Sound Tests - Subjective Listening

The 8-channel Realtek CODEC is on par with our previous experiences with the same chip. We found the CODEC acceptable for DVD and gameplay and with the more popular games using their own sound engine, it should not be a factor in most cases.

Sound Tests - Performance in Gaming

We fired up UT2003 and ran through the Inferno demo and collected numbers at 640x480 (Min detail) and 1024x768 (Max detail).

At the lowest resolution, we see the CPU take the hardest hit, losing over 51 frames per second with the onboard sound enabled. A loss of 9.64 frames occurs at 1024x768, which is a little higher than with our past experiences with the Realtek CODEC. This is about a 4% drop which isn't terrible and shouldn't affect your gameplay experience at all.

Network Performance

We used DU Meter to test the networking speed, and Windows Task Manager for CPU usage. We a number of game patches and driver updates, totaling 758MB to and from the Soltek SL-K890Pro-939, to our ASUS P5AD2 Premium machine. We also performed the same test with a folder zipped to 761MB.

Both systems were connected via a CAT-5E crossover cable, which should prevent any bottlenecks that would arise with our standard 10/100 router.

Small Files Test - 758MB Total

	Time to Copy	Ave Transfer mB/sec	CPU %
Upload	0:24.2	33.96	10
Download	0:27.8	27.73	11

Large File Test - 761MB Total

	Time to Copy	Ave Transfer mB/sec	CPU %
Upload	0:22.3	35.10	9
Download	0:24.4	31.88	11

The Gigabit NIC on the Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 proved sufficient in its tasks. The ISO image was faster to upload and download as well as scoring a slightly lower CPU usage during the upload tasks.

Overclocking

As with the K8T800 Pro, the K8T890 proved to be a solid overclocker thanks to the PCI, memory and PCI Express locks. With the best overclocking boards and water cooling we've used in the past, our high point with the 0.13 micron Athlon 3500+ has always been at around 240FSB, and we were easily able to match that overclock again with the SL-K890Pro-939.

Final Words

The Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 proved to be a solid and high performing board across all our testing and is a nice entry on Soltek's part for VIA's new PCI Express enabled K8T890. While it didn't blow away the K8T800 Pro boards, for the most part, Soltek's implementation of the K8T890 is really no different from the others except for the fact it is PCI Express based.

On that note, based on today's games, it's pretty plain to see that PCI Express does not make an impact on gaming when compared to an equivalent AGP based card. That being said, there is some flexibility right now that PCIe does provide such as NVIDIA SLI and VIA DualGFX, but SLI is not officially supported on VIA based boards anyways, and DualGFX is only supported on the K8T890 Pro chipset (and the PT Series for Intel). That being said, if you're planning to buy a new PCIe card for an Athlon setup, the K8T890 (and Pro) provides an alternative to the nForce 4 series of motherboards.

We're still testing some nForce 4 boards right now, but currently we feel the only thing holding the SL-K890Pro-939 in terms of features is the VT8237 South Bridge. We looked at VIA's VT8251 last month, and if board makers can start pairing the new South Bridge to the current chipsets, it would really future-proof (at least for the next 8-12 months) the K8T890. Truth be told, the VT8237 is still suitable for the majority of users, and using this South Bridge does make for a less expensive board. We do think the "Pro" in the SL-K890Pro-939 is slightly misleading as this board does not feature the two x16 PCI Express slots needed for DualGFX (which will only use 20 lanes anyhow), but otherwise, the performance between the Pro and non-Pro will be negligable.

Outside of gaming performance, the SL-K890Pro-939 performed very well, and slightly above the other three boards demonstrating some improvements were probably made through the chipset revision. Stability was never a question as the board performed reliably through the three weeks we've had it.

Pros: Great performance, PCI Express, stable.

Cons: VT8237 is getting dated, misleading product name.

Bottom Line: Overall, we were quite pleased with the motherboard and if you're looking for an alternative to NVIDIA for your Athlon PCI Express needs, the Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 is certainly worthy of consideration.

If you have any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.

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