Review : Soyo P4X400 DRAGON Ultra Platinum Edition

Tonight on HotHardware.Com we're going to take a look at a motherboard from Soyo that is powered by VIA's controversial P4X400 DDR chipset for the Pentium 4. If you've been on top of the hardware scene, you may know that Intel and VIA have been locked in a heated battle over the legality of VIA's P4X series of chipsets. Intel alleges that VIA does not hold the necessary licenses to produce chipsets for the P4, while VIA claims they obtained the licenses in their acquisition of S3. Regardless of who is "right", the ongoing litigation between these two companies has turned many of the large motherboard manufactures away from the P4X chipsets. Soyo, however, is not one of them.

With the P4X400 DRAGON Ultra Platinum Edition, Soyo has a very compelling motherboard in their Socket 478 lineup, that should appease feature hungry OEMs, and hardcore enthusiasts alike. This board offers AGP8X, DDR333 and DDR400 memory support (at least according to Soyo), jumper-less configuration and a host of overclocking options. On paper, the the P4X400 DRAGON Ultra is a clear winner, but as you all know, paper specs mean absolutely nothing if the product doesn't work as advertised. What do you say we get this motherboard on the test bench and see how she performs?