Soyo K7V Dragon+

[chottoED]

mine came from taiwan...
i've got a feeling it only works w/ SIM cards from asia... oh well hehe

[Buzz]

he he... that might be... dont need the sim card thingy... need the USB ports
but im not sure if i connected the damn thing correctly... red line goes from pin1 to pin1 right?

[Bigal]

Buzz:

I'm new to this forum - I was in the amdmb.com forum for a while until my wife realized that I wasn't spending quality time with her. Anyway, I have the Soyo K7V Dragon Plus on order, due to arrive in 2 days (Thursday). I didn't really pay attention to the SIM reader feature. I'm not sure that I've seen a SIM card anyhow. What devices use this interface?

[chottoED]

the specific type of reader that comes w/ the DRAGON+ is a SIM reader for the smartcards used in GSM phones...
even if you don't use the SIM reader, you can still take advantage of the 2 USB ports it has

[Bigal]

chottoED:

Yeah, now I remember the SIM card - "something" identity module. This contains the users billing information, so that they can use any GSM phone to make calls. Well, if I was living in Europe, that might be useful, but out here - oh well. Like you said, the USB ports will come in handy.

Thanks.

[chottoED]

actually... GSM is available in the states...
voicestream and cingular i believe uses it

[Bigal]

Well, maybe I should look into it. We have that Cingular Family talk plan, where two phones share the same account (using separate phone numbers). I don't have a phone with the SIM card though. Thanks for the information.

Man, I'm waiting on that UPS guy today. My Soyo K7V Dragon Plus should be arriving soon....wait, oh no! I just checked the UPS tracking web site - "Resched. Delivery: Dec 21, 2001". Oh well, I can hold out until tomorrow!

[chottoED]

let us know on your opinion of the DRAGON+ when you receive it

[Bigal]

chottoED:

Wow. I am amazed at the quality of the Soyo K7V Dragon Plus. I knew it was good when I saw it at a computer show two weeks ago. It was covered in the anti-static wrap at the time, and I was checking the placement of my Kanie Type-W copper heatsink to see which boards were able to handle it. I originally wanted the Abit KR7A-RAID board, but the orientation of the socket meant that the overhang part of the Kanie Type-W heatsink would come right up against the parallel port. The Soyo board was one of a few (the Asus A7V266-E was another one) where the orientation of the socket was rotated 90 degrees, so the heatsink would come close to the power supply, and not the parallel port.

Anyway, back to the Soyo board. I mounted it in the pull-out tray of my Globalwin 802 case (heavily modified with a side window, rheostat fan bus, neon tube, Enermax 431 Watt power supply, satin black paint job inside, etc.), and was happy to see that I did in fact have 0.5 inches of clearance between the heatsink and the power supply. I don't have the Athlon XP processor yet, as I'm waiting on the 2000+ to be released in January. I also need a Geforce3 (maybe Ti500) videocard, and ideally, two 40 GB WD 7200 RPM hard drives. I'll probably start with a 40 GB Maxtor 5400 RPM drive that I got right after Thanksgiving for $60 (I couldn't pass that up!). To top it off, I received from GoogleGear a stick of Corsair PC2400 DDR SDRAM (CL2); that will be real nice once I start the overclocking process. Lucky for me, my order from High Speed PC (XP unlocking kit, anodized shim, and 60 mm fan grill) arrived yesterday too. I'm spending money, but I can't spend too much at any one time.

Back to the mounting of the Soyo board. I do have to cut a section out of the back of my case, if I want to mount the Kanie Type-W heatsink on the motherboard while the tray is out of the case. I need to remove about a 2 inch section, so the heatsink fins can pass through the back opening, but that section will be covered by the overhang of the tray (where it screws into the back of the case), so it won't be seen. I can deal with that. My problem will be to decide if I must attempt the mounting before or after the motherboard is put on the tray. Another thing is the power connector. All the reviews for this board complain about the location of the power connector (near the middle-rear of the board), but it is fine for me. The power supply connector, which is wrapped in the nylon loom, tucks nicely against the back of the case, and once I tie-wrap it in place, you won't even notice it. No problem at all for me.

You know, ordering through GoogleGear got me the free Soyo Dragon Plus T-Shirt too. That's going to be a Christmas present for my older boy (15). They are a pretty good outfit, and I'm happy with the speed of their processing and delivery. One last thing. My board does not have the "Plus" sticker on it, so it obviously is not an upgraded board (Dragon to Dragon Plus). I guess it's the luck of the draw. I do have a question about the bundled software - specifically Norton Ghost and AntiVirus. The CD sleeve states "The program in this CD may only execute on Soyo products. It may "NOT" be working on the other PC system." Ha Ha. This is a joke, right? Can't I install those two Norton products on another one of my Athlon systems without worry? Not that I would, of course....

