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Bundle

As was the case with the K8TPro-939, Soltek's bundle for the K890Pro-939 is immense in terms of cabling and connectors. While most manufacturers will provide only one or two SATA cables, and usually one IDE cable, Soltek has provided four SATA cables, as well as three 80-conductor IDE cables, one of which is rounded. As if that weren't enough, they also provide two SATA power adapter cables, with two plugs each, allowing you to make use of up to four SATA hard drives if your power supply isn't already SATA-compatible.

Documentation, as suspected, is of nearly the same quality and amount as with the previous board. Provided is the following:

• 104-page all-English manual covering everything from detailed specifications to setting up RAID with either of the two controllers
• 22-page all-English manual for the three bundled full-version applications
• "Quick Installation" guide

A rear USB faceplate with two ports is also provided, just as with the K8TPro-939. This bundle ought to satisfy most crowds -- the drive expansion freaks, as well as those who make a habit of reading manuals.

Layout

The general layout of the Soltek K890Pro-939 is similar to the reference ATX layout we are all used to seeing, though with 4x PCI-Express/2x PCI slots rather than the standard set of 1x AGP/5x PCI. The four memory slots are to the right of the CPU socket, perpendicular to the PCI-Express/PCI slots. These slots are positioned high enough on the board so that even the longest of PCI Express video cards will not obstruct the installation or removal of memory. There's nothing different here so far.

In the previous review, I talked about my preferences regarding the position of the ATX connector. I mentioned that I prefer having it in the upper-right corner of the board, as it allows me to tuck away the fat ATX cable. Since the layout of the K890Pro-939 is almost identical to the K8TPro-939, all of this continues to apply -- even my pet peeve of having the +12V connector on the opposite side of the board, away from the ATX connector.

The VIA north bridge is situated directly below the CPU socket, shifted slightly right compared to the K8TPro-939, and is passively cooled by a silver Soltek-branded heatsink. The south bridge chip does not have any form of cooling.

On the far right side of the board, just below the PCI-Express x16 slot, is the first of three IDE connectors. The two purple connectors utilize the VIA-integrated IDE controller, while the single yellow connector makes use of the Promise PDC20579 chip. The floppy connector is located at the very bottom of the board, perpendicular to the bottom edge.

The four SATA connectors have an unusual grouping. The two VIA-provided connectors sit directly below the yellow IDE connector, to the left. The Promise-powered SATA connectors are split up. One is in line with the VIA connectors, but the other one is on the other side of the Promise chip, rotated 90 degrees. We can't find an explanation for why this lone connector has been separated from the others.

There are 3 PCI Express x1 slots and 2 PCI slots in addition to the mandatory PCI Express x16 slot, with no extra spacing between the PCI-Express x16 slot and first the x1 slot. This will amount to an obstruction of at least that first x1 slot when a dual-slot video card is in use.

Optional expansion includes an IEEE1394 (Firewire) port header, two more USB headers (providing 4 USB ports), and an LPT (parallel) port header.

The back panel for the K890Pro-939 features relatively more than a basic board, such as the Soltek K8AN2E-GR we reviewed in August. Present are the two PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors, but only one serial port and no parallel port (it is provided through the use of an optional cable connected to the LPT pin header). The space of the second serial port is taken up by input/output optical S/PDIF connectors. Four USB 2.0 ports are present, as well as another IEEE1394 port. Gigabit Ethernet is almost a standard nowadays, and is also included on the K890Pro-939. Lastly, we have the 8-channel analog audio connectors.

The entire board is in Soltek's trademark purple and black color scheme, which has actually kind of grown on me since the last motherboard review.