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ASRock K7S8XE versus Soltek 75FRN2L ("Golden Flame")Author: Aleksandr MitrofanovDate: 04/07/2003
It was last year when users first became aware of the ASRock trade mark. That time, many leading manufacturers showed increased interest in the value sector of motherboards market. Among them was Asustek who established Hua Ching, a daughter company. The basic idea of the founders was to target ASRock produce at the users and organizations on the budget. But the market sector in question had been tightly filled by ECS (Elitegroup), so to achieve some tangible results ASRock marketing division were up to concentrate efforts on producing motherboards built on cheap and very cheap chipsets. These are primarily SiS produce as well as such outdated chipsets like VIA KT266A and Intel 845D. Clearly, of special interest are motherboards based on SiS chipsets because with their low price they feature advanced functionality on par with their higher-end counterparts. For instance, SiS 748 is another chipset that features support for new AMD processors of 200(400DDR) MHz bus. Up till now, only nVidia nForce II (rev C1) has featured such function. In this review, we'll be rounding up two motherboards built on the mentioned chipsets. These are ASRock K7S8XE (SiS748) and Soltek SL-75FRN2-L (nForce II, rev C1).
Curiously enough, recently Asustek made a U-turn in its attitude towards the low-end sector. That was then when the company decided to produce motherboards not under the ASRock trade mark, but use the already known and widely popularized Asus mark. This is how the -X series appeared (which we have already rounded up one - Asus A7V8X-X based on the KT400 chipset), and Hua Ching lost Asus support and had to take part in the competition on its own. ASRock K7S8XE Specifications
Package Package bundle
The package bundle is worth the price of the produce: only the basic and most essential items are available. The urge towards saving affected even the user's manual which is a small brochure with a very brief description of the motherboard. As a tradeoff, the description is duplicated in all major languages. Besides the documentation, the box has only a drivers CD, cables and a cap for the rear panel. Upon a closer look at the directory structure on the CD you can find a similarity to Asus produce. Even the graphic interface is the same. 
ASRock K7S8XE Board Features Although the board features only basic functions, it is quite sizeable - 24 x 30cm in dimensions. But that doesn't cause any issues during system assembly. The power socket is positioned in a not quite handy manner though - above the north bridge. As a result, power cables will run above the processor cooler and hinder the air circulation. This is topical for motherboards aimed at overclocking actually, and as we'll see further on, ASRock K7S8XE does not fall within them. The processor socket is moved off the board's edge at quite a distance, which makes it possible to fit a cooler into already assembled system. But this has to be done very carefully so as not to damage capacitors nearby. Again, since the board is not meant for overclocking, you don't have to worry about its compatibility to nonstandard cooling devices. By the way, there are 4 assembly holes onboard as well as special protective stripes under the socket teeth.  The board features hardware protection against the processor overheating: U-COP (Universal CPU Overheating Protection - sounds very similar to Asus COP :). But the user can't read the core temperature data - only the readings taken from the sensor under the socket. The processor cooler is plugged to the CPU_FAN1 connector. Besides, the board also features the CHA_FAN1 positioned near the IDE connectors. At the same time, the cooling of the chipset is implemented with a passive radiator, which is done in a high quality way:  If you scrape off the layer of thermal paste (that's just it on the photo), you will see the chipset - SiS 748.  As for the radiator, it looks very similar to those installed on Asus motherboards.  Now regarding the memory configuration. The ASRock K7S8XE board features three DIMM slots. That is, the maximum memory capacity makes up as much as 3 GB provided PC1600/PC2100 modules are used. If PC2700 modules are used, the maximum memory capacity goes down to 2 GB, and to 1GB for PC3200 modules.  Unfortunately, the board lacks a LED to indicate voltage, but actually I didn't expect that from a value board. There is an issue with blocking the DIMM latches by a video card, which comes up in installing a Ti4200 class video card that blocks only the first slot.  Only 1.5V AGP 4x or AGP 8x video cards can be inserted into the AGP slot. The slot has a small latch to keep a video card fitted firmly in place. Now on to the expansion options - there are as many as 6 PCI slots onboard. Besides, the wiring provides some space for an AMR slot, but it's not there on the board.  The set of other functions is minimum: the board features AC'97 integrated audio based on the CMI9739A codec. The board also features support for 10/100 Ethernet LAN. Quite decent a set for a value motherboard.  The board offers support for 6 USB 2.0 ports, four of which are mounted on the rear panel, with 2 more ports connected with a header (missing in the package bundle). Besides, there is wiring for IEEE-1394 connectors onboard, although they are not installed. Reminding it again that K7S8XE features a "cut-down" version of the SiS 963L south bridge which lacks support for the Firewire serial bus. The design of the rear panel is quite out of the ordinary.  First off, the COM2 port is missing, for which only wiring is provided (in the upper right-hand corner). But the main issue is the way the PS/2 connectors are positioned. Normally, assembly operators are used to seeing the keyboard connector in the bottom corner, while K7S8XE offers a mouse connector over there instead. If only ASRock had a notable name and impressive reputation, such a move would be understandable (the way Abit did on MAX series motherboards). But for a novice, such a change of standards looks rather strange. Anyway, that's not the most critical issue. What's much worse is that the metal limiter on the LAN connector (RJ45) on my board specimen was a bit narrower than it should be as per standards. Therefore, I was unable to plug in the LAN cable at all. Traditionally, a jumpers layout diagram:  There are not so many jumpers on the board: the PS2_USB_PWR1 is positioned near the PS/2 ports and is meant to enable the "wake-up on keyboard" function, with the CLRCMOS1 near the battery cell to clear the CMOS settings. Besides, the ASRock K7S8XE board offers 2 jumpers with which we can set the base system bus speed. These are the FSB_SEL0 and FSB_SEL1 located under the DIMM slots. When installing a Barton XP2500 processor with the FSB set to 166 MHz the system simply wouldn't start under the 100/133 MHz combinations. That must have been because of the BIOS flaws of which we'll be talking now.
