Soltek SL-85DRS2 Motherboard Review

I don't have much to compare this motherboard to performance wise but from what I've seen the Soltek SL-85DRS2 motherboard is right on par with any other SiS645 solutions out there given the same equipment. Keep in mind that many of the "real-world" benchmarks that I used in this review are very dependant on other factors besides the motherboard processor and memory. Case in point SPECviewperf 6.1.2 is an OpenGL benchmarking utility that will test overall system performance but is heavily weighted on the graphics subsystem. The same is true for gaming performance; I've seen some reviews where the Quake 3 framerate is well over 200 FPS, which is quite typical for any P4 system if you are using a Ti 550.

From the standpoint of overclocking and system tweaking this board is very bare. The Soltek website http://www1.soltek.com.tw/English/product/85drs2.htm states that this board is equipped with "Redlightning" which is the P4 version of "RedStorm" Overclocking. The only thing similar to this exists as two un-selectable settings for FSB and Memory clock. I have yet to find how to enable this feature so except for the DDR266 dipswitches and pre-selected bios settings there is no way to alter the FSB or memory clock. So knowing that what can you expect from the SL-85DRS2? Simply put maximum performance out of box. Pretty much all you will need to do is install a processor, memory, and heatsink, configure the bios to match your system components and away you go.

I was a little concerned with the trend that I witnessed during my memory testing of this motherboard. I was unable to get the system to boot at CAS 2.0 with any of my XMS Corsair memory sticks while the memory clock was set to 166MHz. I suspect that this is not limitation of the memory but rather a limitation of the SiS645 Northbridge or Soltek bios. Either way this board still performs quite well despite the afore mentioned memory concern. A question still remains, who would this board be best suited for? Well, the board isn't really configured for the avid system tweaker and overclocker though case modders would like it for the sexy red PCB and cable layout configurations. System builders will like the fact that the board is easy to set up and configure, and lastly I figure Webmasters will like the speed and stability.

So to sum up here is my list of Good things and Bad things.

DDR333
Heatsink Mount with backing plate
No modem riser
Sexy Red PCB
Full Version Software

No RedStorm or bios level overclocking
Limited to no system level tweaking
No Memory tweaking at 166MHz
Unoriginal PCB color
No AGPPro slot
No Onboard RAID
Did I mention no overclocking controls?