Soltek Why No Respect?

[psykohog]

I just received my Soltek MB SL-75DRV2. I'm going to put
a 1600Xp unlocked in it. I do not understand why Soltek is being
basically ignored in the forums. Does anybody else have this
board and is it as stable as The Other Man Says (Toms)?

 

[AZGamer]

Because, prior to the Tom's Review, many people had never heard of them. It takes more then one good product for a company to prove itself, as ECS can attest to.

 

[AA0]

They aren't well known, they aren't even sold around here much. Their past boards have also not been great, so they don't deserve a name yet. If they continue to bring out good boards, then they'll get the recongizition they deserve.

 

[fxsts]

Soltek has actively been promoting their products in Asia and Europe in the last couple of years.

Their products have been pretty solid and offering good values. In fact, their KT133A based board, SL-75KAV, which I bought, was one of the first ones to come out in the market using the chipset and was pretty good. The board was about $30 cheaper than otherboards yet offering all the overclocking features. Although they involved more jumpers than others, because of them, the board was not affected by the issue of not being able to run 100Mhz(200Mhz) bus Athlons/Duron on 133Mhz(266Mhz) bus.

The main problem with Soltek in the US has not really been their product offering. Rather, it has been due to their distribution. Soltek does not have their direct representation in the US. Instead, they use a distributor, A&M DISTRIBUTING, which, in my opinion, has not been doing that good job marketing their product.

For example, the distributor is selling the products directly through their website, www.soltek-usa.com, instead of more actively promoting them to be sold through more main stream distribution channels. In fact, dispite its name, the web address, www.soltek-usa.com, is with the distributor.

Soltek, in my opinion, got good products to become successful in the US. They just need to revise their marketing and distribution strategies.

 

[Dead3ye]

All right, I'm heavily into the overclocking game and I have a brand new Soltek SL-75DRV2 sitting beside me. I have a 1.33 Tbird coming that I know will hit at least 1.5. When I get all my parts, get this rig together and do some extensive testing, I'll report back in this thread. It might take awhile (week or two, I'm a busy person).

I'm not the most technical here, but I do know how to overclock, so don't look for any big reviews, just a basic report.

BTW: Newegg has been selling these boards for about 6 weeks now. $99 + S/H. That's where mine came from.

 

[tcsenter]

<< The main problem with Soltek in the US has not really been their product offering. Rather, it has been due to their distribution. Soltek does not have their direct representation in the US. Instead, they use a distributor, A&M DISTRIBUTING, which, in my opinion, has not been doing that good job marketing their product. For example, the distributor is selling the products directly through their website, www.soltek-usa.com, instead of more actively promoting them to be sold through more main stream distribution channels. In fact, dispite its name, the web address, www.soltek-usa.com, is with the distributor. >>

Actually, www.soltek-usa.com is Soltek's designated US portal, though you are correct that Soltek still has no "official" (company owned) office or operations here in the United States. It is all handled by MISR Corp. (the retail end of A&M Distributing) or Softek Distribution, though Softek Distribution has been in operation longer at www.soltekusa.com. I've purchased directly from Softek Distribution a few times via Tom Keels, they ship from Escanaba, Michigan (though the company is based in South Carolina).

I'm not sure if A&M and Softek are essentially the same company, but the e-commerce areas of their websites have the same look and feel. The WHOIS registration info for the websites gave the following:

Domain Name: SOLTEK-USA.COM (aka www.misrcorps.com)
Registrant: Misr Corp
Jensen Beach, Fl 34958

Created on: 22-OCT-01

Administrative Contact:
Metwally, Amr metto@misrcorps.com


Domain Name: SOLTEKUSA.COM
Registrant: T.N. Keels
Columbia, SC 29202-7006

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Billing Contact:
Keels, Tom
SOFTEK, Inc.
Columbia, SC 29202-7305

Record created on 22-Jan-2000.

I'm not sure how all these companies are related, precisely. MISR Corps, and probably A&M Distributing, is an Egyptian startup. There is an MISR everything: MISR Bank, MISR Travel, MISR Network, MISR Medical, and they're all Egyptian companies.

