Is Soyo motherboard a good one?

I'm thinking of buying the Athalon 950mhz\ Soho K7VIA\heat sink package (it's a good deal). Is the Athalon good? Is the Soho K7VIA a good motherboard? I have found one online report from a tester and he liked it with a few exceptions. It has an onboard sound card, which I have been told is not the way to go, but my son thinks Soyo gives you a way to turn it off (?).

Also, I have discovered that I have a M5ALA (I *think* by BioStar) motherboard and an ATX case. The present motherboard is pretty large and the Soyo (onscreen) looks fairly small. If it is a good mb, will it fit the holes in my case if they are different sizes?

Sorry for my newby questions. I just want to be sure before I buy and I don't have a lot of money so I want the best bang for my buck (doesn't everybody). <grin>

TIA,
P.

I am sorry that I am not familiar with that soyo board. but I heard that it is average quality. It is a Taiwan company. You may not have overclock capability but you don't really care if you are newbie. and about your concern regarging onboard sound and size of motherboard:

1. you can turn off onboard sound on BIOS option. press delete key/or F1 key when you boot up the system then you will see BIOS menu. It should be under advanced BIOS menu setting.

2. It looks like you have ATX case. As long as new soyo board is ATX(99% of motherboard is ATX now) it WILL fit your case: it doesn't matter how big or small. ATX form factor means that they share same specification between holes, etc.

hope this helps. good luck


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