Thread: Help finding flaws in this setup

Originally Posted by Jiroe

Hello,
I'm new to this place, although I've been reading posts for the past few weeks. I think I've put together a system that would work, but I want to run it by some of you who are more experienced to see if there's a major flaw in it. I don't want to spend the money and find out there's a serious design/planning problem. Also, if anyone has any cheaper suggestions, please post them! My goal is to spend as little money and get the most functionality out of it, as I'm putting it in a 98 Camry that I plan to get rid of in the next couple years and I'd like to take the system with me, at which point I'll tweak it out.

Anyway, here's the system:

Asus A7N8X Mobo w/ AMD Athlon 2500
GeForce 4MX
1GB PC2700 RAM
80GB WD HD
802.11b/g PCI NIC
Soundblaster Live XGamer**
El Cheapo CD/AM/FM Head Unit w/ Aux In from Best Buy
DigitalWW DWW-7VGT (http://www.digitalww.com/DWW-7VGT.htm)
Opus SFX 150W PS
All necessary cables

**-I'm not sure if I want to put that in since the mobo has onboard audio and I don't know if the gain in quality would be worth the power consumption.

Don't know about the difference betweent eh onboard & XGamer quality. That would be trial & error. The preferred setup 'round these parts is the Audigy, which is external.

You also might consider a mobile AthlonXP for the reduced power consumption.

Also, with the Opus PS, I have a somewhat stupid question, but I can't find the answer anywhere. Where does it plug in with the battery? Is it through the cigarrete lighter or is there some what to wire it so it's hidden? I'd like to keep the whole thing as low profile as possible for security reasons.

It connects straight to the battery, and there's a lead to the ACC to fire the computer up when you start the car, if I'm not mistaken.

Originally Posted by Jiroe

...
El Cheapo CD/AM/FM Head Unit w/ Aux In from Best Buy

....

**-I'm not sure if I want to put that in since the mobo has onboard audio and I don't know if the gain in quality would be worth the power consumption.

The onboard audio will suit you fine. The limiting factor in your setup will be the cheap head unit.

Originally Posted by Jiroe

The PC itself is an older one I have laying around and I'm thinking I might swap out the RAM for something along the 128 - 256MB range.

Do NOT skimp on memory. You're only creating a bottle neck on an otherwise(what I would consider) over-kill for a CarPC. ~512MB is good.