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Soltek SL-K8AV-R 'Black Thunder' Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Conclusion
In the old Northbridge and Southbridge chipset configuration the Northbridge chip was really the heart of the motherboard. It controlled how the processor, memory and AGP ports communicated along with making a vital connection between itself and the Southbridge chip. With the introduction of the Athlon64 line of processors the role of the Northbridge has changed or been completely removed. In the case of the K8T800 it acts as a junction point between a pre-existing Southbridge (VT8235) and the processor. For VIA this was a very cost effective solution that enabled them to be first to market with a complete chipset solution for the Athlon64.
The Soltek SL-K8AV-R plays an integral entry-level part in the Black Thunder series by providing a very cost effective and classy motherboard to the budget-minded consumer. Considering that this motherboard is not overtly overclocker friendly I can understand the reason behind the chosen feature set.
The board comes with some great onboard features like 6 USB 2.0 ports, onboard 6-channel sound, and SerialATA with RAID support. Unfortunately the board is lacking an onboard LAN controller so you'll need to break out that 3com or Linksys to get hooked up on the network. Despite this minor inconvenience the Soltek SL-K8AV-R is a very fast and stable motherboard that would work great in any entry level Athlon64 system.
The board comes with some great onboard features like 6 USB 2.0 ports, onboard 6-channel sound, and SerialATA with RAID support. Unfortunately the board is lacking an onboard LAN controller so you'll need to break out that 3com or Linksys to get hooked up on the network. Despite this minor inconvenience the Soltek SL-K8AV-R is a very fast and stable motherboard that would work great in any entry level Athlon64 system.
Now for the ever popular list of Good things and Bad things. 
The Good Things
Black Thunder Color scheme w/ Black PCB
Color Matched Cables
Onboard SerialATA RAID
HyperTransport BIOS Controls
USB 2.0 Connectivity
Very Strong PCB, (i.e. no flexing)
Color Matched Cables
Onboard SerialATA RAID
HyperTransport BIOS Controls
USB 2.0 Connectivity
Very Strong PCB, (i.e. no flexing)
The Bad Things
No Active Northbridge Cooling
No Onboard LAN Controller
Lack of PCI and AGP Clock Control
No Onboard LAN Controller
Lack of PCI and AGP Clock Control
Ninjalane Rating
I would like to thank Misr Corp for helping to make this review possible.
