The KT400 chipset may be out now, however until it proves it self
to be a worthy contender, KT333 based boards will remain the main
choice for any conscious buyer. The first KT333 board we tested out
was the SOYO Dragon Ultra and today we take a look at this new contender
from Soltek, the 75DRV5, also known as Purple Ray for its distinct
purple PCB. This is the first time we're ever testing out a Soltek
board and it's certainly exciting to see where this board will stand.
Being in the mainboard industry for just under 7 years Soltek have
earned themselves a good reputation in the world within a short period
of time. Within this period Soltek have been able to identify exact
customer needs and cater to them quite effectively.
Specifications of the board
Processor
AMD Socket-462 Athlon XP / Athlon
/ Duron processor
Chipset
VIA KT333 (VT8367 + VT8233A)
VT8367:
- 552 BGA
- Features 266/200MHz Front Side Bus settings
- 333/266/200MHz Memory Bus
- V-Link Hub Architecture, 266MHz link between the North and
South Bridge
- Supports AGP 4X/2X
- PC2700/2100/PC1600 compliant
VT8233A:
- 376 BGA
- Supports Ultra ATA-133/100/66 transfer protocol
- Provides AC'97 Audio
- Support for four USB Ports (max.)
Memory
3 x 184-pin DDR DIMM
Supports 6 banks up to 3GB DRAMs for Unbuffered
DDR SDRAM Module
PC2700/2100/PC1600 compliant
Cache Memory
Built-in to AMD Athlon™ XP, Athlon™
and Duron™ Processor Module
On-Board EIDE
2 x PCI Bus Master UATA 133/100/66 IDE ports
(up to 4 ATAPI Devices)
Supports for PIO Mode 3, 4, UATA 133/100/66
IDE & ATAPI CD-ROM
Integrated Super I/O
1 x Floppy Port (supports 360K, 720K, 1.2M,
1.44M and 2.88Mbytes)
2 x serial ports (high-speed 16550A FIFO
UART Ports)
