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Soltek SL-865Pro-775 (Hybrid) 'ProSeries' Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Thursday, August 12, 2004
Benchmarks - Overclocked
Overclocking
As you saw in the BIOS section of this review the Soltek SL-865Pro-775 is designed for overclocking and does so very well. The highest stable overclock was right around the 250Mhz FSB "sweetspot" that translated into an impressive 700Mhz overclock!
CPU-Z 250Mhz
Quite a few days were spent tweaking the SL-865Pro-775 and we discovered that many of the Springdale quirks were still around. As we already know the i865PE and i875P are really picky when it comes to memory timings and though you can use super extra low (2-3-2-5) memory modules once you start overclocking or enable "PAT"'ish enhancements the system stability begins to degrade. To overcome this you can manually adjust the memory timings in the BIOS or swap out memory modules. Manually adjusting the timings adversely affected system stability so the latter of the two solutions was employed. As a result the 250Mhz FSB overclock quickly stabilized and the rest of the evening was spend playing Unreal Tournament 2004.
A question of heat:
The systems tested here at Ninjalane are done in an open-air environment that is currently very susceptible to outdoor temperatures (aka no effective Air Conditioning). Knowing this, processor temperature became a real concern once the overclocking started. At 3.7Ghz load temperatures averaged between 63-67 degrees C with an ambient temperature around 25-29 degrees C. Strangely enough 65C was also an average temperature under load even at default speed. This leads me to believe that the thermal functions of the fan are tied to a temperature delta of the processor and not the ambient air around the CPU. A smart move, though also means that under extreme conditions the once quiet CPU fan becomes a roaring 4000+ RPM monster in no time.
Like in previous reviews the overclocking section pits the overclocked system against the same system at default speeds. The scores are pretty straight forward and sporting some really good gains in processor speed.
SiSoft Sandra Various Overcloc
Check this out, 5.2GB/s in memory bandwidth! This is pretty good for a DDR1 based system while still running at DDR400 speeds.
Cachemem
Despite the claims that the Prescott is "too hot to handle" it does overclock quite well
