of the motherboard.  Indeed when VIA releases the VIA 686B South Bridge, which includes ATA 100 controller, at the end of the year, Soyo can probably include ATA100 feature easily.  But again, there is no real benefit for now.

Overclocking is very important to AnandTech readers, but the SY-K7VTA does not provide enough FSB settings between the 100MHz and 110MHz FSB range, which is what we expected. Beside the FSB settings, it would also be nice if Soyo had included the ability to change the multiplier for CPU, something that ABIT and ASUS has done and something that is much more useful when overclocking your CPU.

In our evaluation sample, Soyo did not include the necessary cables to take advantage of the 2 extra USB ports onboard.  We are not sure if they do include that in the retail version, but it would definitely be something nice to have.

Last of all, the diagnostic LED is a very good feature.  However, it would be even better if they can be viewed from the outside of the case, perhaps through the I/O shield.

USB Compatibility

·         Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

·         Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

·         USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS: Yes

·         USB Keyboard Support in BIOS: Yes

Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: 1 x 128MB Corsair PC133 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM

SDRAM Tested: 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM

Manufacturer: Corsair
Purchase Website: http://www.corsairmicro.com

Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Website: http://www.mushkin.com



The Test

In recent times, choosing a motherboard cannot be completely determined by a Winstone score. Now, many boards come within one Winstone point of each other and therefore the need to benchmark boards against each other falls. Therefore you should not base your decision entirely on the benchmarks you see here, but also on the technical features and advantages of this particular board, seeing as that will probably make the greatest difference in your overall experience.

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.

Test Configuration

Processor(s):
AMD Athlon (Thunderbird) 800MHz
RAM:
1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM
Hard Drive(s):
Western Digital 153BA Ultra ATA 66 7200 RPM
Bus Master Drivers:
VIA Bus Master Drivers 2.1.47
Video Card(s):
NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS 32MB DDR
Video Drivers:
NVIDIA Detonator 5.22
Operation System(s):
Windows 98 SE
Motherboard Revision:
Soyo SY-K7VTA Revision A

 

Windows 98 Performance

Sysmark 2000
Content Creation
Winstone 2000
Quake III Arena - 640 x 480 x 16
Soyo SY-K7VTA - Athlon 800
160
27.5
127.0


Final Words

Compared to other Socket-A motherboards we have reviewed, the performance of the Soyo SY-K7VTA is not overly surprising.  It has everything that a basic Socket-A motherboard should have, so for users who want a Thunderbird or Duron system with “normal” features, SY-K7VTA is definitely a good choice.  However, for users who want more tweaking power, for example more FSB settings, multiplier tweaking, RAID, ATA100 support, etc. may want to look somewhere else for a motherboard that can satisfy them. 



How it Rates

AnandTech Motherboard Rating

Rating (x/10)

Performance

The SY-K7VTA has an average performance among most KT133 motherboards.

5.0

Price

Even though Soyo is a relatively well known brand, the price is fairly similar to other KT133 boards.

5.5

Stability

Soyo motherboards are usually pretty stable and the SY-K7VTA is not an exception.  Its solid performance on our stability test shows that the board will satisfy most users.

7.5

Quality

The SY-K7VTA is a very well built board, featuring many components designed to provide high stability.

7.0

Features

The Jumperless CPU configuration and the diagnostic LED’s are definitely a plus for the motherboard.  The extra ISA slot only matters for users with devices from previous machines.  Overall, we do not have anything ground breaking, but it includes everything that normal users need.  Overclockers will wish for more FSB settings between 100 and 110 MHz, and more importantly, CPU multiplier control.

5.5

Layout

The overall layout of the motherboard is decent, except the placement of the power supply connector between the serial / parallel port and the capacitors.  That may make it hard to connect power when the motherboard is in the case and can impede airflow.

4.5

Availability

Soyo motherboards are very easy to get from online stores and most local computer stores.  Even CompUSA has recently started carrying Soyo products.

8.0

Documentation & Software Bundle

The manual has clear instructions on how to install the board, how to install drivers, and BIOS details.  You can also find the manual on the CD.  The 3-in-1 Bonus Pack is definitely something nice to have.

7.5
Overall Rating - not an average Click here to find out why
6.0

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