DOS Days

Soyo Group, Inc.

Soyo was a manufacturer of motherboards for the IBM PC and its compatibles during the DOS era. Founded in 1985, and based in Ontario, CA, they produced a variety of computer hardware before finally closing down in 2009.

They are known to have relabelled some of their motherboard chipsets around the time of the Pentium Pro. If you see a board with an "ETEQ" chipset, these are actually relabelled VIA chipsets.

 

SY-025R2

Year: 1995
Type: Socket 3
Form Factor: Baby AT
Power Connector: AT
Chipset: UMC UM8498F/8496F
Slots: 7 x ISA (16-bit), 3 x VLB
Memory: 4 X 30-pin SIMM (1 bank), 2 x 72-pin SIMM (1 bank)
BIOS: Award 4.51PG

Supports write-back L2 cache.

Images courtesy of Dusko Marincic - his board here has been modified with a coin cell battery holder and replaced fuse that was cracked.

SY-030E2

Year: ?
Type:
Form Factor:
Chipset: OPTi 82C802G / 82C822

Tested maximum bus transfer rates with this board:

Hercules Dynamite 128 16 MB/sec
Matrox Millennium (MGA2064) 15 MB/sec
Elsa Winner 1000 (S3 Trio64V+) 15 MB/sec

 

SY-4SAW

Year: ?
Type:
Form Factor:
Chipset: SiS 85C496 / 497

Tested maximum bus transfer rates with this board:

Hercules Dynamite 128 26 MB/sec
Matrox Millennium (MGA2064) 26 MB/sec
Elsa Winner 1000 (S3 Trio64V+) 26 MB/sec

 

SY-4SAW2

Year: 1996
Type: Socket 3
Form Factor: Baby AT
Power Connector: AT
Chipset: SiS 85C496/497
Slots: 3 x ISA (16-bit), 4 x PCI, 1 x VLB
Memory: 4 x 72-pin SIMM (2 banks)
BIOS: Award 4.51PG

Images courtesy of Dusko Marincic - his board here has been modified with the battery replaced with a coin cell battery holder and circuit disabled that would charge it.

More Images

SY-5EAS5

Year: ?
Type:
Form Factor:

This motherboard often had its chipset relabelled to "ETEQ 6618", but is in fact a VIA Apollo VPX.

 

SY-5ED, SY-5ED5, SY-5EDM

Year: 1998
Type: Socket 7
Form Factor: ATX
Power Connector: ATX
Chipset: VIA Apollo MVP3 (branded ETEQ)
Slots: 2 x ISA (16-bit), 5 x PCI, 1 x AGP
Memory: 2 x 72-pin SIMM (1 bank), 3 x 168-pin DIMM. 384 MB max.
BIOS: Award 4.51PG

CPU Support: Intel Pentium, AMD K5 and K6, Cyrix 6x86 and 6x86MX.
This motherboard often had its chipset relabelled to "ETEQ 6628", but is in fact a VIA Apollo VP3.

User Manual
Jumper Settings

 

SY-5EH / SY-5EHM

Year: ?
Type: Super Socket 7
Form Factor: AT
Power Connector: AT and ATX
Chipset: VIA Apollo MVP3 (rebranded ETEQ)
Slots: 3 x ISA (16-bit), 3 x PCI, 1 x AGP.
Memory: 2 x 72-pin SIMM, 2 x 168-pin DIMM. 640 MB max.
BIOS: Award (unknown ver).
Known Revisions: 2.0

CPU Support: Intel Pentium P54C/P55C from 100-233 MHz, Cyrix 6x86/L/MX with PR150-PR266 speeds, and Cyrix MII 300-350 CPUs. Also supports AMD K5 from PR100-PR166, K6 from 166-300 MHz, and K6-2 from 266-350 MHz.
This motherboard often had its chipset relabelled to "ETEQ 6638", but is in fact a VIA Apollo MVP3.
SY-5EH comes with 512 KB of L2 cache, whilst SY-5EHM comes with 1 MB L2 cache.

User Manual
Jumper Settings

 

 

SY-5EMA / SY-5EMA+ / SY-5EMA Pro

Year: 1998
Type: Super Socket 7
Form Factor: ATX
Power Connector: ATX
Chipset: VIA Apollo MVP3
Slots: 2 x ISA (16-bit), 5 x PCI, 1 x AGP.
Memory: 3 x 168-pin DIMM,
BIOS: Award 4.51PG
Known Revisions: 1.01, 1.02, 1.1

Bus speeds from 66 MHz up to 100 MHz.
CPU clock speeds from 100 up to 550+ MHz.
Comes with 1 MB Level 2 cache onboard.
This motherboard often had its chipset relabelled to "ETEQ 6638", but is in fact a VIA Apollo MVP3.

