Newbie who has a few questions. . .

**Sillydipstixs18** · 12-20-2004, 05:02 PM

I'm new here at the MP3CAR.com forum. I have been all over this forum looking for insites and information on designing and building my own CarPC. So far I have a couple of ideas of what I want, and how i want to do it. but I have no skills in designing boxs and fiberglassing. That I will have to just take it and run. But here are my questions and I hope that someone can help me.

1.) I'm building a box to hold two Optima batteries and my power distribution. For two reason, first to back up the CarPC, and second for my system. I know how I'm going to wire it but what would be the best, Fiberglassing or carpeting? and I want to put in a plexi glass window to show off all the wiring and such. So I'm looking for a website that has alot of information or tutorials on building enclosures, adding windows and much more.

2.) I'm using a gigabyte mother board with a pentium 4. What is the best dc-dc to power it up other than to use a power inverter?

3.) I have read a lot about people using laptop hard drives in car pc, now are they using laptops as there carpc or are the using a regular pc with a laptop hard drive? and how is the best way to mount a hard drive where it does sustain alot of vibrations?

Thanks for your help.
-dan

**xBrady** · 12-20-2004, 05:12 PM

2. You are going to want an Opus. Whats the clock speed on your CPU?

3. Both, some people pay a lot more for the laptop hd because they think it is worth it. Although most people without them have never had a problem and save a lot of money. Most people think that if you mount the HD vertically is sustains the least amount of shock but some people think that it doesn't even matter. Several people have their HDs mounted on their subwoofer and never have problems.

**TruckinMP3** · 12-20-2004, 05:30 PM

Read the project forums for ideas and answers.... plenty to look at.

**Sillydipstixs18** · 12-20-2004, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by brady

2. You are going to want an Opus. Whats the clock speed on your CPU?

2.0 gigahertz. just kind of in the preplaning stages

**alti** · 12-20-2004, 07:23 PM

check out this site. the P4 you are looking at is about 64 watts that is alot when you want to stay under 150 (for the opus), although there is a 220w opus that is supposidly going to be out soon and that just might do the trick. It is more complicated then just adding up the total watts, you really need to look at the amount of power each device pulls from each voltage rail (for ex. my seagate HD gets power from both the 5v and the 12v) if power consumption on any of the rails exceeds that rails max then it could cause a problem. But looking at the total watts will give you a ball park figgure, and the opus is very effecient and most agree underrated. If you decide to go with a Opus you might want to look at a mobile processor instead of a regular pentium. The pentium M only draws 28 watts for the 2.0 ghz and athlon XP mobile has 35 watt models (like the 2400+)

**Sillydipstixs18** · 12-21-2004, 12:06 AM

Okay so I checked out that site and it said that the smallest suggested power supply would be 177. so the 200watt opus might do. but again im not sure. im new to this and it sparks my interest. now one more question:

what is the best way to cool the cpu. fan or liquid?

i was thinking liquid would be cool and i have some ideas for a nice setup/display. can i use two opus's and hack one so that when one comes on so does the other?

**alti** · 12-21-2004, 02:22 AM

I do not know much about liquid cooling but it seems extreme. The general thought in the cooling depart is to do the job without it being noticed. If the mobo is in the passenger compartmet passive cooling would be the best option but would not work for a Pentium 4, the next thing would to be to get the quitess fan that will keep the CPU cool. Liquid cooling does not sound like a good idea in a car to me, and why? Is it to lower the noise level? I can not imagine why you would need to liquid cool a pentium 2.0

**Sillydipstixs18** · 12-21-2004, 05:08 PM

I was going to use liquid cooling also for looks. ive used it in my desktop pc and it kools like nothing else. i thought since i would encase my motherboard and such in a plexi glass case that it would ad a nice look.

also can i use two opus power supplies for one pc? one for the motherboad and cooling, andanother for the cdrom and harddrive?

**DarquePervert** · 12-21-2004, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by Sillydipstixs18

I was going to use liquid cooling also for looks. ive used it in my desktop pc and it kools like nothing else. i thought since i would encase my motherboard and such in a plexi glass case that it would ad a nice look.

also can i use two opus power supplies for one pc? one for the motherboad and cooling, andanother for the cdrom and harddrive?

You're going to be ****ed the first time you hit a bump and knock a fitting loose, causing coolant to dribble down your motherboard...
But I say go for it! It would look cool as all hell!!!

When that happens, I'll be sure to give you a drive-by nelson.

You could use two Opus's (Opi?), sure. It's your money to waste.

**Sillydipstixs18** · 12-21-2004, 05:59 PM

Yeah Ive though about that happening. but im pretty sure i could seal everything as tight as possible. i was just asking about using the two power supplies to fully power my system. i know what i want and im setting out for it, i was just asking for the best for the cheapest. so what would you suggest instead of using two powersupplies and a power inverter?