Noob here; looking for opinions on this setup.

**jprix82** · 08-23-2007, 11:51 AM

Hey there!

Im new to the whole CarPc world and to this site. I'm looking for honest opinions on this 'budget' CarPc setup I put together.

MoBo/CPU = Intel D201GLY Little Valley with 1.33 GHz Celeron Processor.

RAM = CORSAIR 1GB 240-Pin DDR2

HDD = Western Digital 2.5" 160GB

PSU = M2-ATX 160W Intelligent DC-DC PSU

DVD/CD Drive = Panasonic Slim Slot load DVDMulti Drive

All this comes to about $372(before shipping)

I pan on running GPS,RR or CF frontend,playing MP3's,Movies from HDD/DVD drive....Would this gear be great for what I need it to do?

Thanks!

**DarquePervert** · 08-23-2007, 01:21 PM

Tray-load optical drives, particularly laptop models, are notoriously fragile. Hit a bump wile loading a CD, and you've got a paperweight.

**jprix82** · 08-23-2007, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by DarquePervert

Tray-load optical drives, particularly laptop models, are notoriously fragile. Hit a bump wile loading a CD, and you've got a paperweight.

I didnt think about that. I edited my list and changed it to a slot loading drive.

**WarDriver** · 08-24-2007, 07:06 AM

What about your screen, power supply, and case? Don't forget about those expenses.

**BRUM** · 08-28-2007, 02:22 AM

Heylo im a noob too but it sounds like a pretty good setup to me the only thing i can say is from reading alot of faqs is that 1gb of ram is probly a bit more than you need just for dvds music and gps and more memory means longer boot times but anyhoo good luck

**Redian** · 08-28-2007, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by BRUM

Heylo im a noob too but it sounds like a pretty good setup to me the only thing i can say is from reading alot of faqs is that 1gb of ram is probly a bit more than you need just for dvds music and gps and more memory means longer boot times but anyhoo good luck

um.. what?

how does more memory mean longer boot times. if anything it will reduce boot times because of the bigger swap file, it will run faster because there is more ram, and be better off in almost every way.

windows takes about 300MB of ram stock, so when you add ion the services like GPS/Centrafuse or RR or whatever/Drivers that are loaded / everything else it comes out to be about 400MB load. sure, 512 will work... but run something like firefox as well and you are screwed to virtual memmory, which is much much much slower

dont skimp on ram, its not worth it. for 15 bucks more you get twice the ram, so why the hell not.

and not to hate on mp3car, (i love you guys) and i buy everything from them in order to support the site, but if you are strapped for cash try looking around other places like newegg. for the hard drive you can save quite a bit of moneh

**2k1Toaster** · 08-28-2007, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by Redian

um.. what?

how does more memory mean longer boot times. if anything it will reduce boot times because of the bigger swap file, it will run faster because there is more ram, and be better off in almost every way.

windows takes about 300MB of ram stock, so when you add ion the services like GPS/Centrafuse or RR or whatever/Drivers that are loaded / everything else it comes out to be about 400MB load. sure, 512 will work... but run something like firefox as well and you are screwed to virtual memmory, which is much much much slower

dont skimp on ram, its not worth it. for 15 bucks more you get twice the ram, so why the hell not.

and not to hate on mp3car, (i love you guys) and i buy everything from them in order to support the site, but if you are strapped for cash try looking around other places like newegg. for the hard drive you can save quite a bit of moneh

The boot slower is in regard to memory testing. Most people turn off this feature by enabling "quick boot" in the BIOS. If quick boot is disabled, it will check the ram bit by bit and ensure it is working. So more RAM = longer boot time. If you skip it though then no difference in boot in the real physical world where we think microseconds are fast.

Also if you go into hibernate, it will be slower, because it then has to write 1Gb to the hard drive instead of 512Mb. I never use hibernate though so it doesnt bug me. I just use use standby.

512 is sufficient in the car, and i havent had XP take 300Mb of my RAM before (Pro), but I am sure after you add all sorts of useless crap it can climb that high. Vista on the otherhand... my god what a RAM-hog. Oh well, who uses Vista in the car anywas, just a waste...