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

With SoftMenu II and its ability to adjust CPU core voltage in the BIOS, the ABIT BH6, BX6, and BX6 Revision 2 are among the most popular motherboards for overclockers. The extra ounce of stability gained by increasing the voltage was often the difference between a successful overclock and an unsuccessful one. Up until recently, ABIT remained the only manufacturer to offer this feature, but now AOpen has brought forth the AX6BC Pro, IWill has the BD100Plus, Microstar the MS-6163, and others just on the horizon.

What happens when the seventh largest motherboard manufacturer in the world, Soyo, takes their SY-6BA, one of the first motherboards with 5 PCI slots, and puts it through two major revisions? The SY-6BA was already a pretty good board, so Soyo was not just fixing problems when they were making those revisions. Nevertheless, they were making some major improvements. So what did they spend all their time on? Well, Soyo has thrown in just about every feature that the AnandTech staff is always harping on other boards for not including. From bus speeds to voltages, it's all there with the SY-6BA+III.

New Anand Tech Report Card Rating
88/B+

Do not compare newer ratings to older ones, the newer ratings are much more aggressive

The Good

At a glance, it's impossible to tell the SY-6BA+III apart from the earlier members of the SY-6BA. The components and layout are virtually identical, but there are some difference when you look closely. The 5/2/1 (PCI/ISA/AGP) slot configuration remains. Along with a full 4 DIMM slots, expansion options are plentiful.

The ATX specification is also closely followed for the most part, with all major components strategically placed to minimize cable clutter and provide the most room to work around the board. All HDD/FDD connectors are located where they should be, right at the front of the board, so that no cables are forced to run over the CPU and/or memory. The ATX power connector is placed right behind the CPU, which can require some complicated cable routing that may impede air flow. The board uses a standard ATX format, but is fairly short - just a bit longer than an ISA slot - and should fit just fine in any ATX case.

Three fan connectors are available - two right next to the CPU slot, and one at the left front of the board. Ten 1000uF capacitors are located immediately around the CPU slot with several other capacitors sparsely placed all over the board. The virtually standard green heatsink is mounted via spring clips and is adorned with the Soyo logo. A built in fold down CPU retention mechanism comes preinstalled on the board and will hold any Celeron, Pentium II, or Pentium III CPU.