ABIT is a Taiwanese computer components manufacturer, active since the late 1980s. Their core product line was motherboards aimed at the overclocker market. In 2005, they experienced serious financial problems. They have now merged their motherboard business to Universal Scientific Industrial Co., Ltd. (USI). Image File history File links Abitnew. ... The terrain of Taiwan is mostly mountainous in the east but gradually changes to gently sloping plains in the west. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... A motherboard, also known as a mainboard, system board, or logic boards on Apple Computers, and sometimes abbreviated as mobo (generally credited to the magazine Maximum PC) is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a modern computer. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Corporate history

Classic ABIT Logo

ABIT was founded in 1989. In 1991, they had become the fastest growing motherboard manufacturer, exceeding US$10,000,000 in sales. In 2000, ABIT underwent an IPO on the TAIEX stock exchange. To keep pace with their "good" sales figures, they opened up a state-of-the-art factory in Suzhou, China, and moved to new headquarters in Neihu, Taipei. The number of motherboards sold was claimed to have doubled between 2000 and 2001. Image File history File links ABIT_Logo. ... Image File history File links ABIT_Logo. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Taiwan Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (加權指數) is a stock market index for companies traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. ... Suzhou (Simplified Chinese: 苏州; Traditional Chinese: 蘇州; pinyin: SÅ«zhōu; Wade-Giles: Su-chou; sometimes seen transliterated as Su-chow, Suchow, or Soochow) is a famous city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. ... Neihu Distrct (Chinese: 內湖區; Wade Giles: Nei-hu; Hanyu Pinyin: Neihu; Tongyong Pinyin: Neihu) is one of Taipei Citys twelve districts. ... Nickname: the City of Azaleas Government Official Website City of Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou Capital District Xinyi Geographical characteristics Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 16 of 25 271. ...

Soon, this dream quickly fell apart. On December 15, the Taiwan Stock Exchange downgraded ABIT's stock due to questionable accounting practices. Investigations revealed that the majority of their import/export business was conducted through seven companies, all located at the same address and had a capital of only HK$2 each. This made it easy to inflate the reported number of motherboards sold. The Hong Kong media also reports that the management is being investigated for embezzling funds from the company. December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TSEC) is a financial institution, located in Taiwan, Republic of China, located at 17 Po-Ai Road, Taipei, Taiwan. ... It has been suggested that Accounting scholarship be merged into this article or section. ... The Hong Kong Dollar (ISO 4217: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) within the Peoples Republic of China. ... Embezzlement is the fraudulent conversion of property from a property owner. ...

Running short of money, in June 2005, ABIT brought in Wan Hai Industries as an investor.^[1] On December 28, 2005, DigiTimes reported that the company continued to struggle. The company's net worth has declined from US$325 million (in November 2004) to US$51 million (in October 2005). The Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center of Taiwan continues to investigate the company's financial statements, which show anomalies. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... DigiTimes was established in 1998 as an information source for readers wanting to know about the semiconductor, electronics, computer and communications industries in Taiwan and the Greater China region. ...

On January 25, 2006, ABIT announced that USI intended to purchase ABIT Computer's motherboard business and brand and announced a special shareholders meeting to discuss the sale of ABIT's Neihu building, changing ABIT's company name, the disposition of the company's assets, and the release of the directors from non-competition restrictions. Abit is selling its own office building in Taipei to Deutsche Bank in order to raise money to cut its debt. 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Deutsche Bank AG NYSE: DB (German for German Bank) is a multinational bank operating worldwide and employing more than 67,500 people (Dec. ...

Following USI's acquisition of the motherboard business, the remaining divisions of ABIT will switch to distributing components and networking products, while using its Suzhou, China plant only to offer some motherboard contract manufacturing services. Suzhou (Simplified Chinese: 苏州; Traditional Chinese: 蘇州; pinyin: Sūzhōu; Wade-Giles: Su-chou; sometimes seen transliterated as Su-chow, Suchow, or Soochow) is a famous city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. ...

