Soyo K7VTA Pro

The K7VTA Pro had no stability problems during the three days of testing. This stability is helped by the addition of the fan on the North Bridge and the dip switch overclocking jumper design. The layout of the K7VTA Pro is easy to work with with ample room around the socket to apply the heatsink.

The downside to the K7VTA Pro is the competition. We have already claimed two Editor Choice Awards for the VIA KT133A chipset, the Abit KT7A RAID and the IWill KK266. Without having an onboard RAID controller, Soyo really should have added a 6th PCI slot to the board. The stability theory about having the DIP swithces on the motherboard, instead of the bios, makes some sense, but for now for ease of use, these options really should be added in the bios to keep up with current generation motherboards. The Voice Doctor, though a good idea, probably should be scratched or improved, as it just doesn't seem to work very well. Finally with a price around $150, Soyo may have a hard time selling the board to users because of once again, the competition. Without the added features of a 6th PCI slot and onboard RAID, along with the lack of an overclocking bios, the $150 price tag may be a little steep.