PCSTATS     
[X]   Directory of
Guides & Reviews

Beginners Guides
Motherboards by Brand
Weekly Newsletter
Archived Newsletters

Soltek SL-75DRV5 KT333CE Motherboard Review
Soltek SL-75DRV5 KT333CE Motherboard Review - PCSTATS
With the era of the KT333 chipset and consequently DDR333 upon us in full swing it leaves one wondering what to really make of it all.
 83% Rating:   
Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Soltek Apr 03 2002   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Soltek SL-75DRV5

Sandra, PCMark 2002, 3Dmark , RTCW Benchmarks

Sisoft Sandra 2002 Source: Sandra

Sandra is designed to test the theoretical power of a complete system and individual components. The numbers taken though are again, purely theoretical and may not represent real world performance.

SiSoft Sandra 2001 Benchmark Results
Soltek SL75-DRV5 Score

Multimedia Benchmark (FSB/Memory)

1. Integer SSE - 133/333 MHz 9451 it/s
1a. Integer SSE - 143/286 MHz 9620 it/s
2. Floating-Point SSE - 133/333 MHz 11113 it/s
2a. Floating-Point SSE - 143/286 MHz 11281 it/s

CPU Benchmark (FSB/Memory)

3. Dhrystone ALU - 133/333 MHz 4822 MIPS
3a. Dhrystone ALU - 143/286 MHz 4995 MIPS
4. Whetstone FPU - 133/333 MHz 2410 MFLOPS
4a. Whetstone FPU - 143/286 MHz 2497 MFLOPS

Memory Benchmark (FSB/Memory)

5. Integer ALU - 133/333 MHz 2104MB/s
5a. Integer ALU - 143/286 MHz 2084 MB/s
6. Float FPU - 133/333 MHz 2032 MB/s
6a. Float FPU - 143/286 MHz 2025 MB/s

No review would be complete without a full set of Sandra benchmarks would it? Everything is inline except the memory scores, they seem a little low.

PCMark 2002 Source: MadOnion

PCMark is a new benchmark from our pals at MadOnion which a whole system benchmark. It can be used on desktop PC's, Laptops and even Workstations and tests everyday computing from home to office usage. PCMark specifically stresses the CPU, memory subsystem, graphics subsystem, hard drives, WindowsXP GUI (if WinXP is used), video performance and even laptop batteries. This benchmark was released March 12, 2002 and can be downloaded from Madonion if you would like to give it a test run on your computer for comparisons sake...

PCMark2002 Benchmark Results
Processor PCMarks Ranking

SL-75DRV5 - 133/333 MHz

5240

SL-75DRV5 - 143/286 MHz

5395

Memory

SL-75DRV5 - 133/333 MHz

3456

SL-75DRV5 - 143/286 MHz

3497

HDD

SL-75DRV5 - 133/333 MHz

N/A

SL-75DRV5 - 143/286 MHz

N/A

The HDD portion of the benchmark would not run in WindowsXP. The scores are a little lower then what we got in our XP2100+ review.

3DMark2001 SE Source: MadOnion

3DMark2001 SE is the latest installment in the 3DMark series by MadOnion. By combining DirectX8 support with completely new graphics, it continues to provide good overall system benchmarks. 3DMark2001 SE has been created in cooperation with the major 3D accelerator and processor manufacturers to provide a reliable set of diagnostic tools. The suite demonstrates 3D gaming performance by using real-world gaming technology to test a system's true performance abilities. Tests include: DirectX8 Vertex Shaders, Pixel Shaders and Point Sprites, DOT3 and Environment Mapped Bump Mapping, support for Full Scene Anti-aliasing and Texture Compression and two game tests using Ipion real-time physics. Higher 3DMark scores denote better performance.

3DMark2001 SE Benchmark Results
Motherboard (FSB/Memory) 3DMarks Ranking
1.

