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 4-in-1 v4.24 Service Pack
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 1.0

 

Windows 98 Performance

Athlon 800MHz OEM (KT133)
Sysmark 2000
Content Creation
Winstone 2000
Quake III Arena - 640 x 480 x 16
Soyo SY-K7VTA (retail)
164
32.6
123.0
Soyo SY-K7VTA
(Pre-production)
160
27.5
127.0
Microstar K7T Pro2
162
32.5
122.5
Microstar K7T Pro
161
32.7
123.7
Iwill KV200-R
160
32.9
123.9

 

Final Words

With the SY-K7VTA, Soyo does not disappoint. With the pre-production of the SY-K7VTA we thought the KT133 solution from Soyo was not surprising at all - just a typical KT133 with no particularly special features. We were obviously wrong.

In barely a month, the retail version of the SY-K7VTA is a totally different contender in the KT133 motherboard market. It has great performance and outstanding stability. It also provides brings the ability to change the multiplier ratios, once a privilege of ASUS and ABIT owners only, to all hardware enthusiasts out there. Together with its competitive price, the SY-K7VTA is definitely one of the best choices out there.

When we reviewed KT133 motherboards three months ago, most of the time we ended up with "we still recommend waiting for the first wave of boards to be released and making your decision then, especially since the whole issue of unlocking the Socket-A CPU's multiplier is still up in the air." The first wave of boards arrived a while ago, with ASUS and ABIT coming out the winners. Now the second wave has begun, with the multiplier issue resolved, we see a much more competitive market out there. Don't be surprised to see more boards with multiplier settings and VIA 686B support appear in the near future. Stay tuned for more KT133 coverage.

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