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Soltek SL-86SPE-L

Soltek’s i865PE based speed demon, sure to knock even the most hardcore enthusiast’s socks off. And it's purple too.....

Introduction

Soltek is a relative newcomer into the North American motherboard circles, but seems to be making waves with its innovative motherboard designs and commitment to quality. The company is making headway in the enthusiast market as well, offering overclocking features normally only found on an ABIT or ASUS board. Soltek’s latest creation, based on the i865PE chipset, looks to be a strong contender.

The SL-86SPE-L is one of Soltek’s offerings featuring the Intel i865PE chipset. The SL-86SPE-L is a feature complete solution, common among most i875P and i865PE based boards. The Intel 865PE chipset offers support for all Intel processors, including the 800 MHz FSB processors with Hyper-Threading technology, as well as support for 400 PC3200 DDR memory operating in Dual Channel mode. The SL-86SPE-L includes the following built-in components: 2 ATA 100 IDE ports; 2 SATA 150 ports; integrated Realtek 10/100 Ethernet; 8 total USB 2.0 capable ports; as well as the standard serial, parallel, and PS/2 ports.

Main Specifications Overview:

Detailed Mainboard Specification List:

Board Layout

Soltek’s box art is original to say the least. They use an image of a head with a motherboard for the head’s brain, all done in various shades of purple. Notice that the box itself has both the Canterwood and Springdale names on it, meaning that Soltek uses the same box for both lines of motherboards. Inside the box, you have an interesting assortment of manuals, a driver CD, 2 SATA cables, an ATA-100 ribbon cable, and a floppy ribbon cable.

One thing that becomes instantly clear is Soltek’s purple obsession – everything on this board, including the IDE, DIMM, PCI, and AGP slots, are purple. The board layout itself was well planned, with only a few minor areas to be concerned about. The revision number, located in the upper left hand corner of the board, clearly shows that the board is a revision S3 sample. The capacitors used on the board appear to be manufactured by the following companies: United Chemi-Con (USA, Japan) and Sanyo (world-wide). The capacitors marked GSC and SACON were manufactured by unknown sources.

The CPU mounting area is sufficiently clear of capacitors and other obstructions on all sides to allow for easy seating and removal of the CPU HSF unit. The HSF unit itself mounts on the board via the standard P4 type mounting cage. To the left of the CPU mounting assembly is the i865PE Northbridge chipset. Surprisingly enough, the chipset is actively cooled, with the HSF unit held down by a two prong mounting mechanism. The mounting mechanism allows for removal of the chipset HSF unit without requiring removal of the motherboard from the case. The Northbridge’s fan header is located just above the chipset and next to the AGP slot.

Between the Northbridge fan header and the CPU socket are one set of the board’s jumper headers and the ATX12V connector. The jumpers below the ATX12V connector control the FSB speed setting of the chip. When set to Auto (Default setting), the FSB of the CPU is automatically detected by the BIOS. The location of the ATX12V connector offers shortened power trace lengths for the delivery of much needed 12V based power. However, the connector location also forces routing of the power cables over or around the CPU socket, possibly interfering with air flow. Just below the left edge of the board’s rear panel assembly is the front audio panel header. Note that you must jumper pins 5/6 and 9/10 for the rear audio ports to function. Just above the CPU socket and along the edge of the board is the monitored FAN1 header for the CPU HSF unit and the JKB1 jumper. The JKB1 jumper controls system wake-up based on PS/2 device related activity.

The DIMM slots are located just below the Northbridge chipset and CPU socket in a 2 set of 2 configuration. Each set of slots on the board represents a single memory channel. However, there is no differentiation between the slots in the same set or even between sets – all slots are equally purple. It would have been nice for Soltek to color coordinate the memory slots between channels to ease in enabling Dual Channel memory mode. Also, it may be hard to insert or remove memory with an overly large AGP card engaged in the system. An overly large card would effectively block access to the left memory latches in the top set of slots. Just below the DIMM slots are the board’s 2 ATA-100 ports, with the ATX power connector to the right of the IDE ports. These ports and the power connector itself are conveniently placed for optimal air flow friendly cable routing.

The ICH5 Southbridge chipset is located just below PCI slots 2 – 4, with its SATA ports located just below it. Just below the board’s 2 SATA ports is the CMOS battery, with the CMOS clear jumper located conveniently above the battery and between the SATA ports and the floppy port. The BIOS monitored FAN2 header is located below the battery, along the board’s edge with the front panel connector to its left. The BIOS monitored FAN3 header and all 3 on-board USB 2.0 headers are located between the edge of the board and to the left and below PCI slot 6.

The SL-86SPE-L has a total of 1 AGP slot and 6 PCI slots. Above PCI slot 2 and along the board’s edge is the JP3 jumper, which controls the on board LAN feature. With the jumper set to open (Default), the on-board LAN port is enabled. Above PCI slots 4 and 5 is the CD-IN header. The audio output header is located to the left and above PCI slot 6. Using an optional bracket, you can connect S/PDIF input and output ports to the board among others. The red LED between the edge of the board and PCI slot 6 is the standby power LED. This LED is active whenever a power source is connected to the board.

The rear panel contains the standard complement of ports including: a PS/2 keyboard and mouse port, a parallel port, 2 serial ports, 2 USB 2.0 capable ports, a Realtek based 10/100 Ethernet port, 3 audio ports, and a game port. A few more USB 2.0 ports would have been a very welcomed addition, considering the popularity of USB devices these days.