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The DG45FC Thread ...

H

harshw

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 28, 2005
Messages
133
I'm starting this thread to discuss about the Intel DG45FC Mini-ITX motherboard

I'm getting mine early next week ( only 4 days to go ... yaay ) and I've ordered the following

Intel DG45FC motherboard
E7200 CPU
PicoPSU 120W DC-DC adapter
150W SMPS power brick ( from Maplin )

Anyone have any interesting ( and affordable ) HTPC/Slim cases for this motherboard ? I was looking into Omaura TF-5 but the website appears not to work. Atech Fabrication and Serener are horrendously expensive.

Will post more details & pics about the build ...
 
Since you already bought a PSU, I recommend this case:
APEX MI-100

Remove the crappy preinstalled PSU and you're set!
 
HDMI, DVI, and S/PDIF optical? Win. Pff...I really shouldn't get one under the premise of using it for a media center...but it's so CUTE!

That's a pretty nice case there. :eek:
 
Hehe, it's "Psile". Yeah, I did mention it's very expensive and has an unfortunate name. Cheapest I can find it is $299.95.
 
Well, it wouldn't be the first product with that problem *cough*Nintendo*...
 
Guys, I think the reference to Maplin indicates he is in the UK. So no Apex MI-100 over here unless it gets imported. Choice of small tidy cases in UK is pretty shit really.
 
Yes I am in UK. And yes the selection of cases is absolute cr*p in UK ! There is a modushop.biz that appears to make some sleek amplifier cases. And http://www.bulgin.co.uk/Products/Switches/Illuminated.html for switches. All I want is a sleek Aluminium case with a switch for power, a slot cut for the DVD and that's it :) Was actually thinking of this case from modushop ...



It is 80mm tall and the other HTPC cases I have seen are 67 mm so not much difference
 
Greetings to everyone! I bought the intel DG45FC about a month ago. and I have all the parts (cpu, memory, psu, hd, dvd drive....) but I seem to find the right case for it. I want a case like the casetronic c156 my problem is that they don't sell just the case, they sell the MOBO, PSU with it and makes it expensive. any suggestion??

I might end up building my own since I have already a 3d drawing If I can't find what I want. I'll upload pictures next time.
 
Just got my DG45FC, the E5200 2.5 GHz CPU, a PicoPSU 120W DC-DC power supply and an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 LP. Grabbed a 150W SMPS power supply from Maplin. I connected everything and fired it up, just to test power draw etc. Some observations: the Arctic Cooling 7 LP was disappointing. It's not as good as its big brother the AC Freezer 7. The LP has a 80mm fan that makes more noise and the worst fixing mechanism ever. The retention mechanism consists of very fiddly things that one tends to break off, making this a one-time process ! Three of the four push pins broke off meaning I will not be able to reuse the cooler :mad:. On the other hand, the cooler fits the board without interfering with any components, although it overhangs one edge. Perhaps this cooler wont be able to make it in any of the mini-itx cases...

Oh well I still have the Intel stock cooler that came with the E5200. Using the PicoPSU means the second memory slot gets blocked, best is to use an ATX extension. Note that the power draw of 47W ~ 51W is with system in BIOS, with 1 stick of 2GB DDR2 RAM and nothing else connected. I'll connect a HDD and optical drive soon. Anyone know of a slimline slot loading BluRay ? :) I'm still deciding on the case. Perhaps a Serener GA-L01 if I can figure out the heatsink for this thing. Having said that, GF loves the silver Psile case, so might go with that one ...


Here are some pics.







 
I have the same setup. That fan was a bitch to install and I cut my self twice in the process when my jury rigged "push tool" slipped. I was thinking about writing the company to get more parts. The problem lies with the white pins not being cut properly, a razor blade fixes this problem... If you didn't already break one or two of the black pins in the process. :mad:

Anyway, I'm running Ubuntu on it as a server/HTPC. I'm having trouble with getting the audio to work, anyone have any ideas?

Otherwise, I love this board.:D
 
tmclaugh said:
I have the same setup. That fan was a bitch to install and I cut my self twice in the process when my jury rigged "push tool" slipped. I was thinking about writing the company to get more parts. The problem lies with the white pins not being cut properly, a razor blade fixes this problem... If you didn't already break one or two of the black pins in the process. :mad:

Anyway, I'm running Ubuntu on it as a server/HTPC. I'm having trouble with getting the audio to work, anyone have any ideas?

Otherwise, I love this board.:D
Click to expand...

I wish I had read your quote on the razor blade before I installed the Freezer 7 LP :). I have written to Arctic Cooling but have not received any reply from them yet. Let me know if you get anything back from them.
 
DG45FC users, anyone has a USB or BIOS problem?

I plugged in a fully installed HD with Win XP pro SP3, then both mouse and keyboard did not respond anymore. Also, the same problem occurred when I tried to update the bios using a bootable CD, I could not use the keyboard to type in the command after the computer started on DOS.

The second problem that I have is the restart. I'm running Vista Business 64, and every time the computer has to be restarted (for updates mostly) it hangs on the intel logo and the small info (F2 bios, F10. xxxxx, F12 xxxxxx). The computer turn itself off, but it stops there. The same problem happens when a CD or DVD is left inside the drive while the computer start. Could this be a problem of the DVD drive. I have the Optiarc sata slim drive.

Does anyone know where to find a ISO image bios update(rescue), I want to get rid of the intel logo.

I finally decided to build my own computer case. So here I am sharing the 3D model of my computer and ...some of the specs from CPU-z. You may find some of he informations useful for you for your build

computer model (little messy looking) front:
mini_itx_case.jpg


back
mini_itx_case2.jpg


mainboard
mainboard.jpg

CPU
cpu.jpg

memory
memory.jpg


The following specs run perfectly wih the board: Optiac SATA slim drive, WD 160 black scorpio, pico-psu 120, DDR2 GSkill F2 6400CL5.
 
tmclaugh said:
I have the same setup. That fan was a bitch to install and I cut my self twice in the process when my jury rigged "push tool" slipped. I was thinking about writing the company to get more parts. The problem lies with the white pins not being cut properly, a razor blade fixes this problem... If you didn't already break one or two of the black pins in the process. :mad:

Anyway, I'm running Ubuntu on it as a server/HTPC. I'm having trouble with getting the audio to work, anyone have any ideas?

Otherwise, I love this board.:D
Click to expand...

Just a real quick tip, I don't know if this is the actual problem, but ALSA and Pulse Audio are real good with driver support.

Open a terminal. Type alsamixer. Scroll over using the left arrow key to PC1 and PC2 (if applicable). Make sure each slider is up, and not muted. Press M to mute or unmute.

For some reason there are more mixers available in that tool than in the GUI one, and for some reason, for me there is one that is always muted by default.
 
Tendro said:
DG45FC users, anyone has a USB or BIOS problem?

Does anyone know where to find a ISO image bios update(rescue), I want to get rid of the intel logo.
Click to expand...

The software & tools page for the motherboard on the Intel website links to the Integrator kit. This allows you to replace the BIOS logo with your own BMP or JPG file.
 
I've never used the Integrator kit but I will try, having my own logo would be cool on the startup. I always thought I can use the ISO bios update and remove the the logo file. Thanks
 
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