Soltek SL-KT600-R
This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.
Layout
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The CPU socket does not have the 4 mounting holes in this case and it is also turned so that you must remove the memory to install or remove the processor heatsink. There are no PCB guards on the boards and the top left hand corner of the socket is slightly cramped with a trio of capacitors.
The ATX power connector is placed low on the board, where it forces the ATX cable to cross over the heatsink/fan of the processor. Soltek did include a 4-pin power connector, however, it is a bit cramped as well.
The DIMMs are placed on the board so that they conflict with the AGP slot and you must remove the AGP card to install or remove the memory properly. The north bridge is covered by a nicely finished heatsink but was pretty loose on the springs.
Looking down we see the IDE and SATA connectors cramped together on the side of the board, but it shouldn’t cause too much of a problem. There are three USB headers on the bottom of the board as well for USB port expansion.
Features
This particular Soltek board is kind of short on features. Though it does have SATA and RAID functions from the VIA VT8237 south bridge, that’s all that distinguishes it from any other board.
Even on the external connections, we only see the standard 2 USB ports and an old AC’97 connector.
Included Extras
Soltek did include 2 SATA cables and one SATA power adaptor. There was a single floppy and IDE cable as well as some Norton software.
Bios
Soltek is attempting to make their Bios’ more enthusiast friendly.
These are our basic memory timing settings here.
Here is the FSB overclocking and the Soltek “RedStorm” feature which didn’t really work at all in our tests. Here are some overclocking options that include CPU ratio up to 18x. Voltage maximums are: CPU: 1.85v, AGP: 1.8v, DIMM: 2.8v. Nothing over the top to see here.
Memory Issues
The Soltek motherboard didn’t have any outstanding issues with memory compatibility like a few other boards tested, but the Corsair and Kingston memory was slightly quirky.
