Soltek QBIC EQ3801: nForce3 250Gb goes SFF

Soltek EQ3801: B9A-FGR Motherboard

Motherboard Specifications
CPU Interface	Socket 754 Athlon 64
Chipset	NVIDIA nForce3-250Gb
CPU Ratios	4X to default (and higher) in 1X increments
Bus Speeds	200MHz to 250MHz (in 1MHz increments)
PCI/AGP Speeds	Auto, 66MHz to 100MHz (in 1MHz increments)
HyperTransport	1x-5x (200MHz to 1GHz)
Core Voltage	up to 1.55V in 0.0250V increments
DRAM Voltage	2.5V to 2.8V in 0.1V increments
AGP Voltage	1.5V to 1.8V in 0.1V increments
Chipset Voltage	1.6V to 1.9V in 0.1V increments
Memory Slots	Two 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots	1 AGP 8X Slot 1 PCI Slot
Onboard SATA/RAID	NVIDIA 4-Drive SATA by nF3-250Gb (SFF dimensions cut HDD quantity in half). SATA can be combined in RAID 0, 1, JBOD.
Onboard IDE	Two Standard NVIDIA ATA133/100/66
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394	6 USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 4 rear) Two FireWire ports (one front, one rear)
Onboard LAN	10/100/1000 GbE (native nForce3 250Gb)
Onboard Audio	C-Media CM8768 6-Channel AC'97 with SPDIF

C-Media's CMI 8768 chip is a 6-channel PCI-based solution that will serve the needs of users who need good quality sound for basic music and Windows needs.

Obviously, the most significant feature that the EQ3801 carries is the chipset itself, the nForce3 250Gb. The nForce3 250Gb's most intriguing features are its native Firewall, GbE, AGP/PCI lock, and 4-drive Serial ATA/IDE functionality. The GbE and Serial ATA/IDE are no longer strapped to the bandwidth-limited PCI bus (approximately 133MB/s), as these two features have access to the HT (HyperTransport) bus, which (on the nForce3 250Gb chipset) allows significantly more data to be processed. Theoretically, this increases performance, and in practice, actually does increase performance, mostly for GbE home networking users. In fact, NVIDIA's implementation of GbE on a separate bus is similar to what Intel did with GbE on their CSA bus last summer.

Probably the most intriguing feature made available to enthusiasts by the nForce3 250Gb is its AGP/PCI lock. This feature is most attractive to FSB/HT overclockers who desire their AGP and PCI devices to run in spec. As AnandTech's very own Wesley Fink independently confirmed in his recent Socket 754 roundup, all nForce3 250Gb motherboards come with the same functional AGP/PCI lock. Thankfully, the Soltek EQ3801's motherboard (the B9A-FGR) also has a working AGP/PCI lock.