Which budget nforce 2 mobo?

I got the choice of the NF7, 8RDA, MSI k7N-L or Soltek FRN..

I'm leaning towards the the one of the first 3...overclocking probably, but its for my brother

I can't seem to find that many reviews for the budget boards, only the deluxe/-s/+ versions of the boards..

Well since one of the biggest problems I've heard of on the NF7-s is the SATA controller the NF7 should be a decent board. I have the NF7-s v1.2 but haven't gotten the SATA to work yet, too busy testing for compatible memory and bios updates.

I have ownded the msi k7n2-L and it is phenominal...as for overclocking....well if you plan on going over 200fsb think again msi put a cealing at 200....so even though it is capable....the bios says "NO WAYNO!"....seriously it said it....I PROMISE!!.....but since it's for your bro. I would ask how far he wants to overclock..........hope I was of some help........

p.s. the amin diff between the msi board and the other 2 is voltage settings....the ability to surpass 200fsb....and thats it as far as I know....

p.s.s. if your brother is not a hardcore overclocker.....and or if you are going to be his techie and be called in the middle of the night....you will deffinetly enjoy msi's easy upgradeabilty IE windows bios flash and other VERY NICE msi utilities

i would go for the nf7. its looks to be the best that i have seen.

~Will

U cant go wrong with the ABIT NF7...

Just read through afew threads on the NF7 and u will see that this is the mobo to go for at the moment.

good luck in your disision.

I already have the NF7-S, I know its sweet I hate the bios issue tho...

with the 2.0 as far as i can tell the bios issue is fixed. its a kick *** board and i dont see how you can go wrong with it.

~Will

Well I am here to tell you that Soltek board for 89.00 2nd day shipping from www.googlegear.com/ is a steal...Set up one for a buddy and bought myself one...I also have the SL-75DRV-5...Soltek boards are easily the most rock solid stable boards I have ever worked with...No issues what so ever with this board...NONE...Soltek's are double throw down, double barrell bad, bad to the bone mofo's...

check this out SL-75FRN2-L @ 228fsb default vdd!

http://thecrucible.ca/reviews/nforce2/Overclocking.htm

The 8ra and nf-7 are better boards then the MSI or Soletek.. Either one will work great.. I ordered the 8rda+ myself.

K we'll compare highest stable FSB when we get our boards and see

I dont know about you but I dont mind my stuff crashing, locking up, giving me fits...dont like it but it is something I will deal with...What I really hate is putting one together for someone else and having to be the techie...More especially if I am the one who put the parts list together...I feel that it is proirity number one that my box's are stable...Nobody thinks anything of it when it is up and running, without any issues...It is when they start having problems that all hell breaks loose...

I might of misunderstood the purpose of this "overclockers" forum.

Ok I see, In fine print it says "Building for others with the most expensive bells & whistles".

K right

Hookem,

When you get your board in tell us how high fsb it goes. Make sure that crucible review wasn't a fluke.

yeah that soltek review looks VERY tempting..but I dunno if I wanna jump on board yet........I am a little sceptical.......I would like to see some actual experiences with this board....just in case this review was a fluke.......also as for stability....I thought the abit rev 2.0 was supposed to rather stable....am I in the wrong?

There are a 6 more reviews here on the soltek board all look very good hope it helps you make upyour minds, also the new version epox 8rda3+ will be out soon with C1 northbridge whic is supposed to correct bios coruption.

http://www.8dimensional.com/mainboard-reviews/soltek_mainboards.html#Soltek_75FRN-L_nForce2

some more Soltek Nforce2 reviews here.

http://www.mbreview.com/links.php?op=viewslink&sid=328

Take the pre-mid march reviews with a grain of salt because those were the early days before Soltek had a chance to iron out some bios bugs and the Northbridge was A2/A3.

Most probably the Nforce2 board you will get now from your vendor will be the SL-75FRN2 with the new C1 northbridge and a brand new bios especially made for this newest revision.

If you want the best no frills budget Overclocker's board shipped and equiped ready to OC. The SL-75FRN2 is hands down the best bang for your dollar.

