Unofficial Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR thread

[wpenhall]

megatomic- sounds good. I'm only running Win 2k right now. Win XP isn't different enough for me to justify the upgrade, so I don't plan to buy another OS until the offical release of Win XP 64. Run it through the wringer! I don't want to buy MS's usual first release buggy bloatware...

Full specs:
A64 3400+ NEWCASTLE
1 GB CORSAIR VALUE SELECT PC-3200 RAM
SOLTEK SL-K8AN2E-GR NFORCE3 250
GAINWARD 6800GT DUAL-DVI
SEAGATE 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB CACHE
ANTEC TRUEBLUE 480
NEC ND-3500A DVD+/-RW 16x+
COOLERMASTER TAC-T01-E1C CASE
MICROSOFT WIRELESS DESKTOP PRO 2.0
DELL 2001FP DISPLAY

 

[wpenhall]

Ok - got a tough one...

Anyone try to use IDE3 as just another master/slave channel without RAID? Everything about my system is working fine so far (primary HD on IDE1, DVD on IDE2 - both single master), but I can't get Win 2k to see my additional HDs on IDE3. I'm trying to install two Seagate 160 PATAs.

In the BIOS, I have nvidia RAID disabled and Promise set to RAID. I installed the Promise driver as specified in the manual, and have the Promise jumper enabled.

During bootup, the fastrack screen sees both drives; and shows their assignment as JBOD. I'm not interested in spanning them; I just want IDE3 to work like IDE1 and 2 and show two drives. I do get the flashing "no array is defined" warning, but I figured that doesn't matter as I'm not trying to RAID.

Windows can't see them, however. I ran the Seagate DiskWizard, and it keeps looking for a primary slave drive. It doesn't see IDE3. I've tried setting the drive jumpers to both master and slave, and cable select, but it didn't make any difference.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Edited for precision.

 

[Megatomic]

Ok, has anyone installed one of these boards in an Antec Sonata? If so, how'd that go? The board is smaller than a standard ATX board and doesn't have 3 rows of mounting holes. That concerns me a little.

While I'm asking questions: which driver revisions are working best on this board? I'm going to try to put together a little remix package for when the board arrives. My current remix:

This nForce WinXP driver package remix (4.40c) contains the below components:

Audio driver version 4.35 (WHQL)
Audio utility version 4.35 (WHQL)
WinXP ethernet driver version 3.13 (WHQL)
GART driver version 4.40 (WHQL) with updated uninstaller files
Memory controller driver version 4.40 (WHQL) with updated uninstaller files
SMBus driver version 4.45 (WHQL) with updated uninstaller files
WinXP IDE 2.5 driver version 4.12 (WHQL) with updated uninstaller files

Installer version 4.38

I was thinking of using the SW IDE driver version 2.7 (found in FW 5.10). Should I not install the audio drivers from NV and just use the Realtek drivers? What about ethernet, I guess I should use a newer version to take advantage of the Gb portion of the MCP chip, eh?

Help meh, help meh please.

 

[3Dwarlord]

Totally new to posting on these forums but I have been an article reader for some time now. Anyways as you may guess I have the K8AN2E-GR matched up with a gig(2x) of Xtreme XMS 3200, 3000+ AMD 64 and a 9800 Pro. Now, I have always had good sucess overclocking but this one has given me some troubles. Most people seem to be able to run at least some custom Memory settings. I have tried raising voltage, using the memclock to hold it to 166, numberous different settings for latency and nothing works. The best overclock I can get it Memory settings on Auto, FSB of no higher then 225 x 10.

If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear from you. I am just totally stumped.

Thanks.

 

[Megatomic]

I can't help yet 3Dwarlord, I'm still waiting on my A64 stuff to arrive so I can start to play with it. But I would like to welcome you to AnandTech Forums. :beer:

 

[cyberknight]

I have an Antec Sonata and everything fit fine. As stated, it's slightly smaller, so it'll slide in no problem, unlike the MSI K8T-Neo-FSR which just barely fit in my Sonata requiring me to insert it in some weird angle.

 

[Megatomic]

Thanks cyberknight. Did you have to do anything funky to mount the mobo properly? Or is it "wobbly" with not having all 3 rows of mounting holes bolted down as on other full size ATX boards?

