USB 2.0 vs. Firewire... keeping a low profile

gregulator · 12-15-2001, 10:07 PM

Well now that Christmas break is approaching and finals are ending (yeah!), I cannot wait to continue my project. My current dillemma is that I want to get the PC out of the trunk and under the seat. I am looking at getting an integrated motherboard so I can rid myself of any add-in card (currently making my PC too tall to get under the seat. So the only solution that I have found for also having decent graphics for games is the new nForce motherboards. However, I am thinking I want to put the DVD drive in dash, so I am thinking of having it on firewire or USB, whichever has a longer cable length (I am guessing 6 feet of snaking to the dash), and maybe faster transfer rates. No boards that I have seen come with USB 2.0 or firewire... has anyone seen a good solution for this. I realize that USB 1.1 should be okay for DVD but I might want to upgrade to removable HDD's and the like. An add in board is also out of the question since again, it will make the PC too tall. Thanks for any input.

smashr2k · 12-15-2001, 10:11 PM

laptops. i took a laptop and tore it apart to stick under the seat of my mustang. If it can fit under the seat of a mustang it can fit anywhere. You can sometimes find ones with broken LCDs on ebay... maybe one with firewire. I would stay away from usb for dvd.

WakeAndSno · 12-15-2001, 10:32 PM

A popular motherboard that many of the Mp3car.com member's use (including myself) is the Shuttle FV-24 - It has everything you could think of built-in, including firewire (by he way, the length limitation for firiwire is 15 feet unless you use repeaters in which case the limit is something like 236 feet). THis motherboard doesn;t have the best as far as built in saound and video goes, but you would be quite surprised by the performace. It also has a PCI slot, which you can get an adapter for so that the PCI card lies on its side (this is the case in my computer (the SV-24) - just check out their webpage:
http://www.shuttleonline.com/.

Good luck, let me knwo if you ahve any other questions.
Jonathan

WakeAndSno · 12-15-2001, 10:38 PM

By the way, the PCI adapter is called a PCI riser - they seem to be available all over the web and look like this:

Jonathan

Dimitris1976 · 12-16-2001, 04:56 AM

USB 1.1 is not ok for DVD playback! Use firewire (or USB 2.0, but I don't think there are any all in one mobos out there with USB 2.0 yet).

gregulator · 12-16-2001, 08:55 AM

thanks for the input... I knew that a bunch of people used the shuttle board but i dont think the video onboard is going to cut it for me. How well does it play games at 800x600 res and does it have directX support? I never even knew they made those riser cards... so now my options are much more open, thanks for the tip! I was looking around and even found this. Maybe this will fit under the seat

smashr2k · 12-16-2001, 10:37 AM

hopefully you have a big seat

WakeAndSno · 12-16-2001, 04:11 PM

To be honest with you, I don;t play any games with it. I do however have 800x600 resolution on my 12." LCD flat-panel monitor and play movies etc and it looks great...

Dimitris1976 · 12-17-2001, 04:36 AM

If you want a more powerfull graphics adapter then I am afraid that you'll have to go with an AGP card and use an AGP riser to keep the profile low.

matqua · 12-11-2003, 07:08 AM

I know the last post to this thread was about 2 years ago but nevertheless I thought a quick post wouldnt hurt. The Via M10000 has USB2 and Firewire onboard, along with everything else, including the processor. I know that everyone on the forums who have been here for the last 8 to 10 months know this, but hey, it cant hurt to close off this thread can it? :-|

Matthew