Unofficial Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR thread

[asintu]

Hey guys!
Thinkin of buying this board too
Are you satisfied with it? Any problems whatsoever?

 

[Megatomic]

I have been very pleased with mine. It's been in service since last fall and has not been any problem for me. Onboard sound works well but I just got a Chaintech AV710 so I don't use it now. I've been running my Geil PC3200 at faster timings than SPD sets with no problems. Stock performance is phenomenal, I don't even feel the need to overclock my 3400+ Clawhammer and I have been a long time overclocker (since 1996 or so).

For the price you just can't beat it. And it looks great, if you have a side window you are all set.

 

[asintu]

heard (from anand review) that the IDE speed is better than the SATA speed..so no need to buy a sata hdd if i buy this board? or what's the deal?

 

[Megatomic]

I've never used a SATA drive on this board so I don't know firsthand.

 

[asintu]

what's the manufacturer warranty for this board?

 

[NotKenny16]

K,

I'm setting up my first build this weekend. Some sites I've read mention a 'FSB Frequency' BIOS setting for the Award BIOS running on this board, and that the correct number = (I think) reported FSB speed/2. This would make my FSB Frequency = 800mhz (AMD 3400+ reports FSB of 1600mhz). Is this right? Secondly, the manual makes no reference to that BIOS option, but rather it looks to me that 'CPU Overclock in mhz' replaced it.

I'm new at this, and don't want to fry my board. I've heard this board does great w/o OCing (why I bought it). I'm assuming the "CPU Overclock in mhz' option is the one my BIOS will show, so what value do I need there? Will it default correctly.

Thanks for helping the newguy

Kyle

 

[todd2fst4u]

i just found out about these "preformance bios" but i can't find a differnece between them and the T1.2 bios. does anybody know the difference?

 

[Megatomic]

Those "performance" BIOS revisions were intended for certain versions of the motherboard but darned if I can remember which. I do remember that my specific board was not supported by it.

But I do have in my possession a beta BIOS that I got directly from a Soltek support rep. that has an updated NV RAID ROM component. I don't have a RAID setup so I haven't bothered flashing it yet.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: asintu
Hey guys!
Thinkin of buying this board too
Are you satisfied with it? Any problems whatsoever?

I've had nothing but problems with my motherboard. I've ran memtest to see if it was my RAM that was causing BSODs, but it reported no errors and I ran the test more than once. My only guesses are that a) the ram doesn't agree with my motherboard b) my motherboard is defective.

www.aikouka.com/Report.htm

If you were wondering what my computer's specs are, that's my Everest Home report.

 

[Cid]

Anyone experiencing long bootups with this board? No matter what ive tried (replacing cables, diagnostic bootup, etc), I cant seem to this board to boot up any faster than 60 seconds.

 

[Brule]

Originally posted by: Cid
Anyone experiencing long bootups with this board? No matter what ive tried (replacing cables, diagnostic bootup, etc), I cant seem to this board to boot up any faster than 60 seconds.

With the startup memory test disabled mine boots extremely fast. Where does it hang?

 

[strend]

Bios on this board report temps to high? Bios reports 50C at boot, 58C at load. Speedfan on the other hand, says I'm 40c and 48C loaded.

BTW, looks like a new bios is out on Solteks site. I'll try it tonight when I get home.



Edit: Bios Link

 

[elcamino74ss]

Just got one of these boards and I really like it so far. I'm running an a64 2800 in mine at 2168mhz with the 1.4 bios

 

[todd2fst4u]

Originally posted by: erndawg
Q15 on my K8AN2e runs very hot.
Can someone place their finger on Q15 of a K8AN2E MOBO? Q15 is located a bit below the CMOS battery. It is ~ 3/16 " square, lies flat on the MOBO, has three legs, and a silkscreen marking next to it indicates Q15. Mine gets very hot. I cannot keep my finger on it for more than a few seconds. It is not heatsinked, except through the board. I measure on each leg (left to right) from ground: 4.4, 3.4, 1.6 VDC. I'm wondering if this is normal, as I'm trying to troubleshoot my no POST rig that failed after 6 months. Thanks for your help.

Q15 does seem to be substantially warmer than others that look like it.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: asintu
heard (from anand review) that the IDE speed is better than the SATA speed..so no need to buy a sata hdd if i buy this board? or what's the deal?

I'm interested to find out more about this, as my Raptor when compared to other similar systems does not seem to be performing better than a standard 7200 RPM drive, and by that i mean, even slower performance.. which should be at LEAST on par with a standard 7200RPM drive. I wish they made IDE Raptors to help me diagnose

 

[Farmer]

I am now very interested in this board. Can any owners generalize the major issues that this board has? My setup will look something like this:

AMD64 Hammer 3200+
2x CorsairXMS 512MB matched
ATI 9800XT AGP
Hitachi SATA150 160GB
Hitachi SATA2 80GB
Pioneer DVD
Lite-On DVD-RW

I, obviously, will not be running RAID, and I will not be overclocking anytime in the near future.

