Soltek SL75MRNL Motherboard

Name: Soltek SL75MRNL Motherboard
Brand: Soltek

by HH Editor — Monday, April 21, 2003, 12:00 AM EDT

Soltek SL75MRNL Motherboard - Page 1

Soltek SL-75MRN-L Motherboard
Soltek takes a crack at Nforce2

By, Tom Laverriere
April 20, 2003

Motherboard - check, graphics card - check, sound card - check, ethernet card - check... Oh sorry, you caught me making a list of hardware one would need for a new system and that doesn't even cover the half of it. If you're building a new system from scratch, the list can get pretty long and expensive. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to shorten that list and take some of the crunch off your wallet? What could possibly shorten that list? You need everything in there and then some, don't you? Absolutely, but an all-in-one motherboard solution possibly could be the answer you're searching for. There no shortages of new motherboards on the market today, that offer very high levels of integration. Today, at HotHardware, we have one such solution, in the form of the Soltek SL75MRN-L motherboard, featuring Nvidia's highly integrated nForce2 chipset.

The Soltek SL-75MRN-L motherboard features the version of the Nvidia nForce2 chipset, that has the Integrated Graphics Processor ( IGP ) Northbridge chip and the Media and Communications Processor ( MCP2 ) Southbridge chip. This chipset is feature-rich and offers many goodies from Dual Channel DDR400 support to 6 channel audio support. It's certainly a bonus to have all those nice features, but how does this stack up to others in its field? We put this Soltek motherboard through the ringer to show you whether this board not only offers an all-in-one solution, but how it performs and if it is a stable platform. Let's have a closer look, shall we?

Golden nForce2 - The Soltek SL-75MRN-L

An All-in-One Solution

Soltek SL-75MRN-L

Main Features
nForce2 IGP + nForce2 MCP2 Chipset

FSB 333/266/200 MHz

Supports Dual Channel DDR SDRAM @ 400/333/266 MHz

64-bit or 128-bit memory bus

Integrated GeForce4 MX GPU

Supports AGP 8X/4X

Supports 2 x Ultra ATA 133/100/66

Supports LAN ( NV LAN + ICS PHY ) function

BIOS vcore, FSB, AGP, DIMM Voltage Setting

6 x USB 2.0/1.1 Ports

On-board 6-channel AC'97 Audio Function

Processor
AMD Athlon XP / Athlon / Duron processor

Chipset
Nvidia nForce2 ( IGP + MCP2 )

nForce IGP: Integrated Graphics Processor

Features 333/266/200MHz Front Side Bus support

Dual Channel DDR 400/333/266MHz, 64-bit or 128-bit Memory Bus

DDR200, DDR266, DDR333, DDR400 Compliant

Asynchronous memory mode

Supports AGP 8X/4X

nForce2 MCP2 ( Media and Communications processor )

Supports Ultra ATA-133/100/66 transfer protocol

Provides 6-channel AC'97 Audio

Support for six USB 2.0/1.1 Ports max

Memory

3 x 184 pin DDR DIMM

Supports 6 banks up to 3GB DRAM's for unbuffered DDR SDRAM Module

On-board EIDE
2 x PCI Bus Master UATA 133/100/66 IDE ports ( up to 4 ATAPI devices )

Supports for PIO Mode 3, 4, UATA 133/100/66 IDE & ATAPI CD-ROM

Integrated Super I/O

1 x Floppy Port ( supports 360K, 720K, 1.2M, 1.44M, and 2.88MB )

2 x Serial Ports ( high-speed 16550A FIFO UART Ports )

1 x Parallel Port with EEP/ECP/SPP Capabilities

1 x PS/2 Mouse, 1 X PS/2 Keyboard connectors

6 x USB 2.0/1.1 Ports ( 2 integrated, 4 via additional cables )

1 x VGA Port

1 x Audio/Game port

RJ45 Lan Connector

Expansion Slots
1 x AGP 8X/4X Slot

5 x 32-bit PCI Bus Master Slots

Form Factor

ATX Form Factor ( 305mm x 245mm )

IEEE 1394

Supports IEEE 1394a at 100/200/400 Mb/s transfer rate

BIOS

AWARD Bios

Flash Memory for easy upgrade

Other Features

SL-02KIT ( Optional)

BIOS Multiplier setting

RedStorm Overclocking ( Optional)

BIOS FSB Setting

Ultra ATA 133/100/66

BIOS Vcore setting

6-ch AC'97 Audio Function

BIOS AGP Voltage Setting

SmartDoc. Anti-burning shield

BIOS DIMM Voltage setting

H/W Monitor

NVIDIA nForce2 Architecture

That's quite a bit to take in all at once. As you have read in the feature list and can see in the above diagram, this board has everything an end user needs, for a solid foundation to a new system. Don't be fooled though, this isn't the kind of product that flashes its exterior, but has nothing under the hood. With support for both the latest Athlon 333MHz FSB processors and Dual Channel DDR400, this board should be able to post some serious benchmark numbers. Alright, so this board has all the integrated peripherals one needs and claims to be as stable as a rock but does it overclock too? We'll cover that for sure but before we get to the numbers, let's get a closer view of everything this board has to offer.

A Closer Look: Soltek SL-75MRN-L