The chips behind the board
The SY-P4X400 DRAGON Ultra is powered by VIA's P4X400 chipset, which you can read more about in our most recent Pentium 4 chipset comparison. The P4X400 features support for AGP 8X, USB 2.0, Ethernet, and DDR333 memory. The chipset also supports DDR400 memory in single or two-DIMM configurations, unofficially.

Clear, active cooling for the north bridge

An attractive translucent fan and silver heat sink adorns the north bridge chip and fits nicely with the board's aesthetic. The north bridge fan doesn't make much noise, but the heat sink is rather short, which makes me question just how hot the north bridge will get if the fan fails.

To take care of networking and audio, SOYO includes RealTek's popular RTL8100B 10/100 Ethernet and C-Media's CMI8738-MX 6-channel audio chips on the board. I can understand passing over the integrated audio that VIA has offered in the P4X400, but why motherboard manufacturers continue to use auxiliary Ethernet chips is beyond me. (VIA includes an Ethernet controller in its south bridge chips.) Do they all have huge stockpiles of RTL8100B chips to clear out before everyone goes with Gigabit Ethernet?

As far as audio fidelity goes, C-Media's 6-channel chip is about as good as RealTek's ALC 650, which is also popular among motherboard manufacturers. How satisfied you are by the on-board audio will largely depend on what kind of speakers you're running and just how picky your ears are. Remember, 128K MP3s don't sound really good on anything.

IDE RAID goodness

IDE RAID is one peripheral that no one has sought to incorporate into core logic chipsets, so SOYO uses HighPoint's 372 on the SY-P4X400 DRAGON Ultra. The chip supports two channels of IDE RAID in RAID 1, 0, and 0+1 configurations, and has appeared on countless motherboards in the last year. HighPoint now offers a four-channel HPT374 chip, but two-channel RAID is probably more than enough for the vast majority integrated applications.

Extra goodies
In addition to a thick manual, driver CD, and standard IDE cables, SOYO bundles a few extras with the P4X400. Before we get into the extras, I've got to pick a nit about the included IDE cables. It's obvious that SOYO has put a lot of effort into making its DRAGON motherboards look unique, but the standard IDE ribbons that come with the boards starkly contrast the otherwise visually attractive package. I'm not a huge fan of buying PC components based on looks, but if SOYO is halfway down the aesthetic route already, why not go all the way with a set of tricked out cables?

It's the little things

SOYO is the only motherboard manufacturer I know of that includes thermal compound with its motherboard bundles, which is nice to see. Chances are you're going to need a little thermal compound when setting up a new motherboard, even if you're moving components over from a previous system. Simply the act of removing a processor's heat sink can smudge, streak, or otherwise degrade an existing thermal compound application, so I recommend re-applying the goo for each new installation.

If you're into software, copies of Norton AntiVirus 2002, Ghost 2002, and WinDVD highlight the SY-P4X400 DRAGON Ultra software bundle. A coupon for Mushkin DDR400 memory is also included in the box, though the coupon doesn't say how much of a discount you'll get, and is only valid "while supplies last."