Epx 8RDA+ Vs. Soltek SL-75FRN2-L

[Zarick]

Opinions please.

 

[CraigRT]

Soltek... it's cheap, it looks cool.. and it's Soltek.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

They are both priced excellently, both are shipping with C1 chipset, Epox has more features and higher voltages available but both produce very similar overclocking results anyways. Soltek looks better with window mods if that means anything to you and you can get SATA RAID that works right for the same money so if it's a feature you desire more than IEEE1394 on board then the Epox isn't even more feature rich given the price. Other than that either are top notch sub 100$ NF2 boards and you can't go wrong either way, just depends on what features you want more. BTW if you water cool the frn2 can do it just not with the through hole mounting.

 

[Zarick]

okay.. I have firewire on my audigy 2 and I dont use it.
I have raid and have never even touched it.
I have never overclocked.. and all I really want to do is play games.

SO with that in mind. Which of these two boards is going to give me the most stability for gaming?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Zarick
okay.. I have firewire on my audigy 2 and I dont use it.
I have raid and have never even touched it.
I have never overclocked.. and all I really want to do is play games.

SO with that in mind. Which of these two boards is going to give me the most stability for gaming?

Both are extremely stable at stock speeds as long as you observe some basic hardware and software installation notes readily available here in many official and unofficial threads. Toss a coin, they are both great boards

 

[Naruto]

Many people go with Epox since it has become a trusted name in the last few years. But I went ahead with the Soltek SL-75FRN2-RL for $85 2 weeks back and it looks very promising. It does lack the soundstorm and firewire, but I dont need these. I popped in my spare duron to sneak peak at the bios features and they are incredible, sooo many overclocking and ram timing options. The only negative was the vcore limit of 1.85, but going over 1.85 on any athlon xp will seriously require water cooling. And odds are if you went with soltek as a budget board, you will also be budget cooling =D.

 

[LastRide]

I was going to get the Soltek,but I had some stuff for sale and the person had an 8RDA+ with A1/C1 stepping Northbridge so i made the trade.I hit 230 FSB so far with the Epox.I really don't think you can go wrong with either board.Close your eyes and pick one.

 

[Zarick]

Where do you guys get the soltek for 85 bucks? Im seeing it for 100 and the epox board for 90.

 

[Naruto]

Originally posted by: Zarick
Where do you guys get the soltek for 85 bucks? Im seeing it for 100 and the epox board for 90.

I got mine when newegg had the FRN2-RL (sata raid) for $85 (lasted for 4 days) about 2 weeks ago. Seeing as the solteks shot up way too high at newegg, go for the 8RDA+, most people have reported getting a C1 stepping.

 

[Daysleeper]

Buy the cheaper board....they are both stable.....and if you don't overclock it's up to price...

 

[mdcrab]

This may sound crazy, but I just ordered a 75FRN2-L from Newegg. Based on a number of reviews this board is excellent overclocker.

The other thing nice about the 75FRN2-L retail version is that it comes with a nice 5-in-1 BONUS PACK
includes TREND MICRO PC-cillin 2002, PowerQuest Drive Image 4.0, PowerQuest PartitionMagic 6.0 SE, FAR STONE Virtual Drive 7, and RestoreIT! 3 Lite. I am mainly interested in the PQ s/w.

I recently purchased a Shuttle AN35N, which is probably the cheapest Ultra 400 mobo around. Before I installed it in my machine my son scarffed it up and wrote me an IOU. He was looking for better gaming performance and wanted to replace his AK31A. Before I purchased the AN35N, I purchased a Refurb NF7-S, but it was a ver 1.0 and never could get it to run stable. it was RMA'd. So now I am getting something to replace my old KG7.


mdcrab

 

[Insane3D]

Both are great boards. The Epox has more features with the MCP-T Southbridge which includes Nvidia Soundstorm APU and native Firewire support. If you will be using your Audigy 2, then neither of those features likely matter to you, so it's a toss up.

and you can get SATA RAID that works right for the same money

As far as I know DAPUNISHER, the SI controller issues have been ironed out. I am not running RAID on my NF7-S, but I do have a Raptor and a Maxtor DM+9 SATA on mine, and using the 6/25 drivers and Abit's latest bios, I have no issues to speak of and performance is awesome.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Wow, this thread is crusty! :clock: I wonder which one he ended up with, if either?

 

[Naruto]

One sour grape though, this soltek board is just plagued by that cold boot bug problem. If you want to know any more information about this, head over to www.amdmb.com soltek forums to see what it is about.