BIOSThe board's BIOS is based on AMI BIOS. Interestingly, to enter the BIOS, the "F2", not the customary "Del" is reserved (albeit a trifle, but annoying one). Most memory settings are gathered in the "Chipset Configuration" section.  Apart from the main timings (CAS Latency), there is an unheard of number of finer settings which can be tweaked within quite wide ranges.  To simplify setting the timings, there is this special parameter "Dram Timing Configuration" with the "Normal" and "Performance" as the admissible values.  When trying to set the "Performance" value for the Kingston ValueRAM module the system wouldn't load, but with the "Normal" value selected the system demonstrated a not high enough performance level. At the same time, with higher quality modules like Kingston HyperX a stable operation under the "Performance" mode became possible. Besides, in the BIOS we can select the memory operating frequency. Since the SiS748 chipset supports asynchronous modes of the processor bus and memory bus, the selection of possible options is wide enough:  As for the system monitoring, the respective section of the board's BIOS proved quite scanty: there is only information on the processor/system temperature as well as information on fans speeds and current voltages.  Unfortunately, there are no functions to enable alarm in case the processor gets overheated, or if the fan halts or reduces its rotation speeds. In fact, this is absolutely not an issue for a value board.
Overclocking and stabilityRepeating it again that ASRock K7S8XE is a value motherboard and one simply can't impose any special overclocking requirements upon it. As for the stability requirements, they are very strict for any motherboard. At that, the motherboard didn't have anything to complain about. During the whole testing period the board was running stably and without failures. It uses a 2-phase power scheme with four 3300 mkF plus four 1500 mkF capacitors installed.  But at overclocking race, ASRock K7S8XE is among outsiders: these functions are simply missing. Of the related functions, there is only FSB speed variation. The variation range is between 100 and 248 MHz in 1 MHz increment.  The way the speed values are selected is awkward - to set a needed value, you have to scroll through all the interim values (another similarity to Asus motherboards). As for other functions, they are simply missing. As a result, I was unable to test the system operation capacity at the 200 MHz bus. The thing is my Barton XP2500+ processor is able running at 200(400DDR) MHz, but either with the reduced multiplier or with the Vcore voltage increased. However, the listed functions are not implemented on out tested board. The conclusion: the overclocking success for ASRock K7S8XE depends entirely on a particular processor specimen.
