newbie in need

**madmanic** · 07-28-2006, 06:08 PM

first of all i would like to say hello to everyone. been looking around the site and have lots of ideas

right here goes

im looking at replacing my headunit with a car pc but dont excatly know what i need

the bits i know are:

512mb ddr ram
300gb hard drive
and the dvd drive

things im not sure about are the cpu and mother board and power supply.

this is the mother board and pcu im looking at http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/109997

at the moment the cost has to be kept down.

im also looking at this for the power supply
http://linitx.com/product_info.php?products_id=917

what i want to know is

do i just wire straight into that power supply?

is there anything else i will need to get up and running apart from a screen?

and does that power supply turn on and off when i strat and stop the engine? if not what do i need?

will it turn off and not drain the battery when i leave it?

any help is greatly appreciated as im looking to get this done asap

**2k1Toaster** · 07-28-2006, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by madmanic

things im not sure about are the cpu and mother board and power supply.

this is the mother board and pcu im looking at http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/109997

at the moment the cost has to be kept down.

As for the board, it is big, but others have used full size ATX. If you have the room and power availabliity then fo for it. Otherwise a Micro-ATX, or nano-itx might be better suited.

Originally Posted by madmanic

do i just wire straight into that power supply?

The M2-ATX, also available at MP3Car store btw, has 3 connectors to the car side. Ground, Ignition, and Constant. So yes.

Originally Posted by madmanic

is there anything else i will need to get up and running apart from a screen?

Lots of time. Take your time... No rushing. Or else you will end up like Manherio or whatever his name is.

Originally Posted by madmanic

and does that power supply turn on and off when i strat and stop the engine? if not what do i need?

Yes. It is a startup shutdown controller.

Originally Posted by madmanic

will it turn off and not drain the battery when i leave it?

That's the idea!

**madmanic** · 07-28-2006, 06:23 PM

right cheers for the info

but i dont understand what you mean about the mother board. i know it will be big but that aint a major problem. what you mean about if i have the power? i drive a diesel so it has quite a big battery. i was lookig at the micro motherboards but they are expensive

after looking around the site i have relaised maybe i dont really need a 300gb hard drive so that will reduce the cost a bit

i will be asking alot more questions soon lol

and i know all about taking my time as i fibreglass for a living

**DavidIQ** · 07-28-2006, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Lots of time. Take your time... No rushing. Or else you will end up like Manherio or whatever his name is.

That was an entertaining thread

Helped me take my mind off of the burning I've been getting on mine

**DavidIQ** · 07-28-2006, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by madmanic

right cheers for the info

after looking around the site i have relaised maybe i dont really need a 300gb hard drive so that will reduce the cost a bit

i will be asking alot more questions soon lol

and i know all about taking my time as i fibreglass for a living

Yeah...300GB is a bit of overkill. 80GB would probably be more than enough for a carputer project. I have 40GB on mine and it's about half full and I ripped all my CDs into it at 192kb/s and have Office and other useful programs installed as well.

**madmanic** · 07-28-2006, 06:35 PM

im gonna go for a 160gb HD

i still need to know about the motherboard though

would i be ok running the full size mobo because i cant afford a micro one

**FC3S** · 07-28-2006, 07:33 PM

as long as yo uhave the space, you can use whatever you want

size makes no difference, its space thats the problem

**madmanic** · 07-28-2006, 07:38 PM

no problem now

i have managed to find a micro mobo within my price range

just need my check to clear next week and i can order the parts

one last thing. is it hard to wire the pc to my amp in my car? do i jsut wire the amp inputs to the motherboard 5.1 surround outputs?

one very last question
does this motherboard have an on board graphics card ot will i need to buy one?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...lance&n=560798

**yrean** · 07-28-2006, 07:47 PM

it looks like it has a geforce 6100 on it. do the video is built in if i dont miss my guess. and as for the HD. go as big as you want. its easier to have too much space then not enough and need more. if your only doing music, then an 80 to 120gig is alot of space for songs, unless your collection is huge already. but if you get into video. In 1 night i loaded 20 gig onto my drive of just those. and that was just touching the tip of it.

I know its been said already but take your time. theres no hurry. if you have to buy things a peice at a time to get what you want, its ok. just buy those things in a certain order. Start with the lcd your gonna use, you can test it on the desktop, then the HD, even if theres an issue the manufacture has a 3 year warranty on it im sure. etc etc. buy your motherboard processor and ram last in case you get a doa, you want to be able to return them to the place you got it.

Good luck.

**madmanic** · 07-28-2006, 07:50 PM

yeah im going for a 160gb HD so i can store films and songs on it.

im wanna buy all the parts for the pc so i know it is working.

im not very good with pcs. fibreglassing is where im at my best