Soltek K8TPro-939: Moving A64 to 939
by Wesley Fink on October 28, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Soltek is a company best known for excellent value in its motherboards. Value means delivering more than you might expect at a given price, and we have seen Soltek motherboards in the past, like the SL-75FRN2-RL, that deliver excellent features and great overclocking performance at a reasonable price. In fact, this nForce2 Ultra 400 board is still considered by some to be the best value available among Socket A motherboards.
With this value history, we were very interested in taking the new Socket 939 SL-K8TPro-939 for a spin. There is not exactly a deluge of 939 boards on the market, though that is improving. So, the prospect of a new 939 board from a company that delivers outstanding value seems like a good thing. While Soltek has been handicapped in the US by the lack of a US distributor, it certainly looks like their relationship with NewEgg has made up for this problem. You can't find Soltek motherboards widely distributed, but you can find them at the largest on-line reseller. We suspect that this generates enough US volume that Soltek must wonder what the real value of a US distributor would be.
While Soltek is best known for low-cost boards, the K8TPro-939 is part of their higher-end PRO series. It is as full-featured as any VIA K8T800 Pro board that you will find for Socket 939 Athlon 64, but pricing falls to the low end of the full-featured boards. In fact, the current price of $114 might make you think that you are looking at a more stripped 939 board. That is not the case, as you will find the Soltek loaded with features.
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manno - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link
Son of a $@#!Any way what the heck is up with the Halo #'s? Is this so shady under the table stuff between MS, or Bungie, and nvidia? If so that sucks, and I hope that we don't see anymore of it in the future. Any info on that?
-manno
manno - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link
bob661 - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link
> In fact the majority of PC users are not> overclockers.
Very true. And the majority of PC users have no idea who Anand is. Online reviews are mostly read by PC users in the know or those that want to be in the know. The average PC user has no clue about these review websites and heads down Best Buy when it's time to purchase a new computer.
PrinceGaz - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link
Last page, second paragraph- "With 2.6GHz as a target, it is easy to see that we would need a 289 setting for the 3500+,"...That should be 3000+. The rest of that sentence is correct.
Myrandex - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link
typo: We suspect that the answer has to do with the cist difference between the VIA and Realtek solutionsAlso, on the first page a picture doesn't load.
Omega215D - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link
I know I posted this before but why is there no news on the Elitegroup's Dual PCIe (for graphics) with an AGP Express port on the bottom? This should appeal to those into "future-proofing" by including both old and new. Of course it'll be on a 915 chipset.....Boonesmi - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link
hopefully they will have quick bios update that fixes the agp/pci lock (i dont really care about 4 dimms)... if they get it fixed quick it will probably be my next board :)newegg has an eta of 11/8/2004 which is about when ill be buying, so make sure you update this review if the agp/pci lock gets fixed
Beenthere - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link
While a BIOS upgrade will likely fix the AGP lock and (4) DIMM 2T issues, I doubt either is a BIG issue for most PC users. Yes overclockers may have an issue with the AGP lock and no doubt it will be corrected, but not everyone is an overcloker. In fact the majority of PC users are not overclockers. It's OK to point out the AGP lock and (4) DIMM issues for those who care, but it ain't worth getting an ulcer over. From the review it sounds like these are life or death features, which they are not.In regards to PCI-e Mobo reviews, the results are going to mirror AGP Mobos as the nF4 chipset is just an nF3 with PCI-e instead of AGP graphics. The only PCI-e Mobos that will show any major difference from a similar nF3 or K8T800 PRO Mobo are the SLI dual graphics card versions. If you're looking for one of these you better have real deep pockets and be willing to wait awhile.
MDE - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link
Why do you guys keep whining about floppy port location? Honestly I think the bottom of the board is a pretty good location, especially since I almost never use a floppy drive (just for RAID drivers). It's easy to get at when you do need a floppy drive plugged in and doesn't interfere with anything else, helping to avoid the tangle of cables around the right side of the board that's so common with "properly" laid out boards.Gnoad - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link
Alot of us still want AGP. I'm sick and tired of mobos being manufactured without the most important part functional: the agp lock. Nforce3 150 pissed me off, and we have it here again. I really don't want to use the k8n neo, so this is a big dissapointment to me.