Soltek 75FRN2-L (nVidia nForce II) Board FeaturesNow let's look into a motherboard based on the nForce II chipset with support for the 400 MHz processor bus. This is Soltek 75FRN2-L board, which have already rounded up , based on the nForce II chipset. The new motherboard is an exact copy of the previous model (75FRN-L) with the only difference in the slight modifications of the PCB design and in the new revision of the chipset. We won't dwell on the package bundle or look into the board's design - instead, we'll present only the basic info.  Of note is the board's superb exterior: the combination of yellow and green colors in the PCB and the bright yellow color of slots and connectors look simply marvelous (that's why this series is dubbed "Golden Flame"). Soltek SL-75FRN2-L Specifications
As we see, the board's specifications remained unchanged: even the support for 200 (400DDR) MHz bus is missing in the User's manual (but is available on the company's website). However, a processor featuring such bus speed can be used absolutely safely, since there is nForce II of revision C1 onboard. Even the caption "333Mhz FSB" on the package box stays the same.  The package contents also remains unchanged: Package bundle
As I already stated, no changes in the PCB design either: as before, the processor socket has no assembly holes for installing massive coolers.  On the other hand, now you can monitor the processor core temperature from within Windows. Reminding it that such function was also there on the SL-75FRN-L board, but it was possible to get the information only from within the BIOS. As we have seen in the roundup of SocketA coolers, it's just the core temperature which is the most precise indicator of efficiency for a cooler. Programmers at Soltek improved the monitoring utility and now it is able showing the core temperatures. Then, the cooling of the chipset remained active. Although the new revision of the chipset heats up less than it used to (nVidia engineers even removed the metal heat distributor), active cooling is a must whenever the chipset voltage is raised (the board offers this feature).  As before, there are three DIMM slots, with the first being blocked by an AGP video card. The AGP slot lacks a latch, even though it is not shown on the photo. In the set of expansion options, no changes either: the PCB design allows installing a Promise PDC20376 RAID controller chip (the related model is dubbed 75FRN2-RL).  Other expansion options haven't undergone any changes either: as before, there is integrated audio based on ALC650, integrated LAN controller and six USB 2.0 ports. No changes are there in other components of the board: the BIOS is still based on Award Phoenix v6.00PG, and the set of parameters remained unchanged.  It's a pity no function for switching the system to the stand-by (or S3) mode has been added.  As regards to the overclocking options, very few changes have been introduced:  FSB speed variations between 100 and 250 MHz (on 75FRN-L up to 211MHz) in 1-5 MHz increments, the multiplier adjustable between 5 and 18 in 0.5-1 increments (without changes) (with the 4-bit encoding stayed); the memory voltage (Vmem) is variable between 2.5V and 2.8V (without changes), the AGP bus voltage - between 1.5V and 1.8V (without changes). At the same time, a new function for raising the chipset voltage (Vdd) has been added. Its variation range is between 1.6V and 1.8V.  In the board's power supply unit, no changes either: it uses a 2-phase power scheme with 3300 mkF plus four 1500 mkF capacitors installed. Now regarding the factual overclocking. I was able attaining stable running at 220 MHz in the dual-channel synchronous mode. I used the same Kingston memory as was in the tests of the SL-75FRN-L board and didn't notice any issues with dependence on the slots used. Resume: no doubt the Soltek 75FRN2-L board is more attractive in terms of overclocking than its predecessor 75FRN-L. The new chipset revision (C1) plus the possibility of raising voltage on the chipset (up to 1.8V) allows the experienced user to attain 220 MHz (or even higher, provided high-quality memory modules are used).
PerformanceTo compare performances, the following hardware was used:
We gauged the performance in the board's toughest mode: FSB set to 166 MHz, the memory frequency = 166 MHz, with the following timings used (for Soltek 75FRN2-L):
For the ASRock K7S8XE motherboard, I did two series of tests: one with the cheap Kingston memory (CAS = 2, DRAM Timing = "Normal"), the other series with high-quality HyperX memory (CAS = 2, DRAM Timing = "Performance"). Let's first take a look at the results of synthetic benchmarks.
  Now on to the gaming benchmarks.     In practically all of the tests, the SiS 748 based motherboard is inferior to that based on the nForce II chipset, whereas in at some applications (to do with memory bandwidth) the lag is quite essential. But as the resolution goes up, the gaming performance practically makes even. This allows regarding the SiS 748 based motherboard as a cheap platform for the gaming computer. ConclusionsFirst off, the SiS748 chipset did appeal to me: it offers support for 200 MHz bus, wide options for tuning the memory frequencies and timings, excellent "price/performance" ratio. But the ASRock K7S8XE proved not that attractive: there are BIOS flaws, poor functionality. But from the budget user's viewpoint, this board is very attractive - at its $60 price, it has a basic set of options and at some tests it shows performance on par with nForce II (games in resolutions 1024x768 onwards). In terms of overclocking, ASRock is absolutely of no interest: the functions to raise processor, memory voltages etc. are completely missing. As regards to Soltek SL-75FRN2-L, it has almost nothing to complain about. It's the same Soltek SL-75FRN-L except the new chipset revision plus some small enhancements and improvements. If I faced a dilemma as to which board is better, I would give preference to a system based on the Soltek SL-75FRN2-L motherboard and an Athlon XP1700+ (almost all processors of this type can be configured as 10õ200 = 2000MHz under the nominal voltage). Such a combination would have been cheaper than that with ASRock K7S8XE + Barton (200MHz bus) processor under practically the same performance. If K7S8XE had overclocking options onboard, the choice wouldn't be as evident. Besides, there is a lot of consumer niches where overclocking is not used and the main factor is the price. In this case, ASRock is a leader and offers optimum choice for various office and home computers. Conclusion
Read more on this topic Epox 8RDA+ : nForce IIAbit NF7-S : nForce IIAsus A7N8X : nForce IISoltek 75FRN-L : nForce IIAddress all your questions, remarks and suggestions to the conference.
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