Soltek
85DR2 (i845E) Mainboard
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This is one more mid-level board but from the well-known manufacturer.
Accessories: - Package of the standard design;
-
Documentation: user manual and description of software products supplied, - in
English;
- Cables: 1 ATA66/100/133 and FDD;
- Bracket
with 2 USB ports;
- 2 CDs containing:
- drivers;
-
user manuals for several boards in PDF;
- Adobe Acrobat Reader;
-
Several system monitoring utilities;
- Boostek;
- PC-Cillin
2002;
- Virtual Drive;
- Drive Image 4.0;
-
Partition Magic 6.0SE.
There are several complains about the layout: audio-ins, IDE and FDD connectors
are around the PCI slots, and the power supply connector is tucked in between
the AGP slot and the processor socket. It can be difficult to reach some jumpers
when the board is already installed. Their functions are shown on the textolite.
The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates 8 capacitors of 2200
uF and several less capacious ones. The following controllers are integrated:
- audio controller based on the chipset's capabilities and ALC650 AC'97
codec supporting 5.1 audio systems.
The board supports the Red
Storm Overclocking technology (auto overclocking from BIOS) and SafeGuard (protection
of the board from video cards of +3.3V voltage - it must be disabled in case of
PCI video cards). If you insert into the AGP slot a 3.3V video card the
red LED will go on notifying on protection from such cards. A red LED located
between the processor socket and memory modules informs on power supplied to the
memory. The back side of the board houses a metallic plate that prevents the textolite
from distortion when massive coolers are installed.
Non-unsoldered
connectors: network controller and RJ45 connector, IDE controller and its connectors,
CNR slot, smart card reader's connector, connector for front audio I/Os.
The system monitoring is supported by the Winbond WT83627HF-AW chip. What is
controlled: - processor voltage, +3.3, +-5 and +-12 V, VBAT, +5 V
Standby;
- speed of 2 fans;
- temperatures of the processor
(a built-in sensor), the board (a built-in sensor) and an external thermistor
connected to the board.
There are 2 connectors for adjustable connection
of fans and 1 for nonadjustable connection. Brief characteristics of the
board: memory slots - 2 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 6 PCI; I/O ports
- 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 6 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x220 mm. Adjustment
can be carried out with:
| jumpers and switches | Jumper
to clear up the CMOS | | | Jumpers to choose
a FSB frequency | Auto and 133 MHz | | Jumper
for starting up computer from a PS/2 keyboard | | | Jumpers
for changing Vmem | 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 V | | Jumpers
for changing voltage on the AGP slot | 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 V | | Jumper
for the Safe Guard function | | | BIOS based
on the 3.31a from AMI | Setup of memory timings | + | CAS
Latency, RAS Precharge, RAS to CAS Delay, Precharge Delay | | Setup
of memory frequency | + | Auto, DDR200, DDR266 |
| Setup of AGP bus | - | | | Setup
of PCI bus | - | | | Changeable scaler
of AGP and PCI buses | - | | | Manual
assignment of interrupts | - | | | Changeable
FSB frequency | + | 100 - 200 MHz in 1MHz steps |
| Changeable CPU multiplier | + | x8 - x24 |
| Changeable core voltage | + | 1.1 - 1.85 V in
0.025V steps | | Changeable memory voltage | - | |
| Changeable chipset voltage | - | | | Changeable
AGP bus voltage | - | | We used the
latest available version of the BIOS - AF1.2. There is nothing much we
can say about the board: minimal functions, an average speed, unimpressive adjustability.
It's only speed and quality that can be interesting for certain users. Test
results:
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