Thread: DC-DC or Inverter

I'm getting my new car in about 4 weeks (if everything goes according to plan ) and I'll be starting my CarPC project then...

Now I've been reading up on stuff a bit, but the biggest question I have atm is how to solve the powersupply...

I'm not much of an electrician, so I wont be able to make much myself (yes this will be a great way to extend my ablities )

Whats the biggest reason to go for a DC-DC powersupply instead of an Inverter? An 300w inverter seems to go for to go for about 75 euro. How do these inverters hold up during starting of the car? And if this causes problems, how did you guys solve those ?

So far I've seen the opus powersupply, 150w, $190 ? Which, with shipping cost (I live in The Netherlands/Europe) probably will be around 200-210 euro...

And I've seen one from 'sunpower':
http://www.sunpower.com.tw/product/D...&ClassifySN=34
Which I've seen for sale for about 210 euro's (in germany)...

A 'problem' that I see with the DC-DC ones are the low wattage, will 150/160w be enough for a 1Ghz celeron or 1.6Ghz (or something around that, not sure think I got a 2000+ lying around) Athlon ?

I like the Opus DC-DC powersupply, I'm just worried it might not hold up to the powerneeds... I wasnt planning on buying a new cpu + motherboard