if you had the room......

**ILLNALI** · 01-25-2005, 11:47 AM

I have been doing extensive research on building my car computer.....blah. blah. blah... (sorry for being a typical newbie)

my question is:

I have the room to install a micro-atx cpu in the truck. The majority on this site seems they would have gone this way if they had the room. which direction should I go? AMD or P4? Over the years I have had previous expirence with AMD on the desktop and have had nothing but good luck, but I have read that it draws more power than P4. I want to run a 250g hd, audio card, 2 dvd/cd drives, usb hub, wireless ethernet, tv tuner, xm... basically a full setup..... can the opus 150w power supply support this? I have seen people underclocking their AMD's why? I must have a fast and responsive setup in the truck, these mini itx just o not seem like they will cut it for my usage. What are your recommendations. as I would like to start ordering my parts soon. Thanks fellas!

**thecommiser** · 01-25-2005, 11:55 AM

150w wont power that, youd have to go the invertor route....

but why do you need such a powerful setup just to play Music and watch a few movies from time to time?

**noodles** · 01-25-2005, 12:00 PM

Underclocking reduces heat (which comes in handy in cramped spaces with limited airflow). I ran my mATX Athlon on a 230w power supply and an inverter, which was more than enough. It was 1.1ghz and a TON faster than my 1ghz VIA M10000.

**ILLNALI** · 01-25-2005, 12:03 PM

this is for a full a/v show truck. I will also be adding various add-ons like gps, and satalite tv. however primarily I can not wait for the lathargic speeds of the itx when using media center, I have tried them out and the response time us just unacceptable. I know it sounds stuck up, but I can't see putting a computer in my car that is basically dated to standards of 3 years ago.

I have seen a setup using the opus 150 on a p4 2.4, and he said it works virtually problem free. I would like to use an AMD setup.

Originally Posted by thecommiser

150w wont power that, youd have to go the invertor route....

but why do you need such a powerful setup just to play Music and watch a few movies from time to time?

**VanMan69** · 01-25-2005, 12:25 PM

Don't compare your auto computer to a high-end gaming rig. You may be 3 years behind the power of a beefy modern desktop, but your 3 years ahead of the power of the best headunits.

I'm just running a P3 1GHz w/ 512MB (which could be considered low-end compared to others'), and everything runs pretty quick. Just keep it clean... just frontends, gps, emulators... if you don't need it in the auto environment, don't install it.

The performance differences between P4s and AMDs doesn't really apply at this level. Unless you plan on busting out some Doom3 or HL2 or rendering your Maya project in the car, it's not really a consideration.

**Chairboy** · 01-25-2005, 12:47 PM

Yeah, if your system is running sluggish with a 1ghz system, you're doing something really wrong.

Of course, if this is a 'show truck', then you shouldn't care about actually using it when driving. Just put an extension cable in and plug it into an outlet while it's on display. The rest of us will enjoy listening to music, using GPS, watching movies, reading car diagnostics, etc, as we pass you on the freeway and streets, but you'll be able to play Doom 3 in your garage with your car plugged in, so, I guess it evens out.

**ILLNALI** · 01-25-2005, 01:10 PM

I am not questioning if a 1 ghz system is capable of running. I am also not trying to play doom or gaylo 2 in my garage! however if need be i would like to be able to do some multitasking with this system. I.E. what if i while driving, (please keep safety issue comments to yourself.) want to listen to some mp3's/xm with timetrax, have video/gps running on my screens, and would like to rip a cd or burn a cd for a friend?) will the 1ghz systems be able to accomodate these needs without any bit of sluggishness? if so I would definatly use a mini itx setup. so please tell me about your usage on a 1ghz system.

**jcdillin** · 01-25-2005, 01:16 PM

you dont have to go the opus route, why not just go with an inverter, I have a P4 2.4 in my car. Yes, it's way overkill for what I am doing. But I got it for free so what can I say

and I am using an inverter to power it with no problems. And I have an extra plug in case I need to plug the coffee maker in like pimp my ride

**VanMan69** · 01-25-2005, 01:21 PM

Although I don't do a lot of burning or ripping in the van, I have no problem running GPS and playing tunes or videos (I have, however, copied off of full data CDs while doing normal carputer stuff). I think I've burned only a couple CDs in the car, and don't recall the performance difference. Sometimes I listen to mp3 interviews in WMP, then pause and switch to a frontend for music or vids for a friend, while running the GPS, with a couple Windows Explorers open in the background, sometimes while simultaneously transfering files to/from portable storage. Still haven't really configured my emulators, so I couldn't relay any experience with them, and I don't have OBD-II, so couldn't speak on that either.

**gizak** · 01-25-2005, 01:48 PM

I'm an AMD fan myself, mostly cause it's just cheaper hehe. But in any case, you can get an amd mobile chip, they use less power and produce less heat and still fit your standard socket A motherboards. Plus you can get that + a motherboard for about the same price as a Via board/chip with more then double the speed.