Need Idea's

**cpugh9698** · 12-29-2005, 01:53 AM

I have a 04 Isuzu Rodeo. I was wanting some computer input, as far as what to buy. I recently purchase a touchscreen monitor from geeks.com. http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=GL701-TVCT

But I need to buy the motherboard etc. I guess what I need to know is, is it best to buy the computers that are already put together, or buy it separately. Which one is more cost effective.

I'm looking to run mp3's, movies, and gps. I would like a good motherboard that can run gps and play mp3's at the same time with it being choppy. What is the best motherboard to go with?

Also has anyone done an install on a Rodeo before. If so, can you post pictures.

**lostreception** · 12-29-2005, 03:47 AM

Originally Posted by cpugh9698

But I need to buy the motherboard etc. I guess what I need to know is, is it best to buy the computers that are already put together, or buy it separately. Which one is more cost effective.

building is more cost effective

Originally Posted by cpugh9698

I'm looking to run mp3's, movies, and gps. I would like a good motherboard that can run gps and play mp3's at the same time with it being choppy. What is the best motherboard to go with?

the site to each his own vias are popular as are asus a7m's and biostar m7ncg's

Originally Posted by cpugh9698

Also has anyone done an install on a Rodeo before. If so, can you post pictures.

yeilded this and a few others browse this site it has all the info you need

good luck

**BIzFlawless** · 12-29-2005, 03:52 AM

Welcome to MP3Car!

.......Well you can get a good one from www.8drive.com for about $700.Just about any where you look your gonna find a car pc already built for at least $700 or more, unless theres one cheaper in the FS theads or something but personally I think building your own is cheaper becuase you can look around to find the cheapest and best parts for your pc. If your not to familliar with computer hardware and such then either maybe you need to look into buying a built pc if you really want one or do alot of

ing and

ing & learn as much as you need to know to build your own. Just about everything you described that you want featured in your carpc is very basic to almost all of the carpcs on here so it shouldnt be that hard. This website should be the most helpful to you because its dedicated to carpcs and almost everything you can think of about computers and carputers is on here. All you gotta do is

!

....As for the pics of the rodeo installs Im sure that there are some....just click at the top in search and type in rodeo and see what it pulls up or you can go to the show off project threads and in there search for rodeo at the top. Well good luck

and whatever you do please search it first because if you dont and its already something that has been discussed then be prepared to get a little gripped out about it

Uh Uh Uh, You didn't say the magic word !

....but if you truly dont understand

or just need help Im more than sure there are plenty willing to help you out including myself!

By the way a popular motherboard is the VIA EPIA M10000 Mini-ITX Mainboard

**cpugh9698** · 12-29-2005, 05:52 AM

Thanks for the replies. One thing that I'm worried about is the drain on hte battery. I'm trying to understand what the M1-ATX power supply does. Most of the posting talk about the computer goes into hibernation mode. Does this drain the battery? Basically I need to understand what the different power supplies do.

Thanks

**kbyrd** · 12-29-2005, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by cpugh9698

Thanks for the replies. One thing that I'm worried about is the drain on hte battery. I'm trying to understand what the M1-ATX power supply does. Most of the posting talk about the computer goes into hibernation mode. Does this drain the battery? Basically I need to understand what the different power supplies do.

Thanks

The M1-ATX and it's competitors (opus, etc), are DC-DC power supplies with some smarts. They usually take a 12V+, a ground, and an ignition sense (this IGN line is usually just a 12V+ that's only hot when the car ignition key is in accessory or on position). The PSU then provides a standard ATX mobo connector as well as a few molex drive power connectors. Why? The voltage from the car varies widely from 6V to 14V. You motherboard, harddrive and other accessories wouldn't like that. The PSU provides regulated 12V, 5V, and 3.3V that the mobo wants, just like a regular AC-DC ATX power supply for a desktop computer in your house.

In addition, many of these PSUs also have built in startup/shutdown logic. My M1-ATX waits 5 seconds after ignition is switched on to power on your carPC, it also waits 5 seconds when I turn the ignition off before powering the carPC down. You can change various setting so that the M1-ATX will cut all power to the mobo (so it won't drain your battery), or you can have it power the mobo all the time (like if you want your carPC to do standby).

As for Hibernate vs. Stanby vs. Power off. Whether your computer hibernates, or standby, or powers off has nothing to do with the M1-ATX. Your operating system and motherboard controll that, just like on a regular desktop. Hibernate on a carPC is just like hibernate on a desktop. The computer dumps RAM to disk then powers off completely. Resuming from hibernate means going thru bios boot again, starting Windows. Windows detects it was hibernated and then reads the contents of RAM back from disk. This takes longer to resume from "off", but means your PC draws now power from the battery. Suspend is actually several different things. The most common for us is S3 or suspend to ram. In this state, Windows suspends and the carPC draws a little power to keep the RAM alive. Optionally, other devices are powered (if you want to do Wake-On-Keyboard press, you have to power the keyboard). Resume from suspend is much faster than resume from hibernate, but the PC does need to draw some power the entire time so the M1-ATX has to be setup to not cut power ever.

Whether or not you decide to do suspend, hibernate, or power off is up to you and what you want. I do suspend, and risk a dead battey because my resume from hibernate times were like 40 seconds and that sucked.