Later dude. >?

[chottoED]

i'm glad you like the board
you board is actually one of 2 available versions... the first version (mine) is like yours, it is essentially the original DRAGON but w/ a kt266a chipset...the other has new capacitors as Buzz said earlier in this thread.
i'd say for your vid card upgrade, save some money and get a ti200 instead. i'm running mine at ti500 speeds.. actually 240/520
my 3dmark when i ran it last was at 8600+ (check out the vid card forums for more details)
google sounds like a cool place to shop... i think i'm gonna check it out..

[Bigal]

chottoED:

Well, I checked my version, and looked at the capacitors. I don't have the larger capacitors near the CPU socket, and I'm also missing the extra capacitor near the DIMM (3, not 1) socket. I have a picture of the motherboard that Buzz is refering too for reference. So there are two versions that each have the entire "K7V Dragon Plus!" silk-screened on the board, but you can tell them apart (silk-screen wise) by the different font used. My board has a fancy Italic-type font, where the board with the big capacitors (near the CPU) has a more standard font, and the word "DRAGON" is in capital letters. I did get the new CD, with the version 3.0 software. I guess the company is ramping up production of this board.

Regarding the Ti 200, I thought about that too. Right after Thanksgiving, Best Buy had one on sale for a hundred bucks (after rebates, etc.), but even though I arrived an hour before they opened up, the boards were gone (probably in 2 minutes). I'll be waiting until January for that device, just like the Athlon XP 2000+ CPU.

Ok, we're off to see Grandma. I'll check back tonight.

[outfits]

My Dragon+ has been up for 12 days now, solid as a rock. I'm still useing 4.35 4in1's and DX 7. After I run some benchmarks and do a backup I will load newer 4in1's and DX8. This is my first AMD build since my 386 and I very pleased with it. This system is FAST, I didn't think I would notice much on everyday tasks over my PIII but damn. My RC5 keyrate smokes as well. Speaking of RC5, team PC Abusers has only 2 people contributing. I know there are others doing various other distributed computing projects but out of this whole bbs only 2 doing RC5! We could sure use some help menbers If anyone is interested in joining and/or need some info PM or e-mail me please.
BTW mine has the Dragon+ sticker and v2 software.

[DirkBelig]

I've been having nothing but grief with mine. At first it was shutting down immediately, but I sorted that out. When I connected my HDs, it wouldn't even power up. I finally got it to boot with a floppy, CD and HD in and got XP loaded. For some reason, my DVD will not be detected by the mobo, no matter what and I still have to see if I can get the other 3 HDs to work.

Not blaming the mobo, but it's the WORST experience in building I've ever had.

[chottoED]

could it be a defect or maybe your mobo isn't properly grounded?

[Bigal]

DirkBelig:

When you have major problems, it usually gets resolved by starting with just the basics, and then adding components one at a time, until the bad one is found. It could simply be incompatible software, so don't forget about using safe mode if you get in a situation where it fails to boot normally.

Regarding the recognition of the DVD player, and problems with the hard drives, I would try moving the IDE connectors around a bit. Make sure only one device is a master, when there are two devices sharing one IDE port. Two masters on one port will stop a machine from booting (if it's the C drive and another one). Double check your jumpers on the DVD and hard drives. Software wise, you need a CD-ROM or perhaps a DVD-ROM driver on your boot floppy. My experience is with W98SE, and I know you won't find a CD-ROM if you boot with a floppy that doesn't have the generic CD-ROM driver. Regarding the hard drives, you need to partition and then format them properly. Double check the installation instructions that came with your drives.

If things don't go well, remember that this is a learning experience. We have all gone through these types of problems. I spent many hours trying to resolve a boot problem, only to discover that it was the Kensington "Mouseworks" software causing my problems (virtual device driver issue). I tried to install too much at one time, and paid the price. Unless you know that things will work together ahead of time, follow the rule that you will only add one hardware item, and only one software item, at a time. Boot inbetween the additions, and verify that the machine doesn't lock up. Also - don't start overclocking before you have all your stuff added and configured. Playing around in the bios before adding the rest of your devices will probably cause some things to not work.

Good luck. Take your time.