 

[3Dwarlord]

Ok thanks, I look forward to seeing some feedback

 

[cyberknight]

Hm... I don't recall anything wobbly or shaking or what not. I did remember I had to rearrange some of the gold screws cuz I had the MSI board in there previously but I don't remember encountering any odd roadblocks when I did my installation.

 

[cpotter]

On the SL-K8AN2E-GR are Fan1, Fan2, and Fan3 basically identical? I'm a newbie and set up my system last night. The MOBO manual said to hook up heatsink fan to CPU Fan. Do not find this on MOBO. Have this attached to Fan1 as this is the closest pin. Have a sensor from my Antec case PSU attached to Fan2 connector. Fan3 connecter is not used presently. Does this sound like the correct setup? Thanks for the help. Chad

 

[cyberknight]

I don't think it matters. I too, connected my CPU to Fan1, since that's the only logical place to put it, cuz Fan2 and Fan3 are too far away.

 

[cpotter]

Thanks for the help cyberknight

 

[cpotter]

Next question:

Installed the Soltek Hardware Monitor. The status warning LED is showing up as red, which I'm assuming is not a good thing. Cannot find any documentation for the software. Other data it is showing:

CPU Die Temp: 44
RT 1 Temp: 21
Fan1 (Attached to CPU Fan): Approx 3000
Fan3 (Attached to sensor from Antec 350W PSU that came with case): Approx 990 and red

CPU Voltage: 1.488
3.3V: 3.296
5V: 5.027

I'm assuming that the red status warning LED is secondary to the low fan speed registering from the Antec PSU? I'm also assuming this is not a big deal as in the Antec case manual it states:

"Note: At low temperatures, the fan may run as slow as 1200 RPM. At these speeds, some motherboards may not properly detect the fan speed and may generate false warnings of fan failure."

Please let me know if this is a real problem, but I'm guessing it is not. I suppose I could just unconnect the PSU fan sensor and see if the status warning LED switches to green. Just thought I woud ask here first.

Thanks for the help. Chad

 

[epik775]

Ok... so I'm new to these forums, but they're turning out to be really useful. The main reason why I'm posting is because I bought the Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR board from newegg back in August. I'm loving the board, but I've always been confused about one thing. When I originally bought the board, I bought a pair of Corsair Value Select 512 MB DDR400 sticks. After setting up the computer, I tried to turn it on for the first time, and it wouldn't boot and gave a system beep patern for a memory error. We tried plugging my friend's Kingston HyperX 512 MB DDR333 sticks in, and it worked fine. The weird things was that the Corsair RAM worked fine in his board so to save the trouble of RMAing everything, we just traded. Now the reason why I'm confused is because I have read about people using the Value Select RAM in the mobo with no complications. Does this mean that something might be wrong with my mobo or could it just have been a freak coincidence? I'm just currious because I'm thinking of upgrading the RAM and don't want to deal with the same headache.

Also, what's the fastest RAM I can install. I know that the manual calls for a max of PC3200, but I was seeing if I could stretch it to PC3500, PC3700, or even PC4000? Thanks for the help.

 

[cpotter]

I just installed 1 Gig (512 x 2) of Kingston Value Ram. Had absolutely no problems. I'm almost sure I've seen other posts of people who have had no problems with paired 512 Corsair, but would have to look back through the forum.

 

[cyberknight]

900 RPM for your PSU fan does seem a little slow. my Antec TruePower 380W spins at 1400 RPM during idle. But I'm not sure if you can really do anything to make the fan spin faster other than putting more load on your computer. Put your cheek close to the PSU fan in the back of the computer, is the air coming out really warm? It should be a little warm when your computer is idling. How's your +12V rail looking anyways?

If you disconnect the sensor, then you get no reading at all. I don't think that'll change the PSU fan speed though. You can test it and maybe compare the noise level produced (since higher RPM's are usually louder)

I don't really like the Soltek HM, I just use Everest to monitor my system. I hate the HM cuz it makes my hard drive click every second as it receives new updates, that's annoying as hell. Also, I don't trust the readings I get from it.

My "reported" temps are weird though. My BIOS and SoltekHM report my CPU: as 51 degrees and Mobo: as 27 degrees.

Any other type of hardware monitor (Everest, Aida, SpeedFan) report my CPU temps as 40 degrees and mobo as 36 degrees.

