In The nForce2 400 Corner: Soltek SL-NV400-L64

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Since Soltek just upped and sent us one of its latest boards with the nForce2 400, we jumped on the chance to perform this single-channel comparison test.

The SL-NV400 comes in two flavors: the NV400-L64 with an onboard network controller and the NV400-64 without. The 64 stands for the memory controller, which supports a 64 bit bandwidth. On the dual-channel nForce Ultra 400, this would translate into 128 bits.

This board has to make do with two DIMM slots - not much, but it still passes muster in most cases. There is also a sound system and the network controller; Soltek leaves out all other expensive extras. The board sports five PCI slots for expansion cards, although the IDE connectors are so inconveniently placed that you can only fit in two relatively long cards.

And In The KT600 Corner: Epox EP-8KRA2+

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The 8KRA2+ beat out five competitors in our KT600 round up with marginally better performance. That is also the reason why we threw it into the ring with the nForce 2 400.

We won't list this board's features again. If you want to read up on the board, just consult our round up from September 2003 .