SL-75DRV5 - 133/333 MHz

8912
2

SL-75DRV5 - 143/286 MHz

9085

A stock score of almost 9000+ points is simply unbelievable and very well respected. Overclocking slightly doesn't seem to boost 3D performance too much.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Source: ID Software

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a relatively new game benchmark. However, RTCW takes up where Quake III left off and continues to form the basis of the first person shooter system stressing that QIII has become a hallmark for. Based upon the Quake III engine, RTCS is obviously going to be quite taxing on even a top end system. Higher numbers denote faster frames per second (FPS), and hence, better performance.

RTCW (640x480 atdemo6) Benchmark Results
Motherboard (FSB/Memory) (FPS) Ranking
1.

SL-75DRV5 - 133/333 MHz

62.9
2 KT3 Ultra 133/333 MHz 64.3

RTCW (640x480 atdemo8) Benchmark Results
Motherboard (FSB/Memory) (FPS) Ranking
1.

SL-75DRV5 - 133/333 MHz

170.5
2

SL-75DRV5 - 143/286 MHz

172.1

RTCW is more of a overall system benchmark then a motherboard specific. With the combination of XP2100+ the SL-75DRV-5 and a GeForce3 Ti500, you're going to get silky smooth gaming performance!

Conclusion:

If you only plan to spend $150CDN on a motherboard you will be surprised by how much the Soltek SL-75DRV-5 will deliver. With excellent speed thanks to the KT333 chipset and an AthlonXP 2100+, you'd be bound to be happy with anything you do. We were especially pleased with Soltek for clearing the socket area, it's easily one of the roomiest sockets we've ever had to work with! It's nice to have so much space!

The board was far from perfect though, there were quite a few things minor things which Soltek could improve upon. Probably the biggest is the location of the IDE connectors. Even with a short card such as the MSI GeForce3 Ti500, we had to wrap the IDE cables around the video card to reach the IDE devices. This created a huge area of dead air.

If so many other mainboard manufacturers can have a jumperless or close to jumperless setup, then so can Soltek, I personally didn't like the fact that we had to set DIP switches to manipulate the AGP and RAM voltages. On that note, the RedStorm overclocking option didn't seem to work very well, our actual max FSB was quite a bit lower then what it had said and this board just didn't seem to want to overclock well at all. The SL-75DRV-5 maxed out at a somewhat low 143 MHz FSB.

However the issue which may affect the most amount of users centers around DIMM slot population. With all three DIMM slots occupied with 256MB DDR RAM our test board exhibited some stability problems. Office based benchmarks passed with no problem whatsoever, but when it was time to run the 3D based benchmarks (with three DIMM's installed) the system would often crash back to desktop. This is usually an indication of a memory system error.

Other then those few things we were generally very pleased with the dark purple Soltek SL75-DRV5. It exhibited great great stock speed performance, and with its low price it offers it would be good to consider for just about anyone.

Related Articles:

Here are a few other articles that you might enjoy as well...

1. MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU
2. Epox 8KHA+
3. Abit KR7A-133RAID
4. AthlonXP 2100+ CPU Review
5. PC2400 DDR RAM

< Previous Page © 2023 PCSTATS.com Motherboards Reviews...»

 

Contents of Article: Soltek SL-75DRV5
 Pg 1.  Soltek SL-75DRV5 KT333CE Motherboard Review
 Pg 2.  CPU Thermal protection and Socket Clearances
 Pg 3.  The BIOS
 Pg 4.  Test System Specs and Benchmarks
 Pg 5.  — Sandra, PCMark 2002, 3Dmark , RTCW Benchmarks

 
Hardware Sections 


 
PCSTATS Network Features Information About Us Contact
FrostyTech
PCSTATS Newsletter
Tech Glossary
Technology WebSite Listings
News Archives
(Review RSS Feed)
Site Map
PCstats Wallpaper
About Us
Privacy Policy
Advertise on PCSTATS

How's Our Driving?
© Copyright 1999-2023 www.pcstats.com All rights reserved. Privacy policy and Terms of Use.