A pretty well-known mainboard company – Soltek Computer – is rumored to introduce a mainboard with Socket T for LGA775 processors powered by a previous generation core-logic.

LGA775 microprocessors from Intel are projected to emerge in the second quarter of the year and enable new speed increases along with some feature-set improvements. Previously it was unclear whether LGA775 chips are compatible with existing infrastructure or not. However, if the information about a mainboard based on i865PE chipset appears to be correct and the product really enters the market, it will be possible to conclude about certain kind of compatibility between future Pentium 4 E processors and existing infrastructure.

According to VR-Zone, Soltek SL-865-Pro-775 mainboard has the following specifications:

• Supports Socket T Intel Pentium 4, Celeron processors with 533MHz and 800MHz Quad Pumped Bus;
• Supports Intel Hyper-Threading technology;
• i865PE chipset, and ICH5R I/O controller;
• 4 DIMM slots for up to 4GB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM memory. Dual-channel memory bus support: the memory modules should be identical and installed in pairs;
• 5 PCI slots, 1 AGP 8x slot;
• 2-channel ATA-100/66/33 integrated controller;
• 1-channel ATA-133/100/66/33 (Promise PDC20579)
• 2 Serial ATA-150 ports with RAID support (ICH5R);
• 2 Serial ATA-150 ports with RAID support (Promise PDC20579);
• 8 USB 2.0 ports;
• FireWire (IEEE1394) support;
• 10/100/1000Mbit/s Ethernet adapter;
• 6-channel AC’97 audio solution;
• Overclocking/tuning features;
• ATX Form Factor.

Given that the mainboard does not sport any trendy capabilities, such as PCI Express, DDR-II SDRAM, or Wi-Fi, Soltek SL-865-Pro-775 should be a pretty cost-effective solution that is likely to be capable of handling CPUs at 3.60GHz and above. In overall, such mainboard should be a decent choice for loads of end-users, even though i865PE is projected to be ia bit slower compared to the newer i915P/i925X offerings.

The fact that Soltek has found a way to layout Socket T on an i865PE-based mainboard may also mean that eventually there will be LGA775-to-PGA478 converters to allow installation of modern processors on slightly outdated mainboards. While the necessity for such converters is open to dispute, as nowadays Intel offers quite a lot of benefits with every new platform, some end-users may surely take advantage from this.