View of the Soltek SL-75DRV2.

Board revision: 1.0 (Athlon XP ready )

BIOS version: K3.5

Elaborately designed packaging for the Soltek.

Although Soltek doesn't enjoy the image of a well-known manufacturer as Asus or Gigabyte does, we give the SL-75DRV2 board top honors. The elaborate packaging alone shows that Soltek is planning to rocket to the top.

The following software comes bundled with the board: Drive Image; Partition Magic; Virtual Drive; and PC-cillin 2000. According to the manufacturer, this software bundle alone costs $286.

The goodies on this board include an AGP Pro slot, an active cooler on the North Bridge and, an old friend from earlier boards, the "Red Storm" overclocking feature. One of the things that sets the Soltek apart from the rest of the pack is its absolute stability, even in the face of aggressive memory timing. These features allow you to eke some real performance out of this board - as the benchmark results clearly show. The SL-75DRV2 often takes first. So, it's clearly a better deal than the Epox EP-8KHA+, as instability issues didn't make it stick out like a sore thumb.

Our take on it? Overclockers, it's only a matter of time before Soltek starts becoming a real headache for AMD - the foundation has already been laid. Last, but not least, a little criticism - the CNR slot is useless on the retail market and should have been left off this board.

All right! A thermosensor is included with the board.