SL-75DRV2 motherboard vs Asus A7V266-E

[Farsan]

Hi Everyone,

I am now at the crossroad in picking up a motherboard for my New Athlon XP 1700+ CPU. I was thinnking about the Asus board, but that one has no determined releasing date yet, at least in Sweden.
I checked around then found the SL-75DRV2 board, which uses the new KT266-A chipset and is about 60 dollars cheaper then the estimated price for Asus mobo. I tried to find some reviews on this soltek board but seems none. From the price I suppose it is not a branded one, though I know very little about the mobo manifaktures. Wonder if any of you could give some inputs about this board, or about Soltek (a company in Taiwan). I visited their homepage, and seems much better service there in comparison with the Asus, for example, the online manu. I still am not able to read the online manu for that Asus A7V266-E board.

I think this SL-75DRV2 board has onbaord audio (soundblaster xxx), does this mean I can save the costs for a soundcard? The online shop I am going to order this computer insist that I should have a soundcard.

Thanks for your advice. Wait till the Asus board come out or use the Soltek board and save 60 dollars, and of course the pleasure to be able to start using the computer soon (need this one for Dark Age of Camelot, or anyone knows if DAoC can run on a Compaq PII450 computer, which I have now?).

[glc]

I would seriously consider the Soyo Dragon Plus - it's a KT266A board. It may *appear* costly, but it has a LOT of beneficial onboard items - RAID, 5.1 sound, Ethernet. Soltek has been around for a while but I haven't heard any feedback on their quality.

[Cricket]

Hi Farsan,

I suggest you look at other motherboard manufacturers such as ABIT, EPoX, SOYO or even Shuttle before you consider the Soltek board. The motherboard is the most important part of any computer build and getting a good quality one can prevent a lot of headaches down the road.

Don't skimp on the motherboard. If you can afford it, get the SOYO Dragon Plus.

Cricket