computer portion question

**Slitha** · 09-19-2004, 08:42 PM

Well, i have my carputer up (well it's being a *****, but it'll get up). I'm using a 400 mhz computer, and wanted to upgrade it to one of those mini pc's around 800-1000 mhz.
Here's are my questions:
1) As i look around at other people's setups, i have trouble finding where their dvd roms/hard drives are. THey have mini cases that i can't imagine would fit in a hard drive and a dvd drive. Anyone know how/where people with these cases hook em up?

2) Are there any good sites for the basics of mini pcs because i know a bit about regular pcs, but i dont know anything about the minis.

3) How do most people supply their mini pcs with power? The OPUS is a little thing you snap on your motherboard from my understanding. WHat i am wondering is where do you connect the wire from you battery? does it go into your OPUS?

As you can see, i am a very big newbie to this. Please dont eat me.

**mushin** · 09-19-2004, 09:19 PM

1) Many people use laptop (2.5") hard drives, which are significantly smaller than desktop drives. Laptop cd/dvd drives are also quite popular, which are about 1/2 the size of their desktop bretherin.

2) A mini-itx board really isn't fundamentally different than a normal ATX board. It's mainly just smaller and often have integrated CPUs, though some models have special features. You might check out www.mini-itx.com to get a look at what kind of hardware is out there, and the stuff that crazy people do with them.

3) Check out the Power Supplies forum. The PSU that snap into the MB aren't Opus (I think Ituner makes them?). They are designed to take power from an AC/DC adapter, though you can give it regulated power from the battery instead. The Opus is made for the car, and connects directly to your battery.

**sheerdark** · 09-20-2004, 02:22 AM

Read about my install on the link below...you can get some ideas there, if you want. It's about the cheapest option I could find to get a pc in my computer. Good Luck!