AMD Athlon 64 microprocessors launched less than a month ago have rapidly gained popularity among computer hardware enthusiasts. Obviously, mainboard makers do not want AMD’s latest 64-bit desktop chip to be a prerogative for the high-end market only. They want the AMD64 technology to be adopted by all markets so to sell more of their new mainboard products, especially bearing in mind the fact that some of them already do have cost-effective Socket 754 solutions! For instance, Soltek SL-K8AV2-RL based on VIA K8T800 was spotted for sale in Japan recently, Akiba PC Hotline reported.

The Soltek SL-K8AV2-RL is not just a cost-effective, but a mainboard that provides the full list of necessary features, such as Ethernet, Audio and RAID controller.

• Supports Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64 processors;
• VIA K8T800 and VT8237 core-logic;
• 3 DIMM slots for up to 3GB of PC2100, PC2700 or 2GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM;
• 5 PCI and 1 AGP 8x slot;
• 2-channel integrated ATA-33/66/100/133 controller;
• 2 Serial ATA-150 ports with RAID support;
• 10/100Mb/s Ethernet adapter;
• 6 USB 2.0 ports;
• Integrated AC`97 6-channel audio solution with S/PDIF connector;
• Probably some overclocking and tuning functions;
• ATX Form-factor.

The product is available now for just $112. At this point it would be strange to buy an inexpensive platform for $500 microprocessor, but in a couple of month AMD64 will get cheaper and it for some end-users it will make sense to acquire Soltek SL-K8AV2-RL.