Soltek mobo with VIA P4X400 chipset now at Newegg

[RanDum72]

Has anyone read any reviews or tried it?

Link.

Nice silver PCB, only $99.
Some specs:
Supported CPU😛entium 4 Socket 478
Chipset: VIA P4X400 + VT8235
FSB:533/400 MHz
RAM: 3x DDR 333/266 PC 2700 up to 2GB
IDE:2 x PCI UATA 133/100/66 IDE up to 4 Devices
Slots:1 x AGP 8X/4X Slot 6 x 32-bit PCI Bus Master Slots
Ports:1xFDD,2xCOM,1xLPT,2xPS2, LAN and Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: 6-Channel AC'97 Audio

 

[BD231]

Looks tempting, but that Via name is really turning me off.

 

[First]

Originally posted by: RanDum72
Has anyone read any reviews or tried it?

Here. 🙂

 

[vetteguy]

Originally posted by: bdog231
Looks tempting, but that Via name is really turning me off.

What chipset are you suggesting then? I'm thinking of going Intel for my main system when they roll out the 3GHz ones, will there be some new, better mobos by then?

 

[BD231]

Originally posted by: vetteguy

Originally posted by: bdog231
Looks tempting, but that Via name is really turning me off.

What chipset are you suggesting then? I'm thinking of going Intel for my main system when they roll out the 3GHz ones, will there be some new, better mobos by then?

There should be a dual channel DDR board coming thats made by Intel, not sure when, but I'm sure it'll be here by the time we see 3ghz. I myself am going to buy an Asus P4T533 with 32bit RDRam and will be picking up a 2.53ghz P4 when the next price drop hits. You cant beat 4.2gigs of mem-bandwidth. I usually stay away from any chipset that is not an Intel chipset if I'm using a P4. SiS would be my next choice, but they have always had poor AGP/Gaming performance when compared to a equally* outfitted intel setup, and I dont feel thats acceptable.

 

[bcterps]

I just picked up a Via P4PB400, it should be here the beginning of next week. I too was a bit wary of VIA, but from all the reviews that I've read about the P4X400/P4X333 chipset and the VIA P4PB400 have said that the board is quite stable. I'll be pairing it with a P4 2.26 and some Corsair XMS PC3200 memory, so I'll see how high it cranks and how stable it is. I would have gone with a SiS 648 based board, but there arent any out on the market right now, and the Soltek board hasnt been reviewed by that many places. The one review that I did read about it was not in depth at all, and the Soltek board at Newegg doesnt have onboard LAN, so I went with the VIA board. We'll see how it goes 🙂

--Ben

 

[RanDum72]

Evan, did you test with other brands of DDR400? Seems pretty fast to me but the instability with DDR400 seems to be a turn-off.

 

[BD231]

Originally posted by: benchiu
I just picked up a Via P4PB400, it should be here the beginning of next week. I too was a bit wary of VIA, but from all the reviews that I've read about the P4X400/P4X333 chipset and the VIA P4PB400 have said that the board is quite stable. I'll be pairing it with a P4 2.26 and some Corsair XMS PC3200 memory, so I'll see how high it cranks and how stable it is. I would have gone with a SiS 648 based board, but there arent any out on the market right now, and the Soltek board hasnt been reviewed by that many places. The one review that I did read about it was not in depth at all, and the Soltek board at Newegg doesnt have onboard LAN, so I went with the VIA board. We'll see how it goes 🙂

--Ben

Let us know how it goes.

 

[subhuman]

I'm surprised anyone is buying or cares about an unlicensed underperforming P4 chipset from via... Sure maybe on an AMD. But on a P4? Stick with Intel chipsets for P4 (imho etc)

 

[crapito]

that Soltek sure looks nice in silver...

anyway, it's good to see that the newer, higher-end VIA P4 boards are actually for sale. I thought a lot about getting a P4X333 before I bought my Epox 4G4A+ (845G) motherboard, but I couldn't find anyplace that sold one.

 

[bcterps]

Originally posted by: subhuman
I'm surprised anyone is buying or cares about an unlicensed underperforming P4 chipset from via... Sure maybe on an AMD. But on a P4? Stick with Intel chipsets for P4 (imho etc)

Cmon, you obviously havent read anything about this chipset, maybe you should do some research before spouting off. The P4X400 based boards are anything but underperforming. Just take a look at some of the reviews around the net (I'd link them for you, but you wouldnt read them). The P4X400 performs at least as well as any i845G based board, and if you look at Anand's own review of the P4X333 reference board, it performed damn near PC1066 levels. And that is with DDR333 memory.

--Ben

 

[NOX]

Originally posted by: bdog231
Looks tempting, but that Via name is really turning me off.

I agree, I?ve used VIA based boards for years and have had success, but also many problems.

The board looks great, reviews have been favorable, and this particular board with the silver/gray PCB looks cool. However, whenever someone mentions VIA/4in1?s it sends shivers down my spine. Maybe this chipset will change this.

Intel Chipset + Intel CPU = Performance, stability & compatibility.