Soltek
85DR3 i845PE Based Mainboard
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One of the poorest boards on this chipset won't make Soltek more influential
on the world market. Accessories: - Package of the standard
design;
- Documentation: user manual, brief installation manual,
software description - all in English;
- Cables: FDD, ATA66/100/133;
-
2 CDs containing:
- drivers;
- several system monitoring
utilities;
- Adobe Acrobat Reader;
- Boostek;
-
PC-cillin 2002;
- Virtual Drive 7;
- RestoreIT! 3 Lite;
-
PartitionMagic 6 SE;
- DriveImage 4.
Even on the half-emply textolite (it is just a little narrower than the standard
board) the layout can't be considered successful: audio, IDE, FDD and power supply
connectors are positioned badly, and an inserted video card will lock memory modules
in the DIMM slots. It can be difficult to reach some jumpers when the board is
already installed. Their functions are not shown on the textolite. The
3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates 2 capacitors of 3300 uF, 9
of 2200 uF and several less capacious ones. The following controllers
are integrated: - audio controller based on the chipset's capabilities
and Avance Logic ALC650 AC'97 codec supporting 5.1 audio systems and having connectors
for front audio outputs and for SPDIF.
On the back you can see
a plate that prevents twisting of the textolite in case of powerful CPU coolers.
The
board supports the AGP4X Safeguard technology (prevents start of the system in
case of 3.3V cards inserted into the AGP slot). +2.5 V supplied to the
memory modules and insertion of a 3.3V video card are indicated with the red LEDs.
Non-unsoldered connectors: chips of network, additional IDE and SATA controllers,
and their connectors. The system monitoring is supported by the ITE IT8712F-A
chip. What is controlled: - processor voltage, AGP bus, memory,
+3.3, +5 and +12 V, VBAT and +5 V Standby;
- speed of 3 fans;
-
temperatures of the processor (a built-in sensor) and the board (a built-in sensor).
There
are 2 connectors for adjustable and 1 for unadjustable connection of fans.
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 - 305x230
mm. Adjustment can be carried out with:
| jumpers and switches |
Jumper to clear up the CMOS |
|
| Jumper enabling AGP4X Safeguard function |
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| BIOS based on AMI's 3.31a version |
Setup of memory timings |
+ |
CAS Latency, Precharge Delay, RAS to CAS Delay, RAS Precharge,
Burst Length |
| Setup of memory frequency |
+ |
Auto, DDR200, DDR266, DDR333 |
| 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-x32 |
| Changeable core voltage |
+ |
1.1-1.85 V in 0.025 V steps |
| Changeable memory voltage |
+ |
2.5-2.8 V in 0.1V steps |
| Changeable chipset voltage |
- |
|
| Changeable AGP bus voltage |
+ |
1.5-1.8 V in 0.1V steps |
We used the BIOS AQ1 as the latest available version.
The only strong point of the board is a good range of tweaking and overclocking
settings. So, it's meant for people short of money who do not want noname solutions
and count on overclocking. Test results:
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