Monday, February 14, 2000

Introduction Soltek, a prolific manufacturer of motherboards, recently developed an adapter capable of allowing Socket 370 processors - such as PPGA processors, or FC-PGA Coppermine chips - to be installed on Slot 1 boards. This adapter is essentially a Socket 370PGA installed on a small circuit board, with the proper Slot 1 connector. Thus, much like the Slocket II from Iwill that we recently reviewed, the SL-02A+ will allow Slot 1 users to make use of the full range of PPGA, and FC-PGA processors, such as the Intel Celeron PPGA, or even the Coppermine FC-PGA. Unlike the Iwill adapter, however, the SL-02A+ does not support Cyrix Socket 370 processors. All that said, let's now get to the business of reviewing the product.

Description

At first glance, the SL-02A+ is nearly identical in appearance to the Slocket II.

On the other hand, the SL-02A+ is - to my mind - much easier to use, as practically all the jumpers offer settings that allow automatic configuration of the processor. Thus, it's possible to leave the voltage setting, and clock frequency to regulate itself. In truth, the only jumper that was necessary to position was JP8, which is used to determine the selection of either a PPGA, or FC-PGA processor. As for the rest, there was no need to make any changes to the default settings. One interesting note: all settings are printed directly on the back of the cartridge, thus providing an immediate reference at a moments notice.

The tests

Immediately below are the results of the performance tests, as obtained while using an Intel 500E mounted directly onto the Socket 370 of a Fic KW15 motherboard, compared to those of the Slocket II, and finally, the results of the SL-02A+ from Soltek...

The configuration of the test system:

Motherboard: Fic KW15
Motherboard revision: 1.2
BIOS revision: VD410
CPU: Intel Coppermine 500E FC-PGA
Memory: 64Mbb PC100 SDram (LGS)
IDE Primary port master: Quantum Fireball KA 9.1gig UDMA66
IDE Primary port slave: none
IDE secondary port master: Quantum Fireball EIDE ST 3.2A
IDE secondary port slave: Kenwood 52X True X
Graphic drivers revision: 4.11.01.1272
OS: Win98 built 4.10
DirectX 6.1

Ziff Davis Winstone99 - Winbench99

Video sub-system tests

As you can see, the performance difference between the Intel FC-PGA Coppermine 500E 500Mhz as installed directly installed on the motherboard, to that of the Iwill Slocket II, or the Soltek SL-02A+ is rather miniscule. So miniscule, in fact, that it is impossible to determine a clear winner, as the performance difference is insignifigant.

Conclusions

In conclusion, the Soltek SL-02A+ adapter is an extremely straightforward, and agreeable device. Its performance is irreproachable, and strikes me as one of the best adapters I've had the pleasure to test.

For more information, visit Soltek

Find the best price for the

You can discuss this article in our Forums