Computex 2004 Day 2

Welcome to day 2 of the Ninjalane Computex 2004 coverage, this report is being posted late due to some unforeseen laptop issues and the desire to hang out and see the sights of Taipei.

Soltek has been a long time friend of Ninjalane and a Computex visit wouldn't be the same unless there was some coverage of their booth. Many of the items on display are currently available though in preparation for the Intel 775 Prescott processor launch a wide variety of socket 775 boards were on hand. Here we have the new i915 Grantsdale motherboard featuring PCI express and DDR2. This board will come in the Soltek Pro series line meaning more features and more included goodies. Next to this is a i865 Springdale board using the 775 socket. This board will be a great upgrade option for those having the new Intel processor but lacking any of the PCI express expansion cards.

Below is the same i915 board out of the display case and in a running system.

Every year there is something new and slightly strange in the Soltek booth and this year it is these two motherboards. Both are using the i865PE chipset but with the addition of old hat ISA slots. From what I gather there is a huge market for upgraded motherboards with support for the older technologies like ISA. Both boards here are designed for the corporate environment and one even features a programmable ROM socket.

For the past few years Soltek has been actively marketing their Qbic line of SFF computers. The available selection has grown to include a wide variety of styles and hardware offerings. Pictured on the left is a 754pin nForce3 250 barebones system, granted this isn't a dually Opteron but is still pretty impressive. The case on the right looks like an old radio but in fact is part of their mini cooper line of Qbic cases. I'm not sure when this one will go on sale but I'd keep an eye out for it.