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  • Soltek SL-75FRV Motherboard Review
  • Soltek SL-75FRV Motherboard Review

    Author:
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    Conclusion

    Conclusion
    Soltek has once again created a winner of a product with quite a future to look forward to. The VIA KT400 chipset has bandwidth to spare and seems quite ready to accept the new 333MHz FSB processors from AMD (once they are finally released to the public). Overall system performance was right on par with the KT333 counterpart and exceeded where it was lacking.
    Despite the lower than expected memory scores I am really impressed with the VIA KT400 memory controller. Unlike any of the other DDR333 and 400 boards that I've reviewed the SL-75FRV was quite happy to be overclocked and tuned with the memory clock set above the native FSB, the system even booted stable with DDR333 memory running at 400MHz!
    I am also very impressed with the vast amount of system settings available in the bios, this is actually the first time I remember seeing a CAS setting of 1 in any DDR enabled system bios. Of course the system wouldn't boot with the CAS set to 1 but its still nice to see it there.
    Taking into account the bios features, notable future and amazing stability I am not afraid to say the SL-75FRV is the best Athlon motherboard Soltek has released yet.

    Now for my list of The Good Things and The Bad Things.
    The Good Things
    Purple PCB
    AGP 8x
    ATA133
    DDR333/400
    Variety of overclocking and tweaking controls within the bios
    Amazing memory controller
    No CNR Slot!
    The Bad Things
    Lack of active Northbridge cooling
    No AGP Pro slot
    Limited onboard features like RAID
    Removal of added "perks" like extra USB cables, 6-channel audio adapter, and thermal probe
    Ninjalane Rating
    I would like to thank the guys at Misr Corps for helping to make this review possible. Check out their online store for all of your Soltek needs.