Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 Review w/ PCI Express

There are two RAID controllers on this motherboard. A Promise PDC20579 RAID will accept 2 SATA drives and 2 PATA drives (single channel). The VT8237 Southbridge also supports RAID across two SATA hard drives with a 150Mb/s transfer rate. In both instances the typical RAID configurations are available (0, 1, and 0+1) or can be run as a standalone drive. Given the variety of drive connections available on the Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 you can expect to have a ton of flexibility when it comes to your HDD configurations.

The ATX connector has some interesting features. Most of the connections are sound related with support for 2 optical connections and enough analog jacks for 8-channel sound. Other connections include 4x USB, 1x Firewire, 1x GigaLAN and 1x serial port. The parallel port is located at the bottom of the board directly under the last PCI slot. Personally I don't use this last connector very often, but for someone who does; this might not be the most convenient placement. Not only does the attached cable restrict airflow but once the board is installed it will be difficult to access without removing the motherboard.

The Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 does come with a full compliment of connectors, cables, and other necessary system building components. These include 4 SATA data cables, 2+2 SATA power cables, a rounded PATA cable, ATX back plate, additional USB connectors. Of course there is also a LONG floppy cable to reach ALL the way from the bottom of the board to your floppy drive. All the requisite software, manuals and the drivers are also included to get you running and provide for some light reading.