Soltek SL-75FRN-L Review@AthlonXP

[Mem]

Link .

This board looks fast even before it is pulled out of the box. Soltek did not just spend their time trying to make this board look good either. This board offers a multitude of tweaking options for the computer enthusiast and with excellent performance.

 

[BentValve]

I ordered one yesterday....most of the reviews are positive but at least one guy could only get his FSB up to 161mhz or about that.

More Reviews

 

[CraigRT]

ho hum, I love Soltek..

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Mine shipped from da egg yesterday with a 2100+ B so I'll be evaluating it for myself. Been away from AMD for too long and the Nforce2 seemed like the perfect opportunity to correct that inequity May have to borrow an old Alpha6035 from my buddy xeno2060 since my AeroFlow is back ordered and I don't have a single sktA cooler left which I'm dumbfounded by since I always have extra everything

Oh thanx for the link

 

[DAPUNISHER]

OK IMO that review sucks! it's another review where a couple points is made to look like one board spanked another in the bar graphs. Unless I missed something they tested the Nforce2 with only 1 stick of ram and in asynch mode which is just idiotic. There's no overclocking results and the way they tested it it was in a dead heat with the KT400 yet they gave it the editior's choice award? Someone want to clue me in or are my assertions correct?

 

[BentValve]

Does anyone know if the SL-75FRN-L has holes to mount an SLK-900 heatsink? It does not appear to have them but I cannot find a picture
that confirms this 100%.

Thanks

 

[DAPUNISHER]

No holes

 

[BentValve]

Yep , no holes I got my board today. Thats ok I ordered an SK-7 and an 80mm Vantec Tornado to accomodate the board
and my new Athlon T-Bred B 2100+

 

[eplebnista]

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Just put mine together last night and I'm diggin' it so far. P95 TT, looping 3Dmark, UT2k3 stable@177fsb synch@2.305ghz with This badboy using default multi. Time to turn it up and see if 200+fsb is going to be doable. BTW, didn't bother with using the install CD as I had made a disc with the latest everything on it.

 

[BentValve]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Just put mine together last night and I'm diggin' it so far. P95 TT, looping 3Dmark, UT2k3 stable@177fsb synch@2.305ghz with This badboy using default multi. Time to turn it up and see if 200+fsb is going to be doable. BTW, didn't bother with using the install CD as I had made a disc with the latest everything on it.

Hey I have the same week chip and mobo as you so we can compare notes.
Did you buy yours from Newegg? What kind of ram are you using?

 

[BentValve]

DAPUNISHER, I have 2 of these on the way......
Mushkin Black $69 @ BB ...$89 @ Newegg

Notes on this mobo from Mushkin

 

[BentValve]

DAPUNISHER, what BIOS did your come with?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Mine has the 1.3L bios

yep, got it from da Egg.

Just using Crucial2700DDR@the moment because the 2 512mb Apacer3200DDR CL3 TCC4 Samsung chips gave me audio error beeps. I tried clearing the CMOS to see if they'd boot by SPD but no go so I'll try again by using these sticks with a stick of 2100DDR in the 3rd slot so it detects the slowest speed and sets them up@ it's specs as I hear that works. Otherwise I'll just try manually setting their timings to the specs they're rated and see if it'll boot and if not try just one stick at first. I would have did all that already but I was anxious to get it up and runnin'.

I'll update my rigs in my sig to reflect the new setup for reference to other system specs.

I still have to put ASIII or Shin-etsu on the northbridge and add coolig to the south bridge as MARMADUKE clued me in on how hot the southbridge gets and when I touched it it was toasty! :Q Also he mentioned don't use the CPU fan header cause it draws too much juice and limits the max overclock.

I'm looking forward to seeing your results! LMK how your's is doin'!

 

[CraigRT]

Dude I want one of these boards so bad now!!!!

