need advice

STZ · 09-09-2009, 10:39 PM

Okay guys, here's the deal,

I need to make the baddest PC that I can. I have $800-900 to work with.

I'm looking at doing RAID 1 with 2 500 gig drives
I already have a 90 W Power supply M2-ATX and a Voom PC case

What's the baddest system that I can fit into that case?

Ideally 4 gigs of ram

Is quad core possible? Do I need a special fan?
I'm thinking a zotac board.
As many USB ports as possible,
Ideally it would have a com port but I can make do with a USB converter.

and go.

Bugbyte · 09-10-2009, 08:58 AM

Baddest as in fastest? Or functionality?

Unless you are gaming, most any board will handle all the duties of a car PC. No need for a really speedy PC.

Will two 500 gig drives fit inside the Voom PC case?

I'd spend my money on a better screen rather than a faster PC.

soundman98 · 09-10-2009, 10:42 PM

the way i have always looked at it, raid is mostly for drive failure where the drive contains extremely critical information. a carpc is defined by running a computer in a environment that it was never meant to run in, and none of the information contained on a carpc, IMO, should never contain critical information.

there was a thread awhile ago on different types of hdds, and what was the 'best' hdd type. the thread went back and forth, but finally came to a consesus that a ssd drive was slightly better than 2.5" hdd, and that was slightly better than a 3.5", but none of the drives are perfect, and if you value the info on the drives, constantly back it up or image the drive, and keep the backup/image in a safe place, or multiple places.

the reality is that mobile environment is a horrible environment to put unsealed electronics like motherboards or hdd controller boards in, and a raid array could only give you a false sense of security, only to have both drives fail after a water leak, spilled drink, or a electrical surge...

also, the one thing i don't like about bootable raid arrays is that if a new driver corrupts the OS, you have no choice but to reload the whole system, or try to recover it in safe mode-- your other raid drive also copied the corrupted file after all