Soyo 865PE Dragon 2 Plus

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>Enter the Dragon...P4 Style</h2>
 
While Soyo typically isn't the first name to jump out at people looking for motherboards, my experience with them has been good in regards to stability. While they have been around for years, they've not been in the limelight since the early Pentium III days and have had a hard time getting back up. Recently, PCChips has bought out Soyo, and it remains to be seen exactly what becomes of the company. However, it is highly likely it will become another company under PCChips like ECS.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bx.jpg">
 
Recently, Soyo and Newegg had a steal of a deal with a $75.00 rebate on the Soyo SY-865PE Dragon 2 Plus v1.0 motherboard. I don't know about you, but free is something that gets my attention. Anyway, looking at prices, its still one of the cheapest Socket 478 boards available on-line. This is Soyo's second attempt at a budget i865PE motherboard. By the looks of their original model, the v1.0 makes some massive changes for the better.
 
The 865PE Dragon 2 Plus (from now on 865PE D2+, or just D2+) is a pretty basic i865PE motherboard, much like the <a href="http://www.zone365.com/content/32/45/1">Abit IS7-E</a>. Socket 478 is dead more or less, but that doesn't mean the socket 478 motherboards are going to instantly vanish. While the i915/i925X chipsets are Intel's brand new babies, they aren't quite mainstream yet. Additionally, the lack of the latest and greatest for PCI Express video cards and the lack of any real performance gains over the i865/i875, the new ones haven't quite taken off yet. 'Tis the price of having the latest and greatest sometimes. For the average person, Socket 478 is still a viable option.
 
Before diving into the review, let's take a quick look at what the D2+ has onboard.
<ul>
<li>i865PE + ICH5
<li>4x 184-pin DIMM slots, 4GB of PC3200 max
<li>1x AGP 8x/4x slot
<li>5x PCI slots
<li>2x IDE
<li>2x SATA
<li>1x Floppy
<li>Realtek RTL8100C 10/100Mbps
<li>CMI 9761A audio codec
<li>PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports
<li>1x RJ45
<li>4x USB 2.0 ports
<li>1x Parallel port
<li>1x Serial port
<li>ATX form factor
</ul>
 
Accessories included:

<ul>
<li>1x Quick start manual
<li>1x IDE ribbon cable
<li>1x Floppy ribbon cable
<li>1x SATA cable
<li>1x custom IO shield
<li>1x Driver CD
<li>1x App CD
</ul>

 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-acc.jpg">
 
Soyo leaves only the bare essentials with the motherboard. While most of that is fine, the included manual is almost worthless. While there is some setup instructions, they are vauge and the BIOS setup gets a single page. I know they're trying to save money, but this is going a little far in my opinion.

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>Layout</h2>
 
The D2+, again, is a pretty plain motherboard. Although Soyo did spice it up a little with the colored PCI and DIMM slots, they decided to forgo using their typical black PCB. The brown PCB with the purple PCI slots doesn't make this board aesthetically pleasing, but I don't think that's the first think on Soyo's mind.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-mb.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-antis.jpg">
 
Starting off with the socket area, the area around it is clean, except for the capacitors along one side and the 12V 4-pin power connector. The caps could be an issue if someone used a larger aftermarket heatsink, but I don't see this as being a problem for most considering the target market.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-nbskt.jpg">
 
The I/O panel is pretty lean, cutting out one serial port as possible preparation for an i865G implementation.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-iopan.jpg">
 
The northbridge is passively cooled by a large heatsink. Nothing really exciting, but the lack of a fan is a plus for those who love silence and it likely saves money. It does work, as it did get a bit warm during heavy use, but never hot.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-nb.jpg">
 
The DIMM slots are color coded like nearly every i865/i875 motherboard on the market. In front of them lie the IDE, floppy, and 20-pin ATX power connector. This board is definitely full-tower friendly.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-idedimm.jpg">
 
While the D2+ is pretty well laid out, Soyo fumbles with the DIMM placement. With the 5 PCI/1 AGP slot configuration it uses, there is no reason why there should be an AGP/DIMM issue on any motherboard. Unfortunately, Soyo doesn't seem to get this.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-agpdimm.jpg">
 
As previously mentioned, the D2+ has 5 PCI slots and 1 AGP. Soyo employs a different retention mechanism for the AGP slot than most motherboards out there. The locking mechanism slides and is a lot slicker implementation than the typical RAM-style retention clip. The purple PCI slots do add a little flair to the board, but let's face it, they're PCI slots. For some reason, Soyo has also decided to include a CNR slot---which is pretty much useless 99.9% of the time due to the cards being software controlled.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-pciagp.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-agp0.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-agp1.jpg">
 
The SATA ports are close by the ICH5 that powers them. Neighboring the SATA ports is the BIOS and the CMOS battery. While the D2+ is a budget board, Soyo has gone ahead and used a socketed BIOS chip instead of soldering it on.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-ich.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bios.jpg">
 
The Realtek RTL8100C 10/100 NIC provides the LAN operation here. As with most i865PE board, Soyo has not opted to make use of the CSA option, but the Realtek NIC should get the job done for most people.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-nic.jpg">
 
Down further lies the CMI9761A audio codec chip to provide some basic audio. Beside it is a header for an optional front audio setup. While the 865 D2+ is a jumperless design, the jumpers on the audio headers are extended and make things much easier to work with, especially once the board is inside the case.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-cmi.jpg">
 
Lastly, the D2+ sports 2 extra USB headers for an additional 4 USB ports. One of the 3 fan headers available is down here as well as the front panel connectors.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-fpan.jpg">
 
Soyo has done an overall very good job with the layout, and the biggest issue in my mind is the placement of the DIMM slots. Let's see how the BIOS stacks up.

