Took the plunge on Soyo 6VBA..

[awwall]

Well...I did it. Ordered the new Soyo 6VBA.

Was wondering if any of you guys had gotten yours yet and had any pointers?

Will be running this one with P3 450 and hoping for some decent overclocking numbers.

[bdog]

I ordered the mobo and it is nice. It also comes with some good norton software. I gave in and bought a new case for it yesterday. I can't wait until the hd I ordered comes in so that I can fire it up.

[awwall]

Thanks for reply bdog.

I take it then you have not yet fired the board up and run any tests. I was torn between it and the 6BA+4 as others are from what I read here. What finally sold me was the PCI and AGP port freq. control. I really did not need the additional IDE ports.

aw

[bdog]

I haven't fired it up yet, but reading through the manual it has some awesome features. You can run your chip at 133 fsb, and have your memory at 100. This is what sold me. Also the 1/2 agp divider is great. I will hopefully unning at 142 fsb, while having everything within spec.

[dawgtuff]

Still waitin' for mine.

[bdog]

Hey guys, when you get your new 6vba's, head over to soyo's website. They released new drivers today that are supposed to help agp probs and busmastering.

[socalgal]

And it would be great if you all post in User Reviews too! /forum/wink.gif

[MaxVal]

Hi all!
I put together a 6VBA system a couple of weeks ago. The results were a bit disapointing.
I was hoping to use a Celeron 400 with the 90Mhz setting for 540mhz. Only after receiving the board and reading the manual carefully did I realize that the board will only boot at 3 jumper selectable speeds- 66, 100, and 133. The next surprise was that the three jumper setings limit the software selectible settings to bands of frequencies. Only when starting the OS boot does the board turn over control of the front side bus to software. These discoveries killed my desired over clock because in order to utilize the 90 mhz seting, I would have to boot the BIOS at 600mhz!! Unfortunatly, my Celeron wouldn't do it. I had to settle for the 66mhz boot, then the jump to 78mhz (my SCSI card didi not like the boosted PCI freq.), making me settle for 460mhz.
I immediately picked up a 366 that I could boot at 550, then run at 520 (5.5X95).
All was still not well. I had originaly used a PCI Creative Banshee card to get the system going. I then tried to change to an AGP expert 99. All I got for my trouble were the dreaded video failure beeps! I tried two more AGP cards, all with no video. After contacting tech support, no solution was found!
While playing with the system, I was disapointed with the performance of my IBM Deskstar 25. The numbers I was getting seemed significantly lower than those I got with the same disk on a BA6+III BX board!
There is a setting in the BIOS that enables you to run the system memory at a higher than clock speed, I chose to run my PC-133 SDRAM at 122mhz, making no detectible difference in system feel.
The board is now on it's way back to the vender for evaluation and hopefully, replacement.
My take on the whole experience is that I'll stay with the BX boards! The $25 that was saved by using the VIA chipset is canceled by the BIOS boot process and the apparant performance hit.
Please be advised that this is just one users oppinion!
MAX (nearly mad MAX!)

[bdog]

I finally got my hd in, and set up my new 6vba. I have a p3 450,alpha hs, sb live, viper770ultra, 128mb PC100, supra express modem, and ibm 13.5gb 7200rpm hd. I am very pleased with the board. I set it to boot at 133 mhz with 1/2 agp divider. This yields 600 mhz and it is rock stable(rc5 or descent3looping) I have cranked it up to 142 fsb (639mhz!!!!!) and it runs fine with ocassional lockups. I definitely recommend this mobo to anyone, especially for the low price.

[dawgtuff]

Just got my 6VBA today.It's going to be a few days before I set it up(gotta' work ya' know!).I'll be setting up with a PII-266/TNT 16 AGP/WD3.2 Caviar/Zoom 56k DualMode/ALS 100+ Sound.I know this "old" stuff,but I eventually want to upgrade to exactly what "Bdog" has.
BTW- Bdog,I take it your PIII-450(600) was accepted by the jumper settings. I didn't know this was a prereqisit as MaxVal said,nor did I read it in any of the reviews.Maybe SOYO jumped the gun on this board,and you have to have a fast system to really use the capabilities of this MB....time will tell I guess....I'll let ya'll know how it goes with my stuff.
P.S.SOCALGAL-I'll post a review on this MB for ya' when I'm finished.......DawgTuff.

[AuraEdge]

Im gunna get a PII 350 @ at least 497 (500 baby...maybe /forum/smile.gif), 64MB of RAM that will run at least 142 (by setting the RAM multi lower, I can eliminate RAM as a factor), a Diamond Banshee, SB AWE64, and some old 56k modem /forum/smile.gif. I wont be putting it together til i get a new case...either next show or if I can find one online. The ones with the PS besides the processor bother me cuz it bends my board cuz of my massive Alpha P125. Im just gunna wait...I got plenty things to keep me busy...

Say anyone know a good place to get a nice case that has the PS ABOVE the Processor? I just need a decent one, dont need an excellent one.

[socalgal]

Cool, DawgTuff, hope the build goes smoothly! /forum/smile.gif

[Bleeding Edge]

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/product_index/products.jpg
See the rail at the top, going from the back to the front where the drive cages are? Above the fan in the rear, behind the rail in the top left corner, is where the power supply will be located.

The lid is attached with two screws which can be replaced with thumb screws; available from PCPower&Cooling or at the local computer "shows". The top lid comes off, as well as the front face panel. The price is between $49~$59 without a power supply. Case details at: www.pcpowercooling.com/products/enclosures/economical/mid_tower/index_prsnl_mdtwr. htm (http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/enclosures/economical/mid_tower/index_prsnl_mdtwr.htm) There's a better picture of it there.

I found most mid-tower cases place the PS in this location tho. So your choices aren't limited.

~edit
AEdge. After re-reading your reply above, I'm not sure if I addressed your case requirements correctly. Even tho' the PS is above the CPU, in mid-tower cases, the PS will always be close to the motherboard near the CPU. The power supply placement in some full-tower and cube shaped cases can be further from the board depending on the design. But not any further than the length of a E-ATX (or some ATX ones) internal power connector wires.

I'll leave this up just in "case".

[This message has been edited by Bleeding Edge (edited 11-11-1999).]

[bdog]

There are jumpers on the mobo from which you can set it to boot at 66,100,or 133 fsb. Once it gets to the bios then soyo's soft menu takes over and you can set the fsb as you like. The only catch is that these jumpers determine the agp divider so that at 66 it is 1:1 and you can choose fsb's between 66 and 83, at 100 it is 2:3 and you can choose fsb's between 90 and 122 and at 133 it is 1:2 and you can choose fsb's from 124 to 155. I can see how this would be a disadvantage for some people, but if you are running at 133+ this board is hard to beat.

[AuraEdge]

Ya had it right the first time BEdge
The reason I didnt like the side PS's is that my alpha was too big for those cases, and it actually had to bend the CPU and board in a little to fit in. Its just..scary
Ill take a looks see.
I tend to like shows better cuz free shipping plus u get to see the case first hand, but the day ofthe next one, Im busy, and the next one after that is 3 weeks away

Is there any other ones besides marketpro in NJ?
Im gettin off topic so im gunna get back on it for a sec /forum/smile.gif

I can see how this jumpered AGP setting can be a real pain...Comparing the manual with my 6BA+III's its VERY skimp...hardly an issue after you stick together your first system tho.