what do ya think?

**xxMIKExx** · 03-18-2007, 06:37 PM

Hey, I've been reading these forums for a while now but I just signed up.
I am planning my first CarPC and I could use some tips. My car is a 2002 Honda Accord EX and I want to have a computer that I can play music on and use GPS simultaniously.

I am on a low budget so I'm not going to buy a touch screen, instead I plan to use a pyramid 7" LCD monitor that I am going to wire to the computer with composite video. For the motherboard I am thinking of useing a Jetway C7 1.2G fanless Mini-ITX since it is really small, silent, uses only about 12 Watts, has the prosessor built in, and has a composite video out for my monitor. For memory im thinking of useing Kingston 512MB 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM and Western Digital 80GB IDE ULTRA ATA100 HDD. Do you think this is fast enough for GPS, Music, and Road Runner? Also, for about the same price as the Jetway I can get a MSI Micro-ATX motherboard with 8-channel audio, a 1.6G AMD processor, and the video card for my composite monitor with HDTV. But with that setup it will be noisy, draw more power, and take up more space..yet it will be a lot faster and have better audio/video.

what would you do? Any other ideas?
thanks for your help, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I actually started to research the AMD Geode NX1750(1.4Ghz/133FSB) and although the clock speed is slower that some C7 processors it's preformance is double that of the C7. This processor also uses minimal amounts of power which is what I am looking for, and is faster than the Jetway i was looking at getting. Do you think this would be the best route to go?
any feedback would br greatly appreciated.

**cobase** · 03-20-2007, 10:00 PM

I guess it depends on the software how CPU-intensive things are. My 850Mhz Duron can easily handle navigation, music and web browsing simultaneously. Even videos are no problem with WMP Classic (skippy with WinAmp tho).

If you're new to it, I hope you realize your first problem will be power. 12 = 14 when running, 13 when not running and briefly around 6 or 9V when starting the engine. Plus wiring it up for enough power and controlling startup/shutdown right. That in itself can get expensive.

**xxMIKExx** · 03-21-2007, 08:16 PM

Thanks for the reply. I've thought about power and I plan to get a M2-ATX to handle engine crank, and delay on/off. If a 850Mhz prosessor is fast enough for what i want to do than a 1.4Mhz AMD Geode should work great, and it doesnt consume very much power so i think that is what i should go for, also i can get that very cheap. Do you agree that this is the best route for the money?

**cobase** · 03-22-2007, 06:01 PM

Seems fine to me - the less power and less cooling necessary, the better. I've had my setup since January or so. I should just cough up the money for an M2-ATX but my bank account's a little busy getting me married.