And when I activate Cool'n'Quiet, just for some strange reason, my CPU temps jump up 10 degrees, regardless of the monitor. It appears that when my multiplier is lower, I get higher "reported" temps. When I put load on my system (thus raising the multiplier) my reported temps return to normal. I'm pretty confidant this is just a reporting problem and I don't need to fear it. That being said, I don't trust my reported CPU temps (somewhat of a universal problem with NewCastle chips). But I'm positive my system is stable.

 

[Megatomic]

All right, I finally got my Soltek installed and I paired it with a 3400+ 1MB and cooled it with the stock retail cooler (including the TIM pad). Are the reported temps. to be believed? It says my CPU is idling at 36C and hasn't gone over 44C even when it was priming. The room is a pleasant 70F so it's not frigid in here or anything.

Also, this is the remix I am using on this board:

This nForce Win2K/XP driver package (6.11b) contains the below components:

Ethernet NRM driver version 4.57 (WHQL)
Network management tools version 4.57
GART driver version 4.40 (WHQL) with updated uninstaller files
SMBus driver version 4.45 (WHQL) with updated uninstaller files
WinXP IDE 2.7 driver version 4.64 (WHQL) with updated uninstaller files

Installer version 4.46

Can anyone see where a different driver should be used (from your experience)? Thanks.

 

[SPQQKY]

I got the Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR and it seemed like a really good board, but I thought that getting the Abit KV8 Pro rev1.1 would be even better. . . NOT! The Abit cannot get a stable overclock at the same speed I was getting on the Soltek. Every component is the same except the mainboard.
IF anyone reading this thread is on the wire about getting one of these boards, I wouldn't hesitate. It truly is a great board at a great price. Check out the reviews at newegg. It gets a 5 star rating from end users, only one other board has that out of all the 754 boards available.

One thing to take note on and I don't know if anyone else mentioned this as I could not be bothered to read every post in this thread......to get the agp/pci lock to work on my board, I had to set it to 67 and not 66. THis made a ton of difference for my overclock.

 

[Megatomic]

I had heard that before SPQQKY but somehow forgotten. I wonder AGP bus must be set to 67MHz? Wierd...

I have one more question: on NF2 systems, T(RAS)=11 almost always resulted in the best memory bandwidth. It is still the same with NF3-250Gb boards? (yes this is a lazy question but I have little time to fiddle around as we are renovating our house concurrently with my PC renovations)

 

[SPQQKY]

Yes, settings between 8-11 always work best. Try them all to see where your best performance lies. This can be different based on your RAM.

Cpotter, that rpm should be okay for your PSU fan, the Antec will increase the fan speed as needed when the temps rise. It helps keep the psu as quiet as possible.

I am about to take out the Abit and drop the Soltek back in. Anyone wanna buy an Abit KV8? LOL

One thing I should mention and was actually wanting to ask everyone with this board......what revision do you have? I have up to 1.7 volts for the core selectable on my board where as everyone else reports 1.55.

 

[cpotter]

Thanks for the info. I'm at work right now and the computer is at home. So cannot evaluate the temp of the airflow coming from the back of the PSU. But last night, I felt it briefly and it felt cool. I will monitor the RPM of the PSU fan with increased load.

The question I have is: is the low (but probably normal) fan speed of the PSU fan resulting in the red status warning LED? Or is there another cause that would be more worrisome? This is what I was referring to when I spoke about removing the PSU fan sensor. I suppose if I remove this sensor and the warning LED goes to green, the red status is a result of a low but normal PSU fan speed.

Thanks. Chad

 

[SPQQKY]

More than likely that is the cause. I would just remove the sensor line from the mobo header. The sensor never worked on my Antec anyway, which is bogus for an $80 psu. I am currently using a Thermaltake 480w Silent PurePower.

 

[Megatomic]

I have yet another question: using EVEREST 1.51, it says that my chipset is NF3-250 and not NF3-250Gb. Is this the same for everyone else?

 

[cyberknight]

gb just means gigabit lan. it has nothing to do with your performance.

 

[Megatomic]

I know it is probably just cosmetic, and I do have Gb LAN. But other people I have talked to with other NF3-250Gb boards say that their chipset is recognized as NF3-250Gb. Look at these screenshots:

CPU-Z

Windows Device Manager

EVEREST Home Edition

WCPUID

And most damning of all:

NVidia System Utility

Does it look like this for the rest of you? If so, then I'll leave it alone. If not, then there is a problem.