Soyo's SY-K7VTA - KT133 Motherboard
AMD Socket A Technology From Soyo, Solid As A Rock

By, Dave "Davo" Altavilla
10 / 25 / 2000

 
A little more business performance here and then some pleasure...
 
 
Benchmarks - Winbench and Quake3 on the Sy-K7VTA
Completing the picture...

Winbench 99 ( soon to be Winbench 2000/2001 hopefully) will dig deeper for us into CPU, FPU and Disk performance.  Click for full view.

 

Our database of AMD based performance is a little light but for comparison you can look here to see where this board stacks up in this test.  In the chart reference on that page, the Athlon 750 score was taken from a Slot A chip and a VIA based KX133 board.  It is clear to see that the KT133 and Socket A Athlon or T-Bird as it is affectionately known, really cranks out the numbers well and shows off the advances made in the platform since the original release of the Athlon.  Overall these are excellent scores.

Finally, before we wrap this piece up, here's what the Gamer in you can expect from this board and just for kicks, we coupled it with a GeForce 2 Ultra 64MB card.

Quake3 Time Demo:


 

Not too shabby for a processor that lists for around $115 on line.  Of course the GeForce 2 Ultra will set you back big time.  Again, just for reference, look at the top chart on this page to see how the SY-K7VTA and T-Bird 750 stack up against a P3-866.  You'll see the Ultra as well as other cards listed here.  We think you'll agree that these numbers a very respectable.

 

The SY-K7VTA is a well rounded Socket A offering from Soyo.  The KT133 chipset has many of today's latest features and interfaces, with the exception of ATA100.  We were very impressed with the high quality construction of the K7VTA and it's stability was absolutely within the top 2% of all the AMD based product we have ever tested.

For overall performance, this board also shines well clock for clock against its counterparts.  In addition System Integrators will appreciate its unique "Voice Doctor" feature for easy diagnosis of a problem or incorrect setup.  However, Power Users and steadfast "Over-Clockers" may find this board a little light with respect to its abilities beyond standard specifications.  Also, an additional 6th. PCI slot would really do it justice.

We think the Soyo SY-K7VTA deserves a Heat Meter Rating of...

Thanks again to our friends at PCNut for the AMD "hook-up" in this review!

Get into the Hot Hardware Conference Room and Get Your Game On!