Soltek SL-PT880Pro-FGR: VIA Dual-Channel for the Pentium 4

Board Layout: Soltek SL-PT880Pro-FGR

The basic layout of the Soltek SL-PT880Pro will work fine in most cases. However, there are a number of small problems that keep the layout from being in the same league as the top Asus boards.

The PT880Pro is solid back with purple connectors and slots. This actually looks better in person than what it may sound to some readers.

Soltek groups the ATX connector and 4-pin 12V connector between the CPU socket and the I/O connectors. Generally, we prefer these connectors on the upper right edge of the board as this works best in most case designs. We had no problem with the location used on this board with our mid-tower case, but you will need to be careful in some cases not to block CPU airflow.

The CPU socket looks cramped, but it works much better than you would expect. The huge Zalman 700 mounted fine and cleared even the tall capacitors on the upper edge of the PT880Pro. If the Zalman fits, almost anything will work on this Soltek board.

Generally, we prefer the IDE connectors on the upper right edge of the motherboard; Soltek places them at the lower left. This may present problems with short cables in some cases, but it worked fine in our mid-tower test box. The location of the IDE and SATA connectors means that your only chance for full-length cards is AGP and slots 4 and 5 only if you use both IDE and SATA ports. Full-length cards are rare these days, but they will fit in some slots if you require this feature.

Unfortunately, the floppy connector is located on the lower right of the board. This will work fine in some case designs, but it will be a difficult reach in tower cases. It is also a location that makes neat cabling difficult in most cases. VIA's Reference Boards seem to favor this lower edge floppy connector, which manufacturers then use in board designs. This is a bad location for a floppy connector in our opinion, but it is becoming a moot point as many are abandoning even having a floppy drive in their systems.

The Soltek has only 5 PCI slots, but it still places the 8X AGP too close to the DIMM slots. Thankfully, the DIMMs are closer to the edge than where we normally see them, so there is interference between the DIMMs and AGP slot only with the largest video cards. Still, it is no fun to have to remove a video card just to add memory or upgrade memory.

Soltek provided 3 fan connectors on the PT880Pro and they all 3 were in excellent locations for the system builder. It is also good to see USB and Firewire connectors at the bottom edge of the board instead of scattered between slots as we see all too often.

There is nothing really wrong with the Soltek layout that would keep us from buying the board, but the layout is not quite as refined as we would like to see on a board designed to be a flagship product. Soltek has been very responsive to suggestions in the past, and we're certain to see more refined layouts in future Soltek boards.