Soltek KT600-R: Fast & Promising

The Soltek NV400-L64, built on the Single-Channel nForce2 400, was a simple board with very impressive performance. With that in mind, we resisted the temptation to pass on a review of the KT600 from Soltek. After many KT600 reviews, we were seeing a pattern develop with the boards. All were performing below the levels of the nForce2 Ultra400/nForce2 400 boards, and our KT600 reviews were becoming an evaluation of motherboard features. So, would this Soltek do better?

Like almost every other KT600 board that we have evaluated, the Soltek sells at a reasonable price, but with a much better feature-set, especially considering the selling price. This VIA chipset is impressive in the stability it displays with every KT600 board we evaluate. It is probably the best VIA chipset to date, and has a very up-to-date feature set including SATA RAID, excellent audio options, and up to 8 USB 2.0 ports. The only area where KT600 has failed to fully impress us is in performance — an area that is a primary concern with many buyers.

It’s a good thing we didn’t pass on the Soltek, because it held a few surprises in our testing. The Soltek has the kind of promise that makes us think that perhaps, with time and a little more maturity, the KT600 chipset may be able to compete effectively in the performance arena with nForce2.