Installation
The SY-6BA+IV was very easy to install. The motherboard is
nice and compact and should have no problems fitting any ATA case. I was able to
swap out the Abit motherboard for the Soyo in 15 minutes. There is no install
manual. Soyo only included a Quick Start Guide that's only 24 pages long. This
is not a bad idea. Let's face it. Most people don't install their own
motherboard and wouldn't really know what to do with the manual anyway.
Because the SY-6BA+IV is so compact the 4
DIMM slots are pretty close to the Slot 1 CPU connector. This is bad news if you
use more than 2 DIMM slots. My Celeron 366 with the Global Win FDP32 cooler ate
up 2 DIMM slots. I had to move the 128 meg strip to DIMM slot number 4. You can
add another RAM strip to DIMM slot 3 but it's a really tight fit. The RAM would
touch the fan at that slot location. Other than this problem, the motherboard
installed without a hitch.
Soyo was nice enough to include a 3-in-1
bonus pack software with this motherboard. The 3-in-1 bonus pack is made by
Symantec. It includes full versions for Norton AntiVirus, Norton Ghost and
Norton Virtual Drive. Very nice indeed.
Overclocking
With its high number of front side bus speeds to chose
from, the biggest benefit of the SY-6BA-IV is of course its ability to overclock
your CPU. The SY-6BA-IV uses a soft menu setup. This allows you to adjust the
CPU multiplier, FSB, voltage, and AGP divider. Everything can be adjusted in
software with no need to ever open the case.
There should be more than enough FSB adjustments to get
the most out of any CPU. You can chose from the the following FSB: 66, 75, 78,
81, 83, 90, 95, 100, 103, 105, 110, 112, 113, 115, 117, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126,
133, 135, 137, 138, 140, 142, 144, 150 and 155Mhz.
The 124Mhz bus allows you to chose between 1/3 or 1/4 PCI
dividers. Above that bus speed, it's all 1/4. AGP divider can be either 1 to 1
or 2/3.
This motherboard proved to be ideal for my PIII-500 as it
was able to run 100% stable at 630Mhz (126x5). However it didn't get the most of
out the PIII-450 because of the lack of a 129Mhz bus. My PIII-450 is not stable
at 133Mhz bus so 567Mhz (126x4.5) is the best it can do with the Soyo. The CPU
will do 580Mhz in the BX6-II.
On the Celeron side, the SY-6BA-IV to be every bit as
stable as my BP6 Celeron motherboard. 605Mhz (110x5.5) proved to be no problem
and the limit of this Celeron 366. Any bus speed above that would not work.
Overall, I found the SY-6BA-IV to be very stable as an overclocker's
motherboard. Every bit as good as what Abit provides.
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