The Soyo P4I875P Plus Dragon 2 is at the top of the Soyo Pentium 4 line, and has all the features you'd expect in a high-end i875P motherboard. These include Gigabit LAN, 5.1 audio, Firewire, along with Parallel ATA RAID (Highpoint) and Serial ATA (4x) RAID (2x ICH5R, 2X Silicon Image). There are four DDR sockets, and the board features a basic 1 AGP/5 PCI layout.
Soyo has also included a high-end overclocking BIOS and a nice selection of added accessories like the SB-P4IP BayOne control module, which features two USB 2.0 ports, two Firewire posts, and three flash memory slots. This has been standard equipment on the Soyo Platinum models, and when mounted in a 3.5" or 5.25" (with included bracket) it can really open up a lot of features through the front of your PC. Overall, the Soyo P4I875P Plus Dragon 2 is another fully-featured, high-end motherboard that really lives up to the DRAGON name.
The Soyo P4I875P Plus Dragon 2 retail box includes the motherboard, one Floppy cable, three ATA-66/100/133 cables, four SATA cables, an I/O Shield, an audio bracket, a SB-P4IP BayOne unit, a driver CD, a Norton 8-in1 Bonus Pack CD (Ghost, A/V, Firewall, etc.), one pack of thermal grease, a Quick Start Guide, a BayOne install booklet, a 140-page hardcopy user manual, and a nifty Soyo Dragon case sticker. This is obviously an incredibly robust selection of hardware and software, and consistent with previous high-end Dragon configurations.
The overall layout of the P4I875P Plus Dragon 2 is quite good, with the CPU and DDR sockets positioned well, and the primary ATX power connector nicely situated at the top-right of the board. The floppy drive sits directly just below this, and allows the P4I875P Plus Dragon 2 to be easily used in larger tower cases. The Parallel ATA connectors are on the bottom right, perpendicular to the AGP/PCI slots, and with the first set of Serial ATA ports adjacent. The Secondary IDE ports are at the bottom of the motherboard, with both the Parallel and Serial ATA connectors sitting near PCI slots 4 and 5. It's tough to find much wrong with the basic layout choices Soyo has made, though there are a few niggling details.
The first issue is the secondary ATX power connector, which is adjacent to the ATX backplate, and not as well-placed as the other main components. This brought our power cord a bit too close to the CPU, and we prefer that both power cords be attached to the right side of the board. The DDR sockets are not color coded for dual-channel installation, which means a quick trip to the manual if you're not sure of the alignment.
The overall layout of the P4I875P Plus Dragon 2 makes it a dream to install, and other than the secondary ATXC power cord, it may have been the most seamless i875P install we performed. Everything just fits on this Soyo board, and we were able to easily install the CPU, memory and peripherals without issue, and it's also a full-sized ATX model, so no board overhang. The software install progressed the same way, with Windows XP Pro and the various software drivers loading up with a hiccup.
Soyo high-end Dragon models have long been known for their overclocking, and the P4I875P Plus Dragon 2 is certainly no exception. It features 1 MHz overclocking, along with access to CPU core, AGP and DDR voltage options and AGP/PCI bus locking and overclocking. Add in a 532 MHz max DDR overclock speed, and we're off to the races. The System BIOS is a joy to use, with the only potential improvements being a higher maximum CPU core voltage level. Soyo still has all the pieces necessary for a nice overclock, but true enthusiasts may want to take their Pentium 4 voltage to the outer limits.
The Soyo P4I875P Plus Dragon 2 offers an incredible array of features and options, not to mention one of the most complete retail packs in the roundup. All this does come at a price, but surprisingly, the Soyo Dragon 2 name doesn't carry the same premium as in other models, and overall street prices are within striking distance of the ASUS, MSI and DFI i875P models. This adds up to a pretty good value for high-end buyers, and although performance could be higher with Soyo models, the P4I875P Plus Dragon 2 is still a great option for home or gaming use.
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