Bundle
As this is currently VIA's top-of-the-line Pentium 4-based motherboard, you'd expect it to ship with a number of useful extras and features. Weighing in at 2.4 KG or so, the box certainly held more than the motherboard itself.
Marketing and presentation sells - it's as simple as that. The P4B Ultra shies away from the generic box covers of old with a vibrant front cover. It would certainly draw my attention if it was stacked at, say, PC World. VIA's motherboard division (VPSD) have taken a cue from other manufacturers in this respect.
Apart from the obvious motherboard, the P4BU is presented with a number of useful extras and features. Here's a shot of what else you receive for your money.
Quite a bit to get through here. You receive a driver CD with all the requisite drivers. Installation went without a hitch. LAN, RAID, USB 2.0, audio, and VIA's Flitedeck drivers are included. The Flitedeck is VIA' in-house monitoring and tweaking software. It fairly comprehensive and allows you to monitor and change speeds from within a Windows environment. much like Gigabyte's EasyTune. A well-written main manual and quickstart manual give you enough information to get started easily enough.
A handy ATX 21-pin power extender is included. It's primary purpose is to allow PSU's with no 4-pin P4 power connector to simply add one from via a molex. It's extremely useful if your PSU isn't P4 compliant. With a total of 10 USB.2.0 ports on offer, and only two on the backplane, VIA have bundled a bracket that houses a further 4 ports via two headers. The CMI on-board sound CODEC supports S/PDIF, VIA have chosen to maximise its potential by supplying a S/PDIF bracket with both optical and RCA (coax) outputs.
A nice touch are the rounded cables pre-supplied with this motherboard - they certainly add a touch of class to the package. I wish more premium motherboards would include them. A custom backplane is included, too. Lastly, to maximise the use of the on-board media card readers, VIA have included an external 3.5" panel.
Offering support for Sony's memory stick, secure digital, multimedia, and Smartcards, it only misses out by not offering native support for the more common Compact Flash cards. It would also have been nice to have a couple of USB 2.0 ports on the front for easy connectivity. It attaches to the motherboard via supplied cables.
