The frontside bus settings deserve another look. Motherboards have supported 133MHz before, but the VIA Apollo Pro chipset offers AGP and PCI dividers to keep your components running well within their specs.

Another point of interest is the jumperless setup. While the overclocking possibilities invited by a BIOS controlled frequency setting are virtually endless, the BIOS only allows you to go up to 10% beyond the CPU's default voltage setting. While this is a great safety mechanism, 2.3V is sometimes necessary to coax some Celeron's into going that extra mile and is 15% out of spec.

Now that we are seeing more motherboards coming out equipped with UDMA/66 connectors, we can start to take advantage of the great new hard drives coming out. Unlike the few boards out now with UDMA/66 support, the Soyo board does it without added cost. This means added performance without the added price - a definite plus.

Installing the Soyo 6VBA 133 was a breeze. Requiring only one reboot and a CD-ROM drive, we found the install to be somewhat easier than what we have experienced from other recent mainboards. The jumperless BIOS makes the hardware part of the setup even easier and our only gripe is the lack of a full printed manual.

Soyo, like many mainboard companies of late, has opted to include a "Quick Start Guide" with the 6VBA as opposed to a full printed manual. The fully detail manual is then included on a bundled CD. While this may be good for the rainforests, it's not too great when the computer won't boot and you need some answers.