Soltek has had several noteworthy boards and has been praised by Tom's Hardware more than once in the past two years. They just do not have any presence here in the U.S., but they're a rising star in Europe. I've used several of their boards and have been satisfied with everything, except that they unexpectedly discontinued a couple models that I purchased and their technical support pages are very inadequate for all but a few of their best-selling boards.

The SL-63AV+ was described as having adjustable core voltage, but when I purchased four of these boards, they came with no such feature. Soltek's explanation was that it was "manufacturing option", though it was NOT described as an "option" at the time I purchased. Turns out, this "option" never saw production. I was a bit miffed by that, but the board was very solid for AT upgrades and worked flawlessly (up to PIII 733MHz).

 

[Jeff7]

Beats me. I've got a Soltek board. It's a pretty good board. Nice overclocking features too. I would like it more if they had another PCI slot instead of an AMR slot.
I don't quite understand what that RedStorm overclocking thing does though.

 

[Duvie]

well I think it is availability...I have seen many post asking where can I find them after the tom's review...

I went to pricewatch 3 weeks ago when I was looking at getting a kt266a and type soltek...nothing poped up!!! Why??? Now 1 pops up and it is newegg and last time I looked it was out of stock...

I am not interested in kt266a now anyways...waiting for sis745 boards to arrive...

 

[fxsts]

tcsenter,

I learned the hard way that Soltek and A&M DISTRIBUTING were NOT the same company. I initially had a problem with my SL-75KAV, which I bought in Japan while I was traveling there. I contacted A&M Distributing which I thought was Soltek's direct operation in the US. However, what they told me was that they are a company which had a distribution right to sell Soltek products in the US. They buy products from Soltek and distribute them; therefore, I was told that they could not support my board with was not sold through them. I some email from them somewhere in my Outlook in which a guy was explaining politely and in detail that why they could not help me.

It turned out that my board was OK. It just had (and still has) very sensitive CPU connection. I just have to be careful when I seat a CPU to the socket; otherwise, it does not boot.

 

[parky]

FYI
I came across this news article over at hardocp

Soltek Computer Becomes VIA Tech. Original Mainboard Partner. From now on, Soltek Computer start out consigning VIA original M/B with item VIA P4X266 PR22-R ( Soltek origin item SL-85DRV+ ) and item VIA P4X266 PR22-S ( Soltek origin item SL-85DRV ) to our customers. Due to superior performance of Soltek M/B, VIA Tech. has decided Soltek Computer to be OEM and to produce TOP GRADE M/B based on Soltek origin. With its strong R&D team, SOLTEK is able to provide advanced and stable products, those are why Soltek is the best choice.

also if anybodys interested there's a new soltek forum just opened at OCWorkbench theres not many threads yet but give it time.


I've read the recent Toms hardware review that so many people on this forum have been so quick to dismiss and to be honest I cant understand why.
I've used/bought several motherboards that have been favourably reviewed on Toms hardware and have not had a problem with any of them (Asus P3V4X, Asus A7V, Abit KG7). Anyhow I'll be taking the plunge and getting the SL75 DRV2 in the next couple of weeks, I'll keep you posted as to how it goes.

If they're good enough for Via then they're good enough for me.

 

[tcsenter]

<< learned the hard way that Soltek and A&M DISTRIBUTING were NOT the same company. >>

No, I realize they are not the same company, but they ARE the authorized importer/distributor of Soltek products here in the US (in conjunction with Softek Distribution).

 

[weovpac]

I just built a system with a Soltek SL-75DRV2 . Only had it working for a couple of days, but so far rock solid and good overclocking results. I bought a XP1600, have it running @ XP1800(145 fsb). I bought this mobo on Tom's review, I don't know why peeps don't like Tom's reviews.If you have any other question let me know.

 

[Jhhnn]

Some insiders have known for a long time that Soltek makes good boards. It's just that their marketing in the USA hasn't been very strong, at all. Not at the enthusiast level, anyway, they could well have a decent chunk of the system builder market for all I know.

Unfortunately, total garbage will sell well with the right marketing effort....