The initial release of the Athlon 64 was met with great enthusiasm, but also some confusion as Socket 754 decided to forego a dual-channel DDR memory controller. For those wanting a dual-channel DDR system, the only choice was an Athlon 64 FX and registered DDR on Socket 940, which was also shared with the Opteron. To further compound the issue, it was fairly common knowledge that AMD was indeed planning on a dual channel memory processor that would not require registered memory with Socket 939. Despite relatively minor performance benefits, dual channel memory has been a buzz word since it was introduced with the nForce 2 on the Socket A side and consumers have come to expect it. The knowledge of an upcoming socket type that would replace socket 754 could not have helped AMD in their cause to win over consumers.
Today Socket 939 is indeed the mainstream Athlon 64 socket and it supports dual-channel DDR with non-registered DIMM modules. Socket 940 has been left purely for the Opteron, and Socket 754 for the budget sector. Up for review today is the Soltek SL-K8TPro-939, a Socket 939 board utilizing VIA's K8T800 Pro chipset, a AGP-based solution. Soltek has made a name for itself with their highly-affordable, yet impressively-performing components. For the most part, Soltek has not yet penetrated the inner enthusiast circles where the likes of Asus, Abit, and MSI are a staple, but they are definitely on the way there with their excellent offerings. Soltek is definitely a company to be on the lookout for both in the present and in the future.
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