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>BIOS</h2>
 
An AMI BIOS is what Soyo used for the D2+. While most boards do use the Award-style BIOS, there's nothing inherantly wrong with AMI. However, it doesn't seem to be quite as popular.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp_bmain.jpg">
 
A quick peek inside the standard CMOS setup shows that the ICH5 provided SATA channels are visible here.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp_bcmos.jpg">
 
Going to the advance CMOS setup menu, you can adjust the boot order and set the few memory tweaks are available.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp_badv.jpg">
 
The Features menu isn't anything we haven't seen before with settings for the onboard devices. At the bottom, you will notice a setting for the SATA controllers. Unfortunately, between the lack of documentation on the BIOS and the poorly labled setting, you wouldn't know that setting this option to "Disable" not only disables the SATA controller, but the IDE ports as well. I spent several minutes wondering why my hard drive and DVD drive no longer showed up because of this.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp_bfeat.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp_bfsata.jpg">
 
Going right along with the rest of the BIOS, the Plug and Play menu is also rather brief.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp_bpnp.jpg">
 
On the D2+'s box, overclocking is listed as a feature. This is your overclocking menu...pretty sad. With a Pentium 4 "B" chip (533MHz FSB Northwood core), you top out at 165MHz. I know for a fact my 2.4B can hit 174MHz on my Abit IS7-E. Additionally, there is no voltage adjustments or means to lock the AGP and PCI busses, which could mean a very quick end to any overclocking. It's obvious that Soyo's definition of overclocking is quite different than what most people think of.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp_bcpuoc.jpg">
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp_bcpuoc1.jpg">
 
Lastly, the PC Health menu covers the 3.3V and 5V rails, and both the temperature and fan speeds (as available) for the CPU and chassis. I am puzzled as to why the 12V rail wasn't listed here.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp_bhealth.jpg">
 
While it's not the end of the world, Soyo has a boot image and apparently no way to disable it. Personally, I find it annoying, as I suspect several people will as well. However, that's not the biggest problem with the BIOS. It's not even the BIOS itself. It's the lack of documentation for it that is downright infuriating, and something Soyo needs remedy immediately. Regardless of the market, devoting a single page to the BIOS is asinine.

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>Benchmarking</h2>
 
System setup
<ul>
<li>Soyo SY-865PE Dragon 2 Plus v1.0
<li>Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz (Northwood B)/533MHz FSB
<li>2 x 256MB PC3200 (DDR400) Kingston ValueRAM
<li>PNY GeForce 4 Ti4600
<li>Maxtor 40GB, 5400RPM hard drive
<li>Toshiba 6x DVD-ROM
<li>Antec PP352X Power Supply (350W)
</ul>
 
Software and Drivers
<ul>
<li>SiSoft Sandra
<li>ID Software's Quake 3 Demo
<li>Futuremark's 3DMark 2001SE build 330
<li>Clibench
<li>ScienceMark 2.0
<li>nVidia driver 52.16
<li>Intel INF 5.0.1006
<li>Cmedia driver 5.12.01.0042
</ul>
 
I am also using previously obtained results from the <a href="http://www.zone365.com/content/32/32/1">MSI 865P Neo</a> and the <a href="http://www.zone365.com/content/32/45/1">Abit IS7-E</a> as a reference. Since there are some differences in the hardware and driver configurations, this factors into the margin of error.
 
Quake 3
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bq3.jpg">
 
Right out of the gate, Soyo isn't looking too good, and falling close to 30 frames per second behind the Abit and MSI boards.
 
3D Mark 2001SE
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-b3dmk.jpg">
 
Again, the Soyo board comes in dead last. While there are some different factors between the tested configurations, I don't see anything that should make this much of an impact.
 
Sandra 2004
 
Arithmatic
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bsanarith.jpg">
 
Well, things are shaping up a little better for Soyo here, coming ahead of Abit's IS7-E instead of behind it.
 
Multimedia
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bsanmulti.jpg">
 
Soyo slips a little, but the difference between the scores is minimal, and sometimes within a margin of error.
 
Memory Bandwith
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bsanmem.jpg">
 
It looks like Soyo has some work to do with the memory performance here, which likely explains the results seen earlier under both Quake 3 and 3DMark 2001.

