Introduction.

The VIA KT333 chipset is already upon us and heralds the latest in a generation of DDR SDRAM compatible Socket A chipsets from Taiwanese chipset manufacturer VIA. As with any new product introduction, the changeover from old to new takes some time and as a result the outgoing KT266A chipset will be with us for a while yet. Whilst much of the hype turns towards the new KT333, it is easy to forget the strong reputation forged by its predecessor, the KT266A.

Here at Processor Emporium we have been lucky to review now three boards based upon the KT266A, right from the early enthusiasts board in the guise of the Epox EP-8KHA+, the mainstream offering in the shape of the Chaintech CT-7VJDA and now another high-end board, the Soyo SY-K7V DRAGON Plus.

A significant portion of the PC enthusiast market has adopted the AMD Socket A platform as their favoured choice over the course of the past two years. This has had to follow in the footsteps of such highly successful Intel chipsets as the now legendary i440BX. As was seen over the three years in which the BX chipset was manufactured, a vast array of boards were made featuring a whole host of new and cutting edge features. BX boards saw the introduction of ATA-RAID and the vastly increased popularity of BIOS driven overclocking.

Features such as those just mentioned have become commonplace on a number of Socket A boards pitched at the high-end PC-enthusiast market, and here with the SY-K7V DRAGON Plus we see both ATA-RAID and BIOS driven overclocking. We also see for the first time integrated LAN and a 6-channel audio output packaged with a motherboard. On a more offbeat tone, Soyo have included a Smart-card reader. This could well provide hours of fun for a tweaking enthusiast.

Unlike the Chaintech CT-7AIA5 which we reviewed only a few days ago, the Soyo SY-K7 DRAGON Plus is aimed at the very high-end board market. It comes with a UK price tag of £120, which for a Socket A board is expensive. The question quite simply is whether the SY-K7 DRAGON Plus worth all that money. To find out, read on...

VIA KT266.

Essentially the VIA KT266A is an enhancement of the original KT266 chipset with an improved memory controller. Like the KT266, the KT266A features support for 133 MHz Front Side Bus operation (266 DDR), 3 GB of PC-2100 SDRAM and AGP 4X.

The South Bridge controller is the VIA VT8233 chip which features support for U/DMA 100 Hard Drive support and also support for up to 4 USB devices to be attached. The VT8233 also provides support for an AC97 (not used on this board in favour of an integrated six channel CMedia controller) audio codec, a feature which is becoming increasingly popular with many new motherboard designs.

Specifications.