Soltek QBIC EQ3801: nForce3 250Gb goes SFF
by Evan Lieb on July 4, 2004 10:35 AM EST- Posted in
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For years, Soltek flew by the radar of most enthusiasts, undetected and mostly unloved. In the last year or two, however, Soltek has enjoyed somewhat of an explosion in popularity in many niche enthusiast communities (similar to DFI, actually) due in large part to their great nForce2 motherboards. They had made a good name for themselves on the Intel side of things, but their engineering efforts simply honed in on enthusiasts at a time when those types of users were looking for highly tweakable, reliable, and well priced motherboards. Soltek happened to pick NVIDIA's nForce2 chipset and was hugely successful.It is fate then that, today, Soltek is at it again with NVIDIA's nForce; this time with a next generation Athlon socket and the next generation nForce at the helm. Soltek's nForce product this time is a Small Form Factor, not a desktop motherboard. Nonetheless, Soltek has definitely brought their experienced "tweaker's" touch to this SFF and it will undoubtedly pique the interests of more than a few serious users.
Read on to find out if Soltek can build on their successful nForce reign with their QBIC series of SFFs...
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22 Comments
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CrabbyGuy - Friday, July 16, 2004 - link
I'm looking for more information on the integrated sound capability of the 3801. The review states, "C-Media's CMI 8768 chip is a 6-channel PCI-based solution that will serve the needs of users who need good quality sound for basic music and Windows needs." Based on Soltek's ads and the Cmedia web site, this should say "8-channel."The chipset maker's site implies that the CMI 8768 supports Dolby IIx, but does not come out and say that. Anyone know?
Finally, is there any way to get a signal from a source outside the 3801 through the sound circuit, preferably via a digital input, i.e., S/PDIF or coxial?
JTDC - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
According to the Soltek site, there are only 2 3.5" and 2 5.25" bays. I was just trying to find out if Evan used the 3.5" floppy bay or the second 5.25" bay. Just curious as to how it worked. Thanks.Inferno - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
The Soltek has two HDD Bays! :)JTDC - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
How were the two hard drives installed for testing? Was one placed in the floppy bay? Thanks!jcromano - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link
Thanks, Inferno.Inferno - Monday, July 5, 2004 - link
Qbix EQ3801 comes with a Backpack, the MB, cables, and powersupply. The Supply is 250watt. I have heard of people running a Nvidia 6800GT and I am running a X800.jcromano - Monday, July 5, 2004 - link
Ugh. Twice in a row my message has been clipped off right after the first carriage return, so this one's coming all in one paragraph. I'm still hoping for an answer to my earlier question about what comes included with the QBIC. I'm especially interested in learning about the power supply, if one does indeed come with the QBIC. Don't the new Nvidia cards want lots of watts and special connectors? Does the QBIC's power supply have what the Nvidia cards want? Thanks again. Sorry for the run-together format, and sorry for asking what are probably pretty basic, newbie questions. Jimjcromano - Monday, July 5, 2004 - link
I'll get the hang of this some day, I hope. Sorry for the blank messages.jcromano - Monday, July 5, 2004 - link
Hi,SoltekGermany - Monday, July 5, 2004 - link
I have found small typo on review. The soundchip has 8 channels, not 6 channels.