Thread: First CarPC Setup (09 Altima 2.5S)

No comments or anything? Am i possibly posting in the wrong area?

Don't rush, answers will come when they have to come

D945GCLF2

Mobo:
D945GCLF2 I prefer it, maybe its not so graphically accelerated but your overall performance will be better.


Screen:
Your choice, but considering your car's dash, you WILL need to do some fab, it doesn't have the 2 dins available (at least for what i see)

Case: (might not need it)
Your choice

Memory:
Go for 2G memory is cheap nowadays

PSU: (not sure, need help on this)
Can't say yet.

Hard Drive:
WD 2.5 Sata 120gb ($Free, had it from something else)
Anything would be good, if you want to go excellent search for intel x25-e SSD mwahahahaha

Wifi:
everything is the same.

******
You still need to think on powering, grounding, your usb extensions, maybe a cheap GPS.

Download riderunner or centrafuse and toy around with what they do, it will give you an idea of what you would like to install.

The Zotac N330 would be a better choice, and it comes with 802.11n Wi-Fi.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813500030

I've just started my car pc project using the Zotac N330 board. Used 2gigs OCZ plat. and a WD 2.5" Scorpio Blue 400gig HD.

Windows 7 installs and runs great on this setup for dedicated tasks. It gets a bit sluggish when you start opening a lot of programs, but for a carpc, that shouldn't be a problem.

It plays back 1080p x264 files with about 20-25% CPU perfectly!

Went with the m2-atx for power and the 4th gen mocoso case. Very happy so far.

Rob W.

Thanks for the replies guys, ARN: I forgot to list, but i will be getting 2gbs for that cost, my car is able to do a double din, i've looked into it, you buy another faceplate thats used for the model with navi, only reason i was thinking about wasting money on a case is to just be able to pull it out if need be, thats a last buy of course HD: Not trying to spend that much, trying to keep this cheap
I'm not too worried about grounding and powering right now, i know most of that pretty well, wifi, i do not want a built in card, because this is most likely going in the glovebox.

The wifi in the Zotac 330 board is a mini pci card that is removable. It also uses an external antenea that I'm sure you could buy a cable for to mount somewhere else.

Rob W.

Originally Posted by brockoli

The wifi in the Zotac 330 board is a mini pci card that is removable. It also uses an external antenea that I'm sure you could buy a cable for to mount somewhere else.

Rob W.

Yea, i hear ya, i just don't see why i'd spend more money, i'm trying to keep this pretty cheap, but def get your reasoning. Thanks

The zotac board is really compelling, but
1. I am a cheapy guy
2. even tough it is not a big deal, intel has a software called "intel integrator toolkit" you can ad your custom bios POST screen, so you can give it a little "show off" factor when the car starts.

Originally Posted by ClubFed11

Yea, i hear ya, i just don't see why i'd spend more money, i'm trying to keep this pretty cheap, but def get your reasoning. Thanks

Well, in your original post, you were saying you were going to spend $140 on the Zotac N230, plus $23 on a USB Wi-Fi. The Zotac N330 costs $170, or $7 more than the combined cost of the N230 + Wi-Fi. For the extra $7, you get: double the CPU power (dual core vs. single core), and internal Wi-Fi with an external antenna connection, which means you don't have to worry about the external Wi-Fi box.

For external antenna, I use this one: http://www.data-alliance.net/-strse-...unt/Detail.bok . It isn't as big as it looks in the picture, it's only about as tall as a 20-oz Coke bottle. But having the antenna outside your vehicle makes a difference.

However, if you want to go cheap, then get the Intel D945GCLF2. Dual core Atom 330, but Intel graphics instead of NVIDIA. Only $84 at Newegg (or $59 open-box special), instead of $170. Or the D945GCLF, single core Atom 230, $65 instead of $140. Neither include Wi-Fi.