Well, wild and crazy for motherboard manufacturers, anyway.

Concerned that their products have become a commodity item, many companies are trying to distinguish their mobos with inclusions that would have been considered radical a year or two ago. A classic example is Soyo's DRAGON line, which we have reviewed extensively. A more recent example is Abit's MAX line, which we have also looked at in detail. These boards bundle in on-board RAID, Ethernet and audio, gobs of USB ports, and in some cases even 3.5" bay media readers. This is not your father's motherboard.

Now VIA, known best for the chipsets that go on the motherboards, is getting into the act, as well. The P4PB Ultra is a Pentium 4 board based on VIA's P4X400 chipset. In addition to the fun that the P4X400 brings to the table (8X AGP, ATA-133, USB 2.0 and even unofficial DDR400 support) the P4PB Ultra offers up its own frivolity in the form of extra bundled goodies. But is the package enough to make the P4PB Ultra competitive in the crowded motherboard market? Read on to find out.