Soltek SL-K8TPro-939 Review

One of the breakthroughs of the Athlon64 is the integration of the memory controller into the CPU logic. While this does help to increase performance it does have its drawbacks. The most recognizable is the logical upgrade path. In the past you could easily upgrade any number of components to get better performance though with the Athlon64 to move from single to dual channel DDR requires a new processor and motherboard.

A good onboard power supply can make or break overclocking and system stability. 3-phase units are very common on modern motherboards though you don't find many with components situated on the back of the PCB. Judging by the design it would seem that Soltek simply ran out of space to put everything.

The Soltek SL-K8Tpro-939 supports 2 banks of unregistered DDR memory. These memory banks (Bank A and Bank B) consist of 2 DIMM slots and each are color coded for convenience. Where you install the modules is important since it will affect memory performance and could even make the system un-bootable. For dual channel mode keep two modules installed in the same colored memory slots. (2x Bank A (purple)) or (2x Bank B (yellow)) or (4x Bank A and Bank B). If memory is installed in DIMM 1, 3 or 1+3 the system will be in Single channel mode, if memory is installed into DIMM 2, 4 or 2+4 the system won't boot.

There is a handy (and somewhat confusing) silkscreen memory map near the memory slots designed to help with the proper installation.

Chipsets without memory controllers don't get as hot as before but heat still becomes a problem under overclocking. The heatsink used on the SL-K8Tpro-939 is rather small but comes with a fair amount of thermal paste.