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>Benchmarking, Continued</h2>
 
Clibench
 
Due to problems with the Game Accelerator feature in it's BIOS, I was unable to obtain results with this feature enabled on the Abit IS7-E.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bcli1.jpg">
 
Similar to Sandra, the Whetstone and Dhrystone results are nearly identical among the three Springdale boards.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bcli2.jpg">
 
The second set it kind of a mixed bag for all three boards here, none really holding the same position in both tests.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bcli3.jpg">
 
Here again, we see a very tight set of scores. As far as CPU performance is concerned, it doesn't look like the 856PE Dragon 2 Plus v1.0 is hurting at all.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bcli4.jpg">
 
In the final test, the memory bandwith between all three boards is identical, unlike the results shown in Sandra.
 
Science Mark 2.0
 
The MSI board was unavailable for testing here, thus no results are available to publish.
 
Memory Bandwith
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bsm1.jpg">
 
Across the board, Abit's IS7-E leads Soyo, particularly in the memory benchmark. I had some trouble getting results for the IS7-E with the Game Accelerator enabled, so they aren't available.
 
Cipher
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp-bsm2.jpg">
 
The Soyo board is just a hair faster than the Abit until you enable the Game Accelerator. Here, lower is better, and that's what Abit's tweak has.

Big B · Dec 13, 2006

<h2>Conclusion</h2>
Onboard sound
 
I usually don't get around to testing the onboard sound, but this time I have. I played different tracks enconded in 128-bit .WMA format from The Donnas, Papa Roach, Ludacris, 311, Breaking Benjamin, and Dust for Life. With the C-Media 9761A being a mere codec, I really wasn't expecting much, but it actually is pretty good. It's been sometime since I've used a C-Media product, and at that point, they didn't have a software equalizer--seriously hurting the possible sound a user could get. This time, they have remedied that.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp--ads1.jpg">
 
Throughout playback, Task Manager didn't go above 5% except for a few times and only then just briefly. I listened through a pair of Altec Lansing AHP-5 headphones, which are a little bit above average for headphones. However, the sound was still very good.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp--ads2.jpg">
 
The software equalizer has a good selection of presets, but I strangely found the jazz setting to work best. Note that most of what I was listening to was rock, with some rap thrown in, so using the jazz preset seems odd. Still, despite this, the average person will find the sound quality more than enough with the 9761A.
 
<img src="http://www.zone365.com/new_images/98/s8dp--ads3.jpg">
 
Overclocking
 
Without voltage adjustments and a cap of 165MHz, I know full well I won't be hitting the maximum OC of my 2.4B chip. I got up to 163MHz on the FSB, and any higher would rapidly produce errors in Prime 95. Additionally, the onboard codec was no longer initialized, and is a good indication that Soyo has not locked the AGP and PCI busses. With all this, I'm amazed that I didn't run into hard drive corruption, since the PCI bus was running around 40MHz.
 
Final Words
 
Once again, Soyo leaves me with mixed feelings. On one hand, the layout is just about damn near perfect. First the 12V auxillary connectors positioning does require you to route a cable over the CPU, but Soyo is just one company in a list that frequently does this. The other minor problem is the placement of the DIMM slots. With a standard 5 PCI/1 AGP slot configuration, there's really no reason why there should be an AGP/DIMM conflict. Lastly, Soyo should remember that CNR slots never really caught on and needs to drop them entirely because they're just not useful. Having said that, the rest of the layout is clean and easy to work with. A passive heatsink is used, but the i865PE MCH doesn't get warm enough to need one, so this is perfectly fine.
 
Soyo has done an impressive job with the layout of the board. While I do realize this is targeted as a budget board, the manual is far too brief, especially with regards to the BIOS. Add to that the only manual included is a quick start manual, and you do start to wonder. While I really liked the layout of the BIOS, the lack of any explanation of the settings is more than just annoying. I am not a novice, but considering that the labels of certain BIOS settings differ from company to company, I find the lack of documentation frustrating.
 
While Soyo displays overclocking on the SY-865PE Dragon 2 Plus box, having a 31MHz range for the FSB to scale without voltage adjustments for starters is hardly what I'd call overclocking options. While I've not been able to prove it, I do have reason to believe that the PCI and AGP busses are not locked, and obviously not user adjustable. Additionally, the lack of memory tweaks have probably hurt the performance of this board some. If Soyo were to add some of these options, especially the CPU voltage and at the very least lock the PCI and AGP bus (and leave some means to tell), this probably would do okay.
 
The SY-865PE Dragon 2 Plus v1.0 is a pretty good performer. While it's not a speed demon, it's not a slouch either. The memory performance could be a little better, but I think that could be remedied with a BIOS update. The main things that hurt it overall are the BIOS and the manual. Pricing puts this board at about the same as Abit's IS7-E, which does have a very robust BIOS, and some extra tweaks that allows it to pull ahead to i875P levels. I feel that Soyo is partially relying on their name to sell stuff. Unfortunately their presentation leaves a bit to be desired for the price.
 
Final Score
 
3.5 out of 5.

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