There appears sometimes such impression, that the marketing department of AMD Company is not connected in any way with manufacturing department. I'll explain: several months have passed since the moment when AMD declared release of younger models of Athlon64 Socket939 processors: 3000 + and 3200 +. Moreover, for this period the company has had time to reduce the prices for them to very and very attractive. But these processors weren't yet in the shops. As a result those users who planned to pass on perspective and high-efficiency Socket939 platform were compelled either to wait, or to buy the 3500+ processor which has not the best ratio "price/performance". Deficiency of processors lead to that motherboard manufacturers did not hurry in producing new models for this platform. But nevertheless novelties appeared, and one of them - Soltek K8TPro-939 board on VIA K8T800 Pro chipset.
Soltek K8TPro-939 specification
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Soltek K8TPro-939
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CPU
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- AMD Athlon 64 (Clawhammer/NewCastle) with 200
Mhz bus frequency;
- Socket 939;
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Chipset
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- VIA K8T800 Pro chipset;
- Southbridge VT8237;
- Connection between bridges: Ultra V-Link bus (1616bit)
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RAM
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- Four 184-pin slots for DDR SDRAM DIMM
- Maximum memory volume 4 Gb
- Supported RAM: PC1600/PC2100/PC2700/PC3200
- Dual-channel memory access
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Graphics
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- AGP slot, supporting 4X8X mode
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Expansion capabilities
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- Five 32-bit PCI Bus Master slots;
- Eight USB 2.0 ports (4 built-in + 4 additional);
- Two IEEE1394 ports (Firewire; one built-in + 1 additional)
- Built-in AC'92 v2.3 sound subsystem;
- Gigabit Ethernet network controller;
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Overclocking capabilities
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- Changing FSB frequency from 200 to 300 Mhz
with 1 Mhz step;
- Changing CPU, RAM, AGP and (2.5V) voltage.
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Drive subsystem
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- 2 UltraDMA133/100/66/33 Bus Master IDE
channels (support up to 4 ATAPI-devices& RAID 0, 1, 0+1);
- Support of SerialATA protocol (2 channels - VT8237, with RAID support);
- Additional SerialATAParallelATARaid controller (Promise 20579 chip, 2
SerialATA channels, one ParallelATA channel);
- Support of LS-120 / ZIP / ATAPI CD-ROM
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BIOS
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- 4 Mbit Flash ROM
- Award Phoenix BIOS with support Enhanced ACPI, DMI, Green, PnP Features and
Trend Chip Away Virus
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Other
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- One FDD port, one serial and one parallel
port, PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports
- Motherboard power indictor
- Seven-segment POST codes indicator
- STR (Suspend to RAM)
- SPDIF InOut
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Power management
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- Wake-on by modem, mouse, keyboard, network,
timer and USB;
- Standard 24-pin ATX (ATX-PW) power connector;
- Additional 4-pin power connector;
- Cool'n'Quiet technology
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Monitoring
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- CPU and system temperature monitoring, voltage
monitoring, determination of 2 fans’ speed;
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Size
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- ATX form factor, 244 mm x 305 mm (9.63" x
12")
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Package set
Motherboard;
Software and drivers CD;
Additional software CD;
One aerodynamic ATA-133 cable, two ATA-133 cables, FDD cable;
Four SerialATA cables + two power adapters (four sockets);
User’s guide in English + brief installation instruction;
Brochure with additional SW description;
Bracket with 2 additional USB2.0 ports;
RAID controller driver diskette;
Case back panel gag
Summary
Despite certain lacks, we have come to conclusion that Soltek K8TPro-939 board is a successful product. The most important advantage of a board is a reasonable price which is about 113-120$. The user receives a quite good package set, very good expansion possibilities and magnificent productivity for this money.
Only one serious lack - low overclocking results. Therefore for we advise to search for another board for overclocking.
The conclusion
Advantages:
Good stability and excellent performance level;
Perfect RAM compatibility;
SerialATA support (4 channels; 2xRAID);
Additional SerialATAParallelATARAID controller;
Built-in 8-channel sound subsystem and high-speed network controller (Gigabit Ethernet);
Support of USB2.0 interface (8 ports) and IEEE-1394 (2 ports);
Cool'n'Quiet technology support.
Defects:
BIOS flaws.
Motherboard features:
Fine overclocking functions but low results.
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