jilted's abit digidice [version 3.16.2004] (c) copyright 1972-2004 jilted C:\funkbum\computer\digidice>dir i started to get bored with my wacky clear green computer after about a year i have always liked the small form factor (sff) pcsm but they were just too small for what i like i mainly just wanted more than a single 5.25" bay and a single 3.5" hdd bay when i saw the abit digidice i knew i wanted one it had multiple 5.25" & 3.5" bays and a cool looking screen to boot this project is more of a sidegrade than an upgrade... i'm using my existing cpu, ram, video, & optical drives which consist of:   intel pentium4 3.06 mhz (533 fsb)   2x512 crucial pc2700 ram = 1gb ram (dual channel)   ati all-in-wonder radeon 9700   pioneer dvr-105 4x dvd-r/rw   liteon 52x24x52x cd-r/rw new items ordered for project digidice:   western digital raptor 36 gig 10,000 rpm serial ata hard drive wd360gd (system drive)   western digital 250 gig 7,200 rpm serial ata hard drive wd2500jd (stuff drive)   creative labs sound blaster audigy 2 zs platinum pro   speeze pci slot exhaust fan serial ata drives were not even available yet when i buit the green pc i've been jonesing to use those cool little red cables for a year the wd raptor drives are supposed to make awesome system drives... we'll see i checked disk space for windows, swap file, and program files on my green pc it was only like 9 gigs so i decided that the 36 gig was plenty (not to mention the 74 gig raptor was a heckuva lot more) green pc was running on a 200 gig, so between the 36 and a 250 i should be fine not to mention an external 120gig usb 2.0 drive (werd) i wanted the new platinum pro because i plan on messing with music software again this way i can leave it all hooked up to the external breakout box if i go lan somewhere not to mention i am a creative labs fanboy (or so i have been called by industro) :) my friend coltran3 recently purchased a digidice has noticed it to run somewhat warmer that a full size case with plenty 80mm fans he purchased a pci slot fan also and it seems to have about a -5 degree impact on overall heat the intake for these fans is situated almost directly below the video chipset so any heat that it can pull out from the video chipset is less heat building up in the case the fan he purchased is kinda think and won't fit if you use both the agp & pci slots since i am using both, i opted for the speeze because it's not as thick and should fit between if it doesn't work it's not a big deal... it was only $3.99 :P ok... time to put it together well as it turns out, the digidice project was not a success the case is great, i will say that trying to make this sff case into a powerhouse is not a good idea no matter what i tried i could not get the case temps to a reasonable level i tried adding a higher cfm exhaust fan i tried adding an intake fan was was constantly getting crashes my buddy has no problems with his, but he only put 1 optical and 1 hdd in it part of my heat problem was a heavily loaded psu sure i could have swapped it out but i really didnt feel like making a total hack job click here to see all the photos i took while building and trying different fans C:\funkbum\computer\digidice>cd.._