Soltek Computer decided to attract attention of potential customers without selling them a lot of products or performing different marketing campaigns. A couple of days back the company announced two new mainboards with golden PCBs that will be available in very limited quantities probably for a short time.

Soltek SL-85FR / 85FR-R utilise Intel E7205 (Granite Bay) + ICH4 chipsets, and support latest Intel Pentium 4 processors including Intel Pentium 3.06GHz and above with the Hyper-Threading Technology.

Here is the brief overview of the newcomers:

• Support Socket 478 Pentium 4 / Celeron processors with 400/533MHz FSB with 3.06GHz clock-speed and above;
• Can take advantage of the CPUs with the Hyper-Threading technology enabled;
• Intel E7205 core-logic with ICH4 South Bridge;
• 4 DIMM slots for up to 4GB of PC1600 or PC2100 DDR-SDRAM memory. Dual-channel memory bus support: the memory modules should be identical and installed in pairs.
• 5 PCI slots and 1 AGP 8x slot;
• 2-channel ATA-100/66/33 integrated controller;
• PDC20376 controller from Promise, supporting 1 ATA-33/66/100/133 port and 2 Serial ATA-150 ports (SL-85FR-R only);
• 6 USB 2.0 ports;
• AC’97 6-channel audio solution;
• Overclocking functions, including FSB Setting, Vcore Setting, AGP Voltage, DIMM Voltage, and Multiplier Setting and so on;
• Software bundle and Soltek’s proprietary features are also present;
• ATX Form Factor.

Soltek will only offer 500 pieces of the SL-85FR and 200 pieces of the SL85FR-R. Unfortunately, they do not declare the price of the novelty as well as the limited timeframe of availability. Considering the fact that a lot of other mainboards powered by Intel’s E7205 core-logic cost from $200 and even achieve $250 sometimes, I assume that Soltek’s Golden Flames will be very expensive even compared to the products made by the rivals.

PS. By the way, if the mainboard is made for those who like to collect and use advanced and rare hardware, a cheap AC’97 sound solution is integrated? On the other hand, why there is no Ethernet controller on this device?

PPS. Hey, if the PCB is golden, why there are no brilliants or sapphires?

Also see the following news-stories:

- Intel E7205 and E7505 Based Mainboards For Sale in Japan
- Intel Confirms AGP Related Issues With E7205
- Intel “Granite Bay” E7205 Based Mainboard from MSI
- Intel “Granite Bay” E7205 Based Mainboard from Gigabyte Technology
- E7205 “Granite Bay” Based Mainboard from DFI
- Intel E7205 Based Mainboard from AOpen