Soyo KT400 DRAGON Ultra Platinum Edition: Full-Featured KT400

Board Layout

The Soyo KT400 Ultra was well laid for the most part. We only had one or two minor complaints to report.

We were happy to see Soyo leave enough space between the DIMM connectors and AGP slot so that we were allowed to uninstall memory without having to uninstall the video card. There are an excessive amount of motherboard makers that leave little or no space between the DIMM connectors and the AGP slot, so we're glad to see Soyo break that trend.

Click to Enlarge

The Primary/Secondary IDE connectors and RAID connectors are located on the outskirts of the motherboard this time. These connectors are positioned well enough so that there's just enough space to maneuver the IDE cables to the sides of an ATX case, where they won't obstruct the users' path.

Disappointingly, Soyo positions the ATX (20-pin) connector all the way on the opposite side of the motherboard, right next to the I/O ports. This is most unfortunate, as it becomes very difficult to add/remove items in ones' case with an array of ATX cables hampering your way. Perhaps next time around they'll change this.

Soyo also places two green USB 2.0 connectors just below the last PCI slot. This is clearly the best spot to position these connectors, as you don't have to manipulate any wires across the motherboard (too many USB headers are placed towards the center of the motherboard these days, which makes it difficult to clear the wires away from the middle of the case).

A somewhat nagging issue was the positioning of the CPU lever. There's a capacitor directly in front of the lever, blocking you from unlatching it. This may be more of an issue for people with larger fingers, but our editors' fingers aren't that huge. :) We wish Soyo would have positioned the CPU lever a little further away from the capacitors, as it would have been easier to use our finger instead of a flathead screwdriver to lift the lever and insert the CPU.