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Soltek SL-K8AV-R 'Black Thunder' Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Introduction
One of the most prevalent and complete chipsets supporting the Athlon64 is the VIA K8T800. The chipset map outlines many of the chipset features starting with the 1.6Ghz HyperTransport Bus link between the processor and Northbridge. VIA has claimed to be the first to implement a full speed link between the processor and chipset thanks to another VIA technology called Hyper8. Now, since the memory controller is part of the processor the only job of the Northbridge is to provide connectivity between the AGP port, processor, and Southbridge. Much like previous VIA chipsets a 533Mhz "V-Link" interconnects the Northbridge to the VT8235 Southbridge, the same one found on the KT400.
Of course this is slightly different than the nVidia single chip solution but that is for a different review. 
The board under review is another member of the "Black Thunder" series from Soltek, the SL-K8AV-R. This board comes equipped with the VIA K8T800 chipset and support for 754pin Athlon64 processors. As with all Black Thunder boards the PCB is a glossy jet black with purple expansion slots. Due to the dual chip nature the K8T800 the layout is very similar to previous motherboard designs with a few obvious differences.
For a complete list of specs please visit the SL-K8AV-R spec page at the Soltek website
For a complete list of specs please visit the SL-K8AV-R spec page at the Soltek website
