Abit DigiDice

click__head · 17th August 2004, 11:46 AM

I am starting to get bored with my Shuttle SN45G so I am looking at other small form factor PC's on the market.

Has anyone had or still has an Abit Digidice? If so, what do you think of it? Also, if you are able to post some pictures of the inside when everything is installed that would be great!

Thanks

=BF= · 20th August 2004, 1:18 AM

I picked one up today. It's louder than the shuttle, I built one of those for another client. The digidice has 2 fans on the back and one on the CPU. The rear fans run all the time while it turns the cpu fan on and off as required.

I also found that it hangs if you install an SP2 slipstreamed XP. An Sp1 copy works fine, but I haven't tried patching to SP2 yet. As usual the ftp for the latest Abit BIOS is offline. Also, Abit eq, the monitoring program, shuts the machine down due to low rpm on the CPU fan once it's installed, so you need to adjust that quickly. Abit eq puts temp/rpm readings on the front display, so you want it running else the display just shows time since power on.

The front is plastic while the cover is brushed alloy. It should all be brushed alloy. Also the drive bay drop down covers catch retracting cd caddies. Might need to remove the caddy face plates so it work properly but they shouldn't catch anyway. It also took me ages to get the optical drives aligned so the front buttons worked. There are no definate alignment holes like a normal case, just slots.

And if you put sata drives into it, the power plugs for sata drives have been put on the cables upside down, so you'll get a nice twist in the supply cables.

To top it off, I didn't get a remote.

4 out of 10.

click__head · 20th August 2004, 5:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by =BF=
To top it off, I didn't get a remote.

4 out of 10.

Did you buy the standard or deluxe version?

=BF= · 23rd August 2004, 11:06 PM

I didn't realise there where different versions, and I had cruised the ABit product files for quite a while before buying, but I did end up with a standard version. It was a special from Altech for resellers only, $100 off.

I'm hoping my kid can crack the remote code with one of the universal remotes we have here. I don't like my chances and Altech tells me they can't get single remote units. So if your remote fails, tuff luck I guess.

=BF= · 31st August 2004, 12:42 AM

Thought I might add that BIOS 18 got this Celeron D working with SP2, so there's more in these bios updates than they put in the readme files.

click__head · 31st August 2004, 5:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by =BF=
Thought I might add that BIOS 18 got this Celeron D working with SP2, so there's more in these bios updates than they put in the readme files.

That's good to hear, I posted at the Abit forums about Celeron D support, a two weeks later and I still haven't received a reply

=BF= · 2nd September 2004, 2:31 AM

I emailed Abit telling them that their authorative name server didn't know who ftp.abit.com.tw was and no one could download BIOS files from it. They directed me to the abit-usa digidice page for BIOS downloads. Just guess where that page links to .... ftp.abit.com.tw. I was wondering why the mirror sites didn't have anything newer than BIOS 15, they can't find the friging ftp to sync with. I got BIOS 18 from some guy in sweden via those forums you mentioned.

I decided to keep the digidice rather than on sell it. It's now the wifes machine.

17th August 2004, 11:46 AM	#1
click__head Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 1,349	Abit DigiDice I am starting to get bored with my Shuttle SN45G so I am looking at other small form factor PC's on the market. Has anyone had or still has an Abit Digidice? If so, what do you think of it? Also, if you are able to post some pictures of the inside when everything is installed that would be great! Thanks

2nd September 2004, 2:31 AM	#7
=BF= Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: BrisVegas Posts: 1,190	I emailed Abit telling them that their authorative name server didn't know who ftp.abit.com.tw was and no one could download BIOS files from it. They directed me to the abit-usa digidice page for BIOS downloads. Just guess where that page links to .... ftp.abit.com.tw. I was wondering why the mirror sites didn't have anything newer than BIOS 15, they can't find the friging ftp to sync with. I got BIOS 18 from some guy in sweden via those forums you mentioned. I decided to keep the digidice rather than on sell it. It's now the wifes machine. Last edited by =BF=; 2nd September 2004 at 2:36 AM.

20th August 2004, 1:18 AM	#2
=BF= Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: BrisVegas Posts: 1,190	I picked one up today. It's louder than the shuttle, I built one of those for another client. The digidice has 2 fans on the back and one on the CPU. The rear fans run all the time while it turns the cpu fan on and off as required. I also found that it hangs if you install an SP2 slipstreamed XP. An Sp1 copy works fine, but I haven't tried patching to SP2 yet. As usual the ftp for the latest Abit BIOS is offline. Also, Abit eq, the monitoring program, shuts the machine down due to low rpm on the CPU fan once it's installed, so you need to adjust that quickly. Abit eq puts temp/rpm readings on the front display, so you want it running else the display just shows time since power on. The front is plastic while the cover is brushed alloy. It should all be brushed alloy. Also the drive bay drop down covers catch retracting cd caddies. Might need to remove the caddy face plates so it work properly but they shouldn't catch anyway. It also took me ages to get the optical drives aligned so the front buttons worked. There are no definate alignment holes like a normal case, just slots. And if you put sata drives into it, the power plugs for sata drives have been put on the cables upside down, so you'll get a nice twist in the supply cables. To top it off, I didn't get a remote. 4 out of 10.

23rd August 2004, 11:06 PM	#4
=BF= Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: BrisVegas Posts: 1,190	I didn't realise there where different versions, and I had cruised the ABit product files for quite a while before buying, but I did end up with a standard version. It was a special from Altech for resellers only, $100 off. I'm hoping my kid can crack the remote code with one of the universal remotes we have here. I don't like my chances and Altech tells me they can't get single remote units. So if your remote fails, tuff luck I guess.

31st August 2004, 12:42 AM	#5
=BF= Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: BrisVegas Posts: 1,190	Thought I might add that BIOS 18 got this Celeron D working with SP2, so there's more in these bios updates than they put in the readme files.