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Abit, Epox, or Soltek????

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INGlewood78

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Joined
Apr 28, 2003
I've heard good/bad things about all three. Abit cost more, but is the difference worth the extra cost. Please give me your opinions. Thanks!
 
Really as long it's the C1 stepping chipsets, you can't go wrong with any of them.. Of course, I've been writing lots about my new Soltek, so I'm a little biased towards it...especially for the price.

The Abit was my second choice, but this board was 40 dollars cheaper, and runs just as good. I also had all the extras left over from my GigaByte (mainly the extra USB ports), so I just installed them in my Soltek.

If you want a feature rich board, that's a great overclocker, then get the Abit. If you want a bang for your buck, then get the Soltek or Epox. I'm not sure of the stepping on the Epox's though, so maybe someone else can help out.

-Edit-If you buy the Soltek, buy it from Googlegear. I have no idea what's going on at Newegg with their pricing, but both versons of the FRN2 have fluctuated as much as 20 dollars over the past two days. Googlegear has the FRN2-L for 92 shipped, and the FRN2-RL for 94 shipped. Both prices are cheaper than Newegg's. I got mine from googlegear and got the C1 stepping, so everyone else should too..Googlegear ran out, and just got a new shipment in (mine came from the new shipment).
 
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Check the new mobos at epox..they have good ocing capablities and a lot of BIOS settings....good chipset coolers and fsb is very overclockable
 
How does your Soltek OC?



mattspalace said:
Really as long it's the C1 stepping chipsets, you can't go wrong with any of them.. Of course, I've been writing lots about my new Soltek, so I'm a little biased towards it...especially for the price.

The Abit was my second choice, but this board was 40 dollars cheaper, and runs just as good. I also had all the extras left over from my GigaByte (mainly the extra USB ports), so I just installed them in my Soltek.

If you want a feature rich board, that's a great overclocker, then get the Abit. If you want a bang for your buck, then get the Soltek or Epox. I'm not sure of the stepping on the Epox's though, so maybe someone else can help out.

-Edit-If you buy the Soltek, buy it from Googlegear. I have no idea what's going on at Newegg with their pricing, but both versons of the FRN2 have fluctuated as much as 20 dollars over the past two days. Googlegear has the FRN2-L for 92 shipped, and the FRN2-RL for 94 shipped. Both prices are cheaper than Newegg's. I got mine from googlegear and got the C1 stepping, so everyone else should too..Googlegear ran out, and just got a new shipment in (mine came from the new shipment).
 
It's currently running 11 x 200 @ 1.75v. I spent most of the day working on it, since i stayed home from work with a cold..

I'm absolutely sure I have more room, and I'll test it over the weekend probably.

-also, check the other soltek specific thread, as it has about everything concerning my overclocking adventure.
 
No problemo :)

I've had a good time too.. You shoulda seen me when I set 11 x 200. I saved to the bios and then closed my eyes, hoping I wouldn't hear siren beeps. Sure enough, no beeps, Woot!! Of course, now I gotta try for a little more. :rolleyes:

-edit- make that 11.5 x 200 and climbing..
 
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I had the same reasons..I know the next gen nforce chipsets will be out in the near future, and i'll likely be buying a new mobo then, so this is just to hold me over.

BTW Toscani, I'm running 12 x 200 @1.8v, and this is with a 2700, which is usually not known for being an overclocking chip. I'd like to see some results with the 1700 and 2100 b cores, and more aggresive cpu cooling.

I could lower the multi and probably grab more fsb, but 12 x 200 was my goal, and I'm happy. I didn't change anything except CPU voltage - then started on the fsb and multi..

I'm also very pleased with my Twinmos LLPT. It's still running
CL2 2-2-5-1T. Scored 3100 memory bandwidth with Sandra.
PR rating of 3500, which doesn't mean a whole lot, but still nice to look at.
 
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I should have the Soltek and a JIUHB 0310 XPMW DLT3C XP1700 by next friday. Im going to try some generic PC3200 ram from a local shop that is supposed to be better than OCZ EL. I will also be building a watercooling setup shortly after next week. I'll be using a factory HSF until then. Im also looking for 12x200 or more with water. I'll let you know how it turns out ;)
 
I have the Soltek, it is good but a CPU Volt mod will be needed when you want over 1.85v, this board is very stable over 200fsb I ran it 220fsb no problem except my 1800+ AIUGA sux nuts, so I will get a 2100+ and bring my beast up.

I think the Soltek is a good choice, it is stable as hell and has an excellent bios and software bundle.

Second I say Epox 8RDA then Abit NF7-S
 
Is there any big difference between the NF7 and NF7-S besides the icky sound storm? I can get both in rev 2.0 and im not really in the mood to spend 20 more for a feature i will use um Never
 
madcow235 said:
Is there any big difference between the NF7 and NF7-S besides the icky sound storm? I can get both in rev 2.0 and im not really in the mood to spend 20 more for a feature i will use um Never

There also is SATA Raid which can also be used as a single channel. It frees up IDE channels for use with your Optical drives. I'm not sure if the plain NF7 has a built in NIC. Why do you think Soundstorm sucks?

Hammer
 
I'm quite happy with my ICKY Sound Storm APU... Hella Lot better than my CPU Cycle HUNGRY Audigy2 :eek:

Not to mention it would do 200FSB right out of the box:D well worth a few extra $$$ the only problem I had with this board was I couldn't figure out why in the hell the SATA wouldn't find my two WD80JB's for a RAID setup, but then I picked up a couple of "NEW" Ribbons cables and converters made by HIGHPOINT!! And this fixed the problem straight away!! ;)

So, considering the cost verses quality ratio I believe ABIT has everyone beat hands down as of this day. But then again... that's just my opinion:cool:

And No the NF7 does NOT have onboard NIC


Choose well!!, the Choice is yours!


Best of luck with your endeavor!

DpGravy
 
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