Gaming desktop computer

SOYO Group, Inc. (OTCBB:SOYO), a manufacturer of award-winning motherboards, computer peripheral, barebones systems and wireless networking products, has rolled out a pair of motherboards for Athlon 64 processors with many embedded features, advanced technologies and overclocking capabilities.

SOYO's SY-K8USA DRAGON Ultra and SY-CK8 DRAGON Plus optimize the AMD64 CPU architecture and deliver a complete solution for gaming, video/wireless networks and office environments. Both boards are capable of running 64-bit software as well as 32-bit X86 applications.

SOYO motherboards based on AMD's 64-bit architecture enhance PC performance because they support larger amounts of memory than current AMD Athlon 32-bit chips. With added memory support, performance for memory-hungry applications such as 3D games, broadcast-quality video, and the transmission of high-bandwidth date are also boosted.

The SY-K8USA employs AMD 8151 chipset. The SY-K8USA features the new HyperTransport bus, a next generation link bus that can reach up to 6.4GB/sec to K8 CPU side and up to 1.6GB/sec to Ali's south bridge side in bandwidth. The AMD 8151 brings a high-performance and cost-effective solution for PC system designers.

The SY-K8USA DRAGON Ultra supports up to 2GB (3-184 pin DDR sockets) of DDR266/333/400 memory, which increases processor speed and accelerates the memory bandwidth.

The board is expandable with five 32-bit Bus Mastering PCI slots (V2.2 compliant) and includes one AGP PRO slot (support up to 8x mode) for smooth and realistic graphics.

SOYO has embedded Surround Sound capability and Gigabit LAN performance on the SY-K8USA. The embedded on board CMI 9739 hardware audio chipset provides a 6-channel audio solution for true Surround Sound effects. Gigabit LAN performance is achieved with VIA's embedded VT6120 Giga LAN chip to provide 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet functionality. With networking bandwidth of 1 Gigabit, users can easily download MP3 and AVI data and distribute the information to locally networked PCs.

Both Serial ATA and RAID Level 0/1 are standard features on SOYO's SY-K8USA with ALi's embedded M5283 RAID chip, which provides 2 channel Serial ATA and one channel Parallel ATA with RAID Level 0/1.

The ATX form factor board includes a total of six USB 2.0 ports (4 rear, 2 pin headers), and three IEEE 1394 Firewire ports (1 rear, 2 pin headers) for quick and easy connections to multimedia peripherals. The IEEE1394 Firewire interface enhances PC connectivity with consumer electronic appliances such as DVD players/recorders, DV cameras, and storage peripherals. List price of the SY-K8USA DRAGON Ultra is $189.

SOYO's SY-CK8 DRAGON Plus is the company's first motherboard to feature nVidia's nForce3 150 (CK8) single chip solution chipset. The nForce3 chipset includes embedded RAID Level 0/1, and supports provide 2 channel Serial ATA and one channel Parallel ATA.

SOYO's SY-CK8 DRAGON Plus supports up to 3GB (3-184 pin DDR sockets) of memory, which increases processor speed, and accelerates the memory bandwidth. The ATX form factor board is expandable with three Bus Mastering ATA E-IDE PCI slots, three independent channels for six IDE devices, and one AGP PRO slot (support up to 8x mode).

SOYO has also embedded Surround Sound on the SY-CK8 DRAGON Plus, which saves valuable expansion slots. The embedded on board CMI 9739 AC97 audio chipset provides a 6-channel audio solution. On board 10/100 Ethernet is also included. List price of the SY-CK8 DRAGON Plus is $139.

Both boards come with all the standard I/O's such as PS/2 (for mouse and keyboard), two serial RS-232 ports, a parallel printer port, Serial ATA, six USB 2.0 ports (4 rear, 2 pin header), one FDD port and an FIR infrared port.

SOYO has also integrated many smart overclocking and enhanced PC monitoring features into the SY-CK8 DRAGON Plus. Users can customize their boards to specific applications by adjusting the CPU FSB, core voltage & multiplier, and memory and AGP Pro voltages. Component safety features include, on-board voltage monitors, CPU fan speed monitor, CPU temperature monitoring through flexible thermal sensor and CPU overheating sensors.