 

[todd2fst4u]

the board seems fine. the support from soltek sucks big time though. i had to rma it. it cost me $30 to ship it to japan.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Farmer
I am now very interested in this board. Can any owners generalize the major issues that this board has? My setup will look something like this:

AMD64 Hammer 3200+
2x CorsairXMS 512MB matched
ATI 9800XT AGP
Hitachi SATA150 160GB
Hitachi SATA2 80GB
Pioneer DVD
Lite-On DVD-RW

I, obviously, will not be running RAID, and I will not be overclocking anytime in the near future.

I haven't had any issues with the board at all up until recently, my onboard LAN started acting weird. I don't know if I just need to format my HDD or not, butI just tossed in a 3COM NIC and everything working hunky dory. Very stable and fast MB... I couldn't be happier with the reliability these boards always give me.. Aside from this weird LAN issue, nothing wrong with ANY Solteks I've owned. (I am not upset about the LAN either..)

 

[nacheeze]

Hi Guys

I am planning to buy a Athlon 64 3400+ New Castle sometime today or tomorrow. Need a board to go with it. I am stuck between the Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR and DFI Lanparty UT nF3 250Gb. Any suggestion? Anandtech did a head to head and even though they saw Soltek being faster they recommond the DFI because of Overclocking options.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2206&p=7
The price diffrence is about $20 between the boards at Newegg with DFI being the expensive one. I aslo heard that with Soltek you should get the Newegg warrenty (additional $15) since their tech support is a little hard to get hold off. And since DFI has good reviews for tech support it might end up being equal in price after i take the warranty on Soltek.

My other issue is that i am going to be using RAM from my currect system (athlonXP 2000+). Its the Corsair XMS PC2700 (DDR333) and my question is, would it work in the Soltek? I have two DIMMs and even though the memory is exactally the same since they were bought about 2 years apart, the version number is different... should i experiance problems? And considering i am not using the faster DDR400 would overclocking be out of the question with both DFI and Soltek?

I am buying a under $200 setup to replace my current Motherboard and CPU. Don't want to upgrade the graphic card and memory till like 2007 after Longhorn is out.

Thanks for reading... and would really appreciet any comments.
Thank you.

PS: I have never overclocked anything the past... but wouldn't mind trying.

 

[Univac]

Just an fyi...

Refurb SL-K8AN2-GR on sale for $29.99 shipped ... 8/24/05

Good Retailer , but it is a refurb, so beware...

http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/productdetails.asp?linkid=7002&item=13-180-061R

more info at http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=1671773&enterthread=y

 

[pushlatency]

I just picked up one of those refurbs from chiefvalue, all accessories came (though I'm ont sure if they're the originals, probably replacements), backplate, and seems pretty new overall.

However, the first IDE connector doesn't seem to work (channel IDE0), devices connected to it are either not recognized or show up corrupted (for instnace, LITE-ON XXXXXXX-XX shows up as LATE-GN XXXXXXX-XX and doesn't work properly), anyone run into a similar issue with new or refurb boards?

Thanks

 

[Bostonyte]

Been trying to get my refurbished Chiefvalue Soltek motherboard to work for the last 4 hours. Get power but no post beeps or video. Tried different video cards, memory & CPU with same results. There is a small illuminated red LED under the SIMM1 slot. Wonder if that is normal? First refurbed item I have ever purchased that didn't function correctly in 12 years of building PCs :-(

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Univac]

Unfortunately mine is just sitting here as my cpu sits at fedex, so I can?t really help but suggest don?t overlook the simple stuff.

Clear the cmos,if it is in the case, take it out and try it to see if it is shorting,make sure the 4 pin power connecter is plugged in to the motherboard etc,,,

The real reason I am posting is to ask,

When you figure it out,please post and let us know!!!!!

(Just Incase it happens to mine )

 

[Univac]

Well I got my processor in.

That red light looks like it is supposed to be on. mine is on and it boots ok.

the only trouble I am having is i can't get it past 250 htt no matter what.

I set the memory down, the htt multiplier down, and also tried clock gen.

updated to the 1.4 t bios


but, i am getting a 400 mhz overclock on default voltage.

 

[chizzle]

Is it possible to set the CPU multiplier in the BIOS? I just got this board up and running, but I don't see an option for it in BIOS 1.4.

I think I'm having some voltage issues. I have the CPU set at 1.525, but the board reports it at 1.568, as does CPU-Z. I'm running a Sempron 2500+ E6 rev @2.05 right now. Who is telling the truth?