The latest review of this newest revision testifies the fact .

http://thecrucible.ca/reviews/nforce2/index.htm

Since I only have some Kingston value ram for this box...Seeing what stable FSB it will run is going to have to wait...But I can tell you one thing for sure...Not one issue with the two box's I have put together using the SL-75FRN2...NONE...I like that, I mean I really like that...

buy the soltek for gods sake. then you the owner can tell us first hand why i dont buy a soltek mobo.

guys im gonna fill you in on a little past history.
look up there ^ at the top of the page. do you see the great big spot that says "soltek motherboards"?

how much help also do you guys think you will get as no hardcore ocer will own that mobo. you will then have a few people who havnt oced much guessing what the thing needs to run good.

this is soltek's second ocing mobo they have done.but they have tried many times prior only to produce lackluster boards.

and these reviews,did you ever stop to think "how" these review samples are sent out? usually hand pick and tuned if possable.

my best advice is follow what fellow ocers are saying about parts.
im starting on my 5th nforce2 mobo. im no expert but i do know a good mobo when i use one.and a review dont mean jack. ask all the guys who bought the gigabyte kt400 mobo that toms hardeware guide convinced was the best mobo of its time.

lol it did mabey 170 fsb tops while i was cranking 207fsb on an asus a7v333.

do what you want,buy what you want,i wont say a word criticizing you either.
but i didnt buy my abit nf7 rev1.2 becouse of any review. i bought it becouse i saw what guys like me were doing with it.same reason i bought the 8rda before the abit.

buy some rogain also couse i have a good feeling you will be bald soon from pulling your hair out in frustration.

Hookem said:

Since I only have some Kingston value ram for this box...Seeing what stable FSB it will run is going to have to wait...But I can tell you one thing for sure...Not one issue with the two box's I have put together using the SL-75FRN2...NONE...I like that, I mean I really like that...

Click to expand...

I can not find anything in any of the reviews about being able to lock agp can you? many thanks.

All Nforce2 mainboards out now have a moderate chance of hair pulling stress associated with using and possibly overclocking them.

None have their hands clean of it. ANY visit to any specific brand forum will always have problem posts ratio higher than "My Board is a gift from God" posts.

Getting a revised A1(C1) stepping OC board from any manufacturer will prove to be a better overclocker for FSB than a A2/A3. It's like trying to compare a TnT and a Tnt2 for OC. So the comparison from the Crucialble review is slightly unfair I'll give you that.

If you take the time to read the title of this thread it says "BUDGET". Right away you can strike Asus from that list unless ASrock comes out with an Nforce2 board and then It's highly unlikely it will have many oc features in order to keep it from canabilzing sales from Asus's main Nforce2 series. Abit has all the right stuff for OC but getting a C1 Stepping might still be unclear from vendors. Also Abit is not considered a budget board.
There is 30 - 40 diference between the SOltek plain Sl-75FRN2 and the NF7 (non S).

Epox for me is out of the question since they don't offer active HSF over the Northbridge and they use Pink gummy heat transfer pad which is extra work to clean off. What I have to pay $15- 20 more to buy a Glacier Iceberg chip cooler. gimme a break. Epox also in the present availble 8Rda does not have Vdd. Gotta hack. Lastly despite Epox having less overclocking features, Firewire and soundstorm do not help you overclock so those fluffy features are irrelevant, It's still more expensive than the Soltek.

So for $82 for a SL-75FRN2-L you get an active HsF over the Northbridge and good plain old white grease over the chip which will be a A1(C1) stepping Nvidia Northbridge.

You get VDD up to 1.8 and you get all the other overclocking functions as well. You get all multipliers available no hacks needed for high or low multis. This in my opinion makes this the Overclockers Budget board of choice for those on a budget looking to tweak a no frills board. brand name gurus beware that even Abit , Asus and Epox had their humble beginnings yet look how fast Soltek is advancing on their territory on OC features and final price.

The other boards are good boards too but not budget or not the perfect boards for Overclocking when you get them out of the box unless you start putting wire trick hacks or adding fans.