As you'd expect from the highly refined Intel 440BX chipset the performance results of the SY-6IBM were within 2% of the last three 440BX boards Sharky Extreme has tested. We encountered no strange abnormalities while running and testing the Micro ATX form-factor board, nor did we notice overheating while testing the video accelerator. Soyo has wisely included a heatsink on the Rage128VR chip to guarantee stability, in our own experience with Rage128s previously we've found no stability issues whether the chip was heatsink-equipped or not. It is nice to know however that the Rage128 is indeed taken care of on the SY-6IBM, no need to sweat that your ten-hour long Q2 deathmatch will result in a machine lock up.

In regards to overclocking the SY-6IBM, we found that Soyo's BIOS controllable CPU settings were again up to task, as we've seen with their SY-6BA+ mainboard previously.

Users can opt to select a variety of front side bus speeds as well as CPU clock multipliers up to a 7.0x maximum, the SY-6IBM includes enough options to even take care of the upcoming 600MHz .18micron Coppermine P3 CPU from Intel. (provided that the owner uses PC133 SDRAM of course)

Stability while overclocked was very good with the board in general, as it handled the 133MHz FSB speed without hesitation or lockup.

Overclocking still really comes down to your CPU's yield quality, but the mainboard is an area that more focus should be placed on.