 

[BentValve]

I still have to put ASIII or Shin-etsu on the northbridge and add coolig to the south bridge as MARMADUKE clued me in on how hot the southbridge gets and when I touched it it was toasty!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
What are you going to put on the south bridge? I guess i'll go look around and see what i can find ...maybe another active
cooler.


Also he mentioned don't use the CPU fan header cause it draws too much juice and limits the max overclock.
>>>>>>>>>>.
Thanks for the tip...although I would not dare connect a Tornado 83cfm fan to a mobo.


I'm looking forward to seeing your results! LMK how your's is doin'!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
I should have it running next week sometime..I need the ram and my Radeon 9800.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'm gonna put the heatsink and fan from the northbridge of a dead KT266A board I have after lapping it since that will be free.

I went ahead and ordered 2 sticks of the Mushkin like your's since the price was right even after 6% sales tax here in Fl. thanx for the hook-up!

 

[BentValve]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
I'm gonna put the heatsink and fan from the northbridge of a dead KT266A board I have after lapping it since that will be free.

I went ahead and ordered 2 sticks of the Mushkin like your's since the price was right even after 6% sales tax here in Fl. thanx for the hook-up!

Cool! I think this ram is going to rock and roll , also Mushkin pretty much told me it is great for this mobo and can take
aggressive timings...........

The module on BestBuy.com that you're referring to is exactly the same as our 256MB PC3200 Black module, product number 990902. The difference in heatsink colors is solely a cosmetic difference, there is no performance or build difference. It is excellent for Dual-channel boards and is our most overclockable memory available. In addition, it can handle aggressive timings, which would make it an excellent choice for you.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,
Mushkin.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

YEAH BABY YEAH! I'm lookin' forward to puuting this Mushkin to da test! Well. the waves are waist to chest and semi-glassy so it's off to do some real surfing instead of this cyber stuff! Can't wait for the time change so I can go after 5pm too! WooHoo! life is good!

 

[BentValve]

Well my SK-7 and Tornado came today as well ...even though I am missing the ram and video card I could not resist.
I installed my Crucial PC2700 (2x256mb) and my Radeon VIVO. I booted it up, set the FSB to 166/ram at 100% , formatted
my drive , reinstalled windows and installed the drivers that came with it. So far so good, CPU die temp right now as I type
is 24C cpu is at 2.17ghz and voltage is stock at ~1.6V.

Nothing special , everything runs good and I have had no problems so far. I dont really want to do any more OC yet because
I want to make sure everything is ok.

BTW this freaking Tornado fan makes my TT Volcano 7+ seem quiet.

 

[BentValve]

Well I grew some guts...190fsb/380ram (I guess I underestimated this PC2700)


I am going for 200fsb right now.......wish me luck,I am scared. I will post those results afterwards.

 

[BentValve]

200/400

Thats it, I do not want to push it any further until I get my Mushkin ram. Also I am not going to bother with aggressive timings as of
yet because I know I am already pushing this poor PC2700 pretty far , lastly I am not OCing my 2100+ too much yet either until I get my new 400 watt Antec PSU.
What I have learned today is that the motherboard itself hit 200fsb without breaking a sweat.

 

[BentValve]

How do I know the ram is working in dual channel mode? .

Edit: Nevermind , it has to be in dual channel mode because those last memory scores I got are only a few hundred less points
than an Intel 850E with PC4200 Rdram.

 

[BentValve]

Well after about 30 min at 200/400 I had a hard lock, I reset the bios and set it up at 166/333 with max timings.

Upon boot up I got the following XP error message:

Computer restared after an unexpected shutdown.
Microsoft Windows detected a possible device failure.
The driver for the display device was unable to complete a drawing operation.
Please check for driver updates.

I hope its a problem with my ram running too fast rather than a mobo problem.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Well the benchies look great even if it's not stable using that ram. I'm glad to hear the board will hit 200fsb too What multiplier and Vcore were you using@200/400? Did you add ASIII to the NB or cooling to the SB?