Suggestions / Opinions for Car Computer Setup

**arsads** · 11-14-2009, 05:56 PM

So I am planning on building a car computer to put into my 1998 Ford Ranger (ikr). I have decided to keep the factory radio and run the computer audio via aux in. I am going to mount the screen on the dash so that it is removable and the computer will either be hidden in the center dash or glove box.

The components I am planning on using for the computer are:
M1-ATX (power supply)
4th Gen Mini ITX Case for Carputer Car PC (from mo-co-so.com)
OCZ Agility Series 30Gb SSD
4GB Corsair DDR2 800MHz RAM
ASUS AT3N7A-I Motherboard with Intel atom 330

Monitor:
Lilliput EBY701-NP/C/T 7" VGA Touch Screen

Other:
OBDCOM (obd II usb connection w/software)
BU-353 Weather-proof GPS Receiver

Software:
Undecided

I also am unsure on exactly how to go about attaching the power supply to the 12V, there is a 12V cigarette plug and a cigarette lighter, the plug seems to be made for actual use, not sure if it could handle it though. I am estimating Max power usage at 60W (probably a high estimate from specs I have read). Trying to design it so that there is little permanent changes to the vehicle, and so that I will be able to remove it one day.

Anyhow I would like to see what thoughts you guys have on this.

**DarquePervert** · 11-14-2009, 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by arsads

I also am unsure on exactly how to go about attaching the power supply to the 12V, there is a 12V cigarette plug and a cigarette lighter, the plug seems to be made for actual use, not sure if it could handle it though. I am estimating Max power usage at 60W (probably a high estimate from specs I have read). Trying to design it so that there is little permanent changes to the vehicle, and so that I will be able to remove it one day.

Do yourself a favor and run a line from the PC back to the battery for power. Don't use the cigarette lighter port to power your system.

**justchat_1** · 11-15-2009, 02:06 AM

Why on earth would you run 4GB of ram in a carPC?? And why would you get ram that would need to be underclocked?

Also, most cigarette lighters are rated for 10Amps so you should be fine-but for about half a dozen reasons people will recommend you run a separate line.

**cjrokke** · 11-15-2009, 02:11 AM

Originally Posted by DarquePervert

Do yourself a favor and run a line from the PC back to the battery for power. Don't use the cigarette lighter port to power your system.

And don't forget to fuse it!

If you don't know, a 60W power draw should be fused at 5A. Fuse it within 12 inches of the battery

**arsads** · 11-15-2009, 02:14 AM

Well the difference in price between 800Mhz and the actual max is not really that large. I decided to post what is more or less my maximum specs here, probably end up running 2Gb.

**justchat_1** · 11-15-2009, 02:23 AM

Originally Posted by arsads

Well the difference in price between 800Mhz and the actual max is not really that large. I decided to post what is more or less my maximum specs here, probably end up running 2Gb.

Every GB of ram you use is extra time to/from hibernation.

Underclocking the 800 not only is a waste of money but speed. You would be better off getting the properly clocked ram with much lower timing and getting overall better performance. Make sure to manually set timing in the bios if thats the case...and it will improve post speeds also.

**soundman98** · 11-16-2009, 09:35 AM

just as a warning(don't immidiatly discredit your MB selection), i believe that all of my issues are from a faulty board... i had purchased a AT3N7A-I, and had alot of problems with it with the onboard bluetooth taking almost 30 seconds to allow the MB to post. once it was disabled in bios, though the board booted fine.

i have been PMing blk02 about it, as he also has been building a system with it, but has not started software installation yet...

otherwise, it looks like you are off to a good start.

for the memory, i really think that it depends on what you are doing with it, and what os you choose to run--- xp will only see about 3 gb of that. also, if you choose to run any audio processing programs, that will also require a little more memory. i have settled on 2gb sticks for my own builds...