Soyo SY-6BA+IV Slot-1 i440BX ATX

To help with every last bit of overclocking, core voltage can be increased by 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10%. For a CPU that runs at 2.0V by default, such as all 0.25 micron Intel CPU's, this yields core voltage options of 2.05V, 2.10V, 2.15V, and 2.20V. Stability in both overclocked and non-overclocked situations was above average and our test bed Celeron 333 ran happily at 5 x 110 MHz = 550MHz at 2.2V. Finally, within the Soyo Combo Setup is another interesting feature - the "CIH 4-WAY Protection," which protects the system from the CIH virus at the BIOS level. The rest of the BIOS is the fairly typical Award fare. A specific IRQ can be assigned to a specific PCI slot, SDRAM timing adjusted, etc.

Through the use of a 1/4 PCI multiplier, the PCI bus speed is automatically kept between 31 and 41 MHz, regardless of the FSB used. Unfortunately, Intel's i440BX is only capable of 2/3 and 1/1 AGP ratios, so the AGP bus may well run out of spec at some of those higher speeds. At least the speed is reported in the BIOS, so you'll know exactly how high it is. Another nice touch is the fact that the BIOS will report that a CPU is locked at a particular multiplier upon boot if something else is chosen.

The onboard HighPoint HPT366 controller provides for Ultra ATA 66 support on the SY-6BA+IV. This controller operates in addition to the Intel i82371EB PIIX4 Ultra ATA 33 controller that already provides for support for up to 4 Ultra ATA 33 compliant or compatible devices. The HPT366 doubles the number of EIDE devices supported by the board as it provides support for four additional devices, all of which may be Ultra ATA 66 compliant. All eight of the supported EIDE devices can be Ultra ATA 33 compliant, with the four on the HPT366 controller able to be Ultra ATA 66 compliant. While Ultra ATA 66 compliant devices can be installed on the first two IDE channels (driven by the PIIX4 SouthBridge) you won't be able to run them in Ultra ATA 66 mode and they will default to Ultra ATA 33 transfer modes. Soyo bundles a single 40-pin, 80-conductor Ultra ATA 66 cable with the SY-6BA+IV to take advantage of the Ultra ATA 66 support the HPT366 provides. For more information about the Ultra ATA 66 standard read AnandTech's own Ultra ATA 66 Review.

The HPT366 controller features its own BIOS so devices attached to the two HPT366 channels are initialized after the power on self test (POST). The HPT366's BIOS is not user configurable by default, so all devices attached to it are autodetected every time the system is powered on. This adds a few seconds to the boot time of your system, but, in terms of boot time, it's essentially the equivalent of adding a SCSI controller.

As you might be able to guess, the HPT366 throws off the normal boot sequence parameters in the Award BIOS setup because there is no option to have an external HPT366 controller your primarily boot device by default. The Soyo BIOS treats the HPT366 like a SCSI controller - you simply select SCSI first in the boot sequence in order to boot off an Ultra ATA 66 device. A separate setting controls whether Ultra ATA 66 or SCSI comes first.

The HPT366 controller does require driver support, which is provided for by a supplied drivers disk that includes both 9x and NT drivers for the controller. ABIT provides a nice explanation of how to install NT 4.0 with the Ultra ATA 66 driver on their website for their boards. The Soyo works the same way, so the information is applicable to SY-6BA+IV owners.

The Winbond 83782D chip that is becoming increasingly popular these days handles hardware monitoring duties. This chip has the ability to read the CPU temperature straight from any 0.25 micron Intel CPU's on die thermal diode for the most accurate temperature readings possible. The chip can also monitor up to two more temperatures, system voltages, and three fan speeds. The reason for "up to two more temperatures" is that the Winbond hardware monitoring chips monitor its own chip temperature and one more through an external thermistor. Unfortunately, Soyo has not included any headers for hooking up such a thermistor, so the SY-6BA+IV is really limited to just the CPU and ambient temperatures.

Power management consists of pretty much the standard stuff these days. Wake on LAN and wake on modem ring headers are available to allow the system to power on in the presence of network activity or incoming call. The BIOS can be set to turn on the system at a specific time. The CPU fan can be shut off when the system suspends to quiet things down a bit. ACPI support is built into the BIOS for added power management under an ACPI compliant OS like Windows 98 or Windows 2000. The system can be configured to power on via hot key or mouse click. Finally, the SY-6BA+IV supports the ability to configure what the system will do when AC power is restored after a power outage. The system can either remain off, turn on, or resume last power state when power is restored. This is a feature often overlooked since ATX and soft power became available, but is critical for anyone using their system where it must be on 24/7 or as close as possible. It also allows for users to shut the system on and off from a surge protector.

Bundled with the SY-6BA+IV (and all newer Soyo boards for that matter) is the "Soyo 3-in-1 Bonus Pack," which includes full versions of Norton AntiVirus, Norton Ghost, and Norton Virtual Drive. Ghost is useful for backing up, imaging, or cloning a hard drive. Virtual Drive is designed to make an image of a CD on your hard drive for ultra fast access without the CD. The included AntiVirus and Virtual Drive are both Win9x only utilities. Soyo's own CD is a generic one for all their boards, and as such includes a variety of drivers for Windows 9x, NT, and even Unix. Hardware monitoring software is provided in the form of Intel LANdesk Client Manager (LDCM).