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Soltek SL-75KAV SocketA Motherboard

We recently took a look at the Soltek SL-75DRV SocketA DDR Motherboard and were very impressed. When DDR memory was first released it was quite expensive but due to recent market trends it has become very affordable. What about users who aren't interested in upgrading to DDR at this time but still want to use a 266 MHz FSB Athlon CPU? VIA has had the KT133A chipset on the market for a few months and there are several boards based on this chipset available for purchase. Soltek also makes the KT133A based SL-75KAV that shares many of the features of the SL-75DRV I reviewed previously. Misr Corp was kind enough to once again send us the evaluation unit.

Features
The Board
  • Socket A AMD CPU support
  • PC133 SDRAM support
  • VIA KT133A
  • ATA-33,66,100 Support
  • 1 AGP, 5 PCI, 1 ISA
  • 3 PC133 Dimm slots
  • 3D PCI sound on board
  • 220mm x 305mm
  • Support for up to 4 USB ports

 

Soltek SL-75KAV page

Misr Corp Homepage
Approx $115 USD

PDP System, Inc.
DDR Memory

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9/10

First Impressions

The layout of the SL-75KAV is very similar to its SL-75DRV big brother. I'm not sure if Soltek is reading the opinions of reviewer's but it would seem that they've taken to heart some of my criticisms of other manufacturers' boards. The first thing that jumped out at me was that this board features an ISA slot. I won't rehash my argument against CNR/AMR slots again since I'm sure I'll bore you readers to tears yet again but needless to say it is nice to see a slot that is still of use to the vast majority of users out there.

Once again Soltek has placed the capacitors for the CPU away from the CPU - all but one are above the CPU socket. What is very nice about this layout is that they placed a small gap between two of them to facilitate installation and removal of the clip that holds down a HSF. Very nice touch. I easily fit the massive Big MoFoHO heatsink/fan unit that 1CoolPC sent for review on this board.

The more things stay the same the more they actually change. While the SL-75KAV still features Soltek's signature horizontal IDE ribbon cable connectors the floppy IDE connector is now vertical and on the edge close to the memory sockets. The extra space between the two IDE cable connectors is much appreciated. The one thing that really stands out as different about this board is the inclusion of a second COM port on the motherboard surface just above the AGP slot. We've come across other boards that only featured one COM port but apparently Soltek decided they'd engineer some way to let people have a second COM port even if the layout/design of their motherboard didn't readily facilitate it being on the back I/O panel.

 





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