User Manual (v1.01)
User Manual (v1.02)
Jumper Settings

 

SY-5EMM

Year: ?
Type:
Form Factor:

This motherboard often had its chipset relabelled to "ETEQ 6638", but is in fact a VIA Apollo MVP3.

 

SY-5TC5

Year: ?
Type: Socket 7
Form Factor: AT
Power Connector:
Chipset:
Slots:
Memory:
BIOS: Award
BIOS Dates: 01/20/96
Known Revisions:

This board is known to support Cyrix 6x86 P120+ and P150+ CPUs.

 

SY-5TCU

Year: ?
Type: Socket 7
Form Factor: AT
Power Connector:
Chipset:
Slots:
Memory:
BIOS: Award
BIOS Dates: 01/27/96
Known Revisions: F2

This board is known to support Cyrix 6x86 P120+ and P150+ CPUs.

 

SY-5TE2 / SY-5TE5

Year: ?
Type: Socket 7
Form Factor: AT
Power Connector:
Chipset: Intel 430FX (Triton)
Slots: 4 x 16-bit ISA, 4 x PCI
Memory: 4 x 72-pin SIMM slots (2 banks), and 1 x COAST slot
BIOS: Award v4.51PG PCI/PnP 586
Known Revisions:

The SY-5TE2 comes with 256 KB of level 2 cache onboard, whereas the ST-5TE5 comes with 512 KB of L2 cache.

This board is known to support Cyrix 6x86 P120+ up to P150+ CPUs.

SY-5TEI3

Year: ?
Type: Socket 7
Form Factor: AT
Power Connector:
Chipset:
Slots:
Memory:
BIOS: Award
BIOS Dates: 01/18/96
Known Revisions:

This board is known to support Cyrix 6x86 P120+ and P150+ CPUs.

SY-5VA / SY-5VA2

Year: 1996
Type: Socket 7
Form Factor: AT
Chipset: Intel 430VX Triton II/III
Slots: 4 x ISA (16-bit), 4 x PCI
Memory: 4 x 72-pin SIMM (2 banks), 1 x 168-pin DIMM, 1 x COAST, 128 MB max.
BIOS: Award 4.51PG
BIOS Dates: 06/11/96 (SY-5VA2)
Known Revisions: 2.1, 2.2

Bus speeds supported are 50-66 MHz.
CPU clock speeds from 75 - 200 MHz.
This board also has a COAST (Cache On A STick) slot and 256 KB L2 cache onboard. At least one board revision does not come with the COAST slot header.

The ST-5VA2 board supports Cyrix 6x86 CPUs from P120+ up to P166+.

User Manual (v2.1)
User Manual (v2.2)
Jumper Settings
BIOS Update to 0911H (dated 1997/11/18)

SY-5VD

Year: 1997
Type: Socket 7
Form Factor: AT
Chipset: Intel 430VX Triton II/III
Slots: 4 x ISA (16-bit), 4 x PCI
Memory: 4 x 72-pin SIMM, 2 x 168-pin DIMM, 128 MB max.
BIOS: Award 4.51PG
Known Revisions: ?

Bus speeds supported are 50 to 75 MHz.
CPU clock speeds from 75 to 233+ MHz. Successfully tested with the IBM 6x86L PR200 + at 150MHz (SWM 75MHz FSB DIP switch and clock multiplier 2x: 1-2-3-4-5 = ON-OFF-OFF-ON-ON , core voltage 2.8V) and with the most powerful Cyrix MII-333GP at 266MHz (DIP switch SW1 FSB at 75MHz and clock multiplier 3.5x: 1-2-3-4-5 = OFF-OFF-OFF-ON-ON not documented, core voltage 2.9V)

User Manual
Jumper Settings

SY-5XA5

Year: ?
Type:
Form Factor: ATX
Chipset: Intel 430TX
Slots: 4 x ISA, 4 x PCI
Memory: 2 x SIMM, 3 x DIMM
BIOS: Award

This board features a 512 KB L2 cache, and supports bus speeds of 50 - 83 MHz. Core voltage support for 3.2V, 2.9V, 2.8V and 2.1V.

SY-6IZA-NA

Year: ?
Type:
Form Factor:
Chipset: