Unofficial Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR thread

[DoobieOnline]

Punisher contacted Soltek and they said 1.55 Vcore is a hardware limit with the board so a new bios won't push it any further. The Soltek is great and if it had a little higher Vcore and VDIMM it would be perfect. You may want to look at the nForce3 250 boards from Epox and Chaintech if you definitely need a higher voltage range.

doobie

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: DoobieOnline
Punisher contacted Soltek and they said 1.55 Vcore is a hardware limit with the board so a new bios won't push it any further. The Soltek is great and if it had a little higher Vcore and VDIMM it would be perfect. You may want to look at the nForce3 250 boards from Epox and Chaintech if you definitely need a higher voltage range.

doobie

Really makes you wonder why the left the max VCORE so low huh? I don't get it.. I mean even a little bit higher.. but 1.55 is awfully low. anyways even at 1.55 I can run my A64 3200+ at 2.5GHz so I am happy

plus I also remember reading that the A64's aren't as affected by VCORE adjustments as some CPU's are, so it might not really matter thaaaaat much.

meh, the board rocks otherwise.

 

[DoobieOnline]

Craig, what settings are you using to get to 2.5GHz? Please let me know what your FSB, multiplier, HT (4X or 3X), and mem speed is set to. I have a 3000+ that I was going to return unused but now I'm thinking that I may slap it in the rig tonight and see what it will do at 1.55V. If it will get to 2.4 or maybe 2.5GHz, I'm really curious to see how much of an improvement (if any) it would be over the 3200+ 1MB I have running at 2.25GHz (9 x 250, 4X HT). Let me know if you guys think I should give it a try or if it would be a waste of time since the performance would be about the same. Thanks!

doobie

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: DoobieOnline
Craig, what settings are you using to get to 2.5GHz? Please let me know what your FSB, multiplier, HT (4X or 3X), and mem speed is set to. I have a 3000+ that I was going to return unused but now I'm thinking that I may slap it in the rig tonight and see what it will do at 1.55V. If it will get to 2.4 or maybe 2.5GHz, I'm really curious to see how much of an improvement (if any) it would be over the 3200+ 1MB I have running at 2.25GHz (9 x 250, 4X HT). Let me know if you guys think I should give it a try or if it would be a waste of time since the performance would be about the same. Thanks!

doobie

Hey Doobie, I will check when I get home, I am at work right now... I do remember that I had to set the memory to run at 166 because it's just generic PC3200 I have right now (my Hyper-X is in another machine) but I had the FSB at 225 IIRC (It's not overclocked anymore) anyways it seemed stable for the day or so that I had it up there... I simply put it back to stock because it's more than enough as is. I noticed no gain at all in any games becauase I am videocard limited with my 9800 Pro.... so I figure meh, back to stock.

 

[imported_Bucko]

?Nvidia RAID array can span across both SATA and IDE partitions.?
Silly me thought all the SATA?s where on the Promise. Makes since why their listed it the Bios under IDE. Duh

?With the Promise Controller, the user does not have as much flexibility; the MCP can do a 6 drive RAID array with the 2 IDE channels and 2 SATA channels? Sata3, Sata4 and IDE 3
Guess I?ll get one of those 15 dollar IDE to SATA connectors for my optical?s.

 

[DoobieOnline]

Ok, I couldn't resist at least trying out the 3000+ so I slapped it in the rig when I got home. At this point, I'm really glad I did because it hits 2.5GHz at 1.525V (10 x 250, 4X HT). It takes all 2.8V to get the gig of Ballistix PC4000 to run stable at 208MHz (166 setting in bios), but I Primed it and it's solid as a rock. IIRC, the 3200+ 1MB at 2.25GHz (9 x 250, 4X HT) consistently scored 83.4 FPS in Doom 3 at 1280x1024 High Quality and the 3000+ OC is consistently scoring 84.1 so it's a slight improvement. Soltek Hardware Monitor is reporting the die temp at 44C as I type this and I never saw it get above 46C while running Prime.

At this point, I think I'll keep the 3000+ and return the 3200+ simply because I'm amazed to get a 25% OC out of it. Who needs more Vcore when the latest Newcastles OC like crazy at near default voltage?

The Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR gets my vote for best nForce3 250 board!

doobie

 

[CraigRT]

Cheers Doobie, yeah I agree this is the best mobo
I guess I don't have to run any tests for you. LOL.. we get about the same results! good work!

 

[imported_Bucko]

I said I'd report back with same WD 80gig drive that has not been Raid0.
Frankly I?m surprised with results.
80gig WD 8k buff x2 raid0
IDE 1 masters
here is a single drive

Is anyone using a MYHD tuner card with this mobo? I get it installed and running but after rebooting I have problems and have to clear Bios. And remove the board. I don't have anything else on the PCI bus and even disabled the Promise once. Seems like it as a problem with driver?

 

[DoobieOnline]

Thanks Craig! The only thing I need to do now is find the Holy Grail of RAM, which means 2 x 512MB that will run 1:1 at 250 FSB while using only 2.8V. The A64 is SO picky about mem and it makes you wonder what the heck is up with that? I know my gig of Crucial Ballistix has better timings and requires less voltage than my gig of Geil at 250 FSB in a P4 rig, but the Geil blows away the Crucial in terms of higher 1:1 speeds using less voltage with the A64.

Here's a question for those in the know - is it possible to increase 2 x 512MB RAM compatibility (at higher FSB) with bios updates or are we stuck where we're at until AMD optimizes the mem controller on future chips? Also, is it more important to run 2-2-2-10 at ~200MHz than to run at something like 2.5-4-4-10 at ~250MHz with the A64?

doobie

 

[imported_Bucko]

Doobie your last comment about the RAM brought me back to reality. I was forgetting that I only have 2700/333 in my system (Old stuff I had) and I probably won't achieve your success. Guess it won't hurt to try. I have to remember this when trouble shooting problems like my tuner problem.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: DoobieOnline
Thanks Craig! The only thing I need to do now is find the Holy Grail of RAM, which means 2 x 512MB that will run 1:1 at 250 FSB while using only 2.8V. The A64 is SO picky about mem and it makes you wonder what the heck is up with that? I know my gig of Crucial Ballistix has better timings and requires less voltage than my gig of Geil at 250 FSB in a P4 rig, but the Geil blows away the Crucial in terms of higher 1:1 speeds using less voltage with the A64.

Here's a question for those in the know - is it possible to increase 2 x 512MB RAM compatibility (at higher FSB) with bios updates or are we stuck where we're at until AMD optimizes the mem controller on future chips? Also, is it more important to run 2-2-2-10 at ~200MHz than to run at something like 2.5-4-4-10 at ~250MHz with the A64?

doobie

I would say the clear winner would be the higher FSB over the tighter timings.. I've benchmarked CAS2 vs CAS3 with an almost not-noticeable difference... whereas cranking the FSB upto 250, would be a noticeable increase.

 

[krose]

Originally posted by: DoobieOnline
Also, is it more important to run 2-2-2-10 at ~200MHz than to run at something like 2.5-4-4-10 at ~250MHz with the A64?

doobie

Here's what little I found while tinkering. Ran a stick of OCZ EL PC3500 at 240x10, 2-3-3-7, used A64 tweaker's 183 divider which had RAM at 218. Sandra memory FWIW was 3300/3300. SuperPi 1M was 37 seconds. Now running a stick of Adata Vitesta PC4000 at 267x9, 3-4-4-8, 1:1. Sandra is now 4039/4039, but SuperPi is still 37 seconds. I thought that for a given CPU clock, higher RAM frequency gave better SuperPi, unless the timings matter that much. I didn't think they did with A64, looks like they do.

Ken

 

[LocutusX]

How hot does the Northbridge get when you run FSB @ 250mhz, HTT x 4, HyperTransport bus = 1GHz ?

 

[DoobieOnline]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on RAM timing/speed. From what krose reports, it looks like tight timings at reduced speed has as much benefit as loose timing and high FSB. I ran a few tests on my P4 rig and running 5:4 (250/200) with quality RAM scored slightly better in benches but to me it felt "smoother" in games when running 1:1. I was curious to see what you guys would say about your experiences with the A64 & RAM timing/speed.

LocutusX - the chipset heatsink is very warm at 250 FSB but I wouldn't say it's hot. I wondered about that last night when I was able to hit 10 x 250 using 4X, so I put my finger on it for several seconds and it wasn't uncomfortable, just very warm. I didn't even remove the stock TIM on the heatsink and replace it with AS5, which is a first for me. I don't know if it's a pad or paste under the heatsink, but it does a great job.

doobie

 

[WT]

In the market for a cheap A64 754 board, and found this thread. I've read nothing but positive reviews about this board so I think I will be buying it over the cheaper Chaintech board. I honestly doubt there's any need for the addtnl features it offers over the Chaintech, but also believe the objective isnt necessarily to buy the cheapest product you can buy either.

I'll be pairing it with a 2800+which seems to have a bit more O/C potential than the 3000+ (not to mention the $30 price difference). How easy will it be to swap out an NF2U board and replace with an NF3 without reloading my OS ? I usually uninstall the board drivers and set my IDE controller to standard, then swap the boards. I have a WD 160gb PATA drive so no RAID to bother with.

 

[LocutusX]

Originally posted by: DoobieOnline
LocutusX - the chipset heatsink is very warm at 250 FSB but I wouldn't say it's hot. I wondered about that last night when I was able to hit 10 x 250 using 4X, so I put my finger on it for several seconds and it wasn't uncomfortable, just very warm. I didn't even remove the stock TIM on the heatsink and replace it with AS5, which is a first for me. I don't know if it's a pad or paste under the heatsink, but it does a great job.

Alright, thanks for letting me know. Its interesting that some people like putting the HT multiplier down to 3x once they hit 230FSB, others can keep it at 4x even at 250FSB. Im sure the quality of the heatsink chosen by the mobo manufacturer has an impact on this.

Anyways, about the TIM, I suspect that it is Shin Etsu G751 or something. I saw one review of that, and they claimed it was approximately equal to AS5. That might be why its so impressive.

 

[krose]

I took the chipset heatsink off, there was some generic white paste on the chipset. I decided to lap the heatsink. I found that the sink was nowhere near flat, but then neither is the chipset probably. Anyway, if you are getting good results I wouldn't bother. I only did it because I didn't want to take the board out again later if I needed to.

 

[imported_Bucko]

Can anyone suggest a good IRQ numbers setting when I try manual setting in BIOS?
I'm having problems getting a MYHD HDTV tuner card to work.
I?m using a ATI 9800 video and later a firewire adaptor.
I?ve tried the tuner card in all available slots so far I think. The slot closest to the AGC is used up by the artic cooler.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: WT
How easy will it be to swap out an NF2U board and replace with an NF3 without reloading my OS ? I usually uninstall the board drivers and set my IDE controller to standard, then swap the boards. I have a WD 160gb PATA drive so no RAID to bother with.

Just pull out the NF2 board, put in the NF3 board, let everything install, reboot and enjoy fully functional PC.
that's what I did, I figured it would work because its all NForce, I only rebooted once and everything worked perfectly. Will probably do the same for you as well.

 

[NiN1111]

I have a soltek sl k8an2e gr too

Looks like I could overclock it to it's max (250 fsb) without any problems.. I'm kind of scared though
Either the fan sensors are broken or the athlon 64 processors are very very cool, because the cpu temp stays at 48 - 49 C no matter what I do. I'm gonna underclock it because i'm paranoid it'll burn out. Anybody have any opinions on this? Is the athlon 64 just that good or what?

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: NiN1111
I have a soltek sl k8an2e gr too

Looks like I could overclock it to it's max (250 fsb) without any problems.. I'm kind of scared though
Either the fan sensors are broken or the athlon 64 processors are very very cool, because the cpu temp stays at 48 - 49 C no matter what I do. I'm gonna underclock it because i'm paranoid it'll burn out. Anybody have any opinions on this? Is the athlon 64 just that good or what?

don't underclock the CPU.
your system will be showing signs of an overheating CPU long before now if that was the case.
I wouldn't be worried.. the A64 CPUs don't even run hot, so I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[NiN1111]

Originally posted by: CraigRT

Originally posted by: NiN1111
I have a soltek sl k8an2e gr too

Looks like I could overclock it to it's max (250 fsb) without any problems.. I'm kind of scared though
Either the fan sensors are broken or the athlon 64 processors are very very cool, because the cpu temp stays at 48 - 49 C no matter what I do. I'm gonna underclock it because i'm paranoid it'll burn out. Anybody have any opinions on this? Is the athlon 64 just that good or what?

don't underclock the CPU.
your system will be showing signs of an overheating CPU long before now if that was the case.
I wouldn't be worried.. the A64 CPUs don't even run hot, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Ah ok, thanks. One more question though, right now I have a stick of ddr 2100 256mb ram in my computer. I'm gonna upgrade to a ddr 3200 512mb soon. But with the fsb at 250, I probably can't run it at 1:1, and in the bios, the choices for "max memclock" under the dram configuration are 100, 133, 166, and auto. Does that mean I'm forced to either underclock my ram or overclock it to 250 fsb?

 

[EMBE]

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum and I was looking at the soltek k8an2e gr also. Looks and sounds like a nice board but I have one question about it. My case has usb and one ieee1394 on the front of it. I was wondering if this mobo had any 1394 headers on it ( it should have to usb headers right?) or is there no way to connect my front 1394? I'm planning on getting a 1394 adapter card too. Any suggestions would help. Thanks in advance.

 

[krose]

Ah ok, thanks. One more question though, right now I have a stick of ddr 2100 256mb ram in my computer. I'm gonna upgrade to a ddr 3200 512mb soon. But with the fsb at 250, I probably can't run it at 1:1, and in the bios, the choices for "max memclock" under the dram configuration are 100, 133, 166, and auto. Does that mean I'm forced to either underclock my ram or overclock it to 250 fsb?

To run at 250 you will have to use 166 memory divider. That will put your RAM around 208 which the PC3200 should handle. Or you can get a stick of Adata Vitesta PC4000 and run 1:1.

 

[krose]

Originally posted by: EMBE
Hey guys, I'm new to this forum and I was looking at the soltek k8an2e gr also. Looks and sounds like a nice board but I have one question about it. My case has usb and one ieee1394 on the front of it. I was wondering if this mobo had any 1394 headers on it ( it should have to usb headers right?) or is there no way to connect my front 1394? I'm planning on getting a 1394 adapter card too. Any suggestions would help. Thanks in advance.

There are two additional USB headers (4 ports), but no firewire.