The acquired motherboard business and ABIT brand names are being used today by USI under the new brand name Universal ABIT. In the US, it is known as the ABIT Computer Corporation.^[2]

Technical issues

ABIT was one of the early casualties of the capacitor plague; it bought a batch of defective Taiwanese capacitors circa 2000 which caused their motherboards to fail prematurely. ABIT has so far been the only motherboard manufacturer to admit to using capacitors that were of a poor standard, and eventually recalled and repaired any boards from users that did fail.^[3] Today the company only uses high quality Japanese capacitors, notably Rubycon. Leaking Chhsi capacitors on a MSI 694D Pro motherboard. ... Capacitors: SMD ceramic at top left; SMD tantalum at bottom left; through-hole tantalum at top right; through-hole electrolytic at bottom right. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... 4 Rubycon capacitors on a motherboard Rubycon Corporation was established in 1952 in Nagano, JAPAN. Rubycon specializes in the design and production of aluminum electrolytic capacitors (AECs), film capacitors and power supply units. ...

Technical achievements

ABIT had a reputation among PC enthusiasts for producing motherboards that support overclocking. In the late 1990s, the company introduced their Softmenu feature, one of the first jumperless CPU configuration systems that enable overclocking to be adjusted from the BIOS instead of fiddling with jumpers. Softmenu was later extended with the development of the μGuru chip. μGuru is a custom microprocessor on Abit motherboards which, in conjunction with Abit software, gives the ability to modify overclocking settings in realtime while the OS is running. By providing instant feedback on the results of a particular overclock setting, μGuru greatly reduces the time required to discover optimal settings. μGuru also provides a special connector for a panel that can be installed in a 5¼" bay which will display current speed and voltage settings. AMD Athlon XP Overclocking BIOS Setup on ABIT NF7-S. FSB frequency has increased from 133MHz to 148MHz, and clock multiplier factor has changed from x13. ... Top: jumper block on IDE hard drive with shunt; bottom: assorted shunts In electronics and particularly computing, a jumper is two or more connecting points that can be conveniently shorted together to set up or adjust a printed circuit board, such as a computers motherboard. ... A microprocessor (sometimes abbreviated µP) is a digital electronic component with transistors on a single semiconductor integrated circuit (IC). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Full-height, 2 half-height, and 3. ...

ABIT was the first motherboard manufacturer to introduce 133MHz FSB operation for the Intel BX chipset with the aptly named AB-BX133.^{[citation needed]} ABIT also achieved symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) operation for Intel's Mendocino Celeron CPU, in their BP6 motherboard.^[4] This was an achievement because Intel had blocked SMP operation in the Celeron. In computers, the front side bus (FSB) is a term for the physical bi-directional data bus that carries all electronic signal information between the central processing unit (CPU) and other devices within the system such as random access memory (RAM), the system BIOS, AGP video cards, PCI expansion cards... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC, SEHK: 4335), founded in 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation, is an American multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ... Symmetric Multiprocessing, or SMP, is a multiprocessor computer architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single shared main memory. ... Celeron D logo as of 2006. ... Celeron D logo as of 2006. ...

In 2004, they introduced the OTES cooling system. This heat pipe based cooling system is intended to transfer heat from the chipset or the motherboard's voltage regulators and expel it out of the system through the rear I/O panel. The heat sink (aluminium) with heat pipe (copper) A heat pipe is a heat transfer mechanism that can transport large quantities of heat with a very small difference in temperature between the hot and cold interfaces. ... VRM is an initialism for Voltage Regulator Module, an electronics component that supplies voltage to CPU of a personal computer (PC). ...

References

• S. Chen, S. Shen. "Abit cuts debts by selling properties, but trouble remains", DigiTimes.com, 28 December 2005.
• E. Wang. "Abit reaches tentative agreement with creditor banks", DigiTimes.com, 21 January 2005.
• E. Wang. "Abit stock downgraded to requiring full delivery", DigiTimes.com, 15 December 2004.
• Abit Press Office, "Abit announced a merger with Universal Scientific Industrial Co., Ltd. (USI).", Abit.com.tw, 25 January 2006.

Notes

1. ^ http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2443&p=6
2. ^ http://www.abit-usa.com/about/letter.php
3. ^ http://www.badcaps.net/
4. ^ BP6 motherboard overview at Abit-USA.com; accessed 13 October 2006.

October 13 is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Official website and US official website
• ABIT worldwide distribution partners
• ABIT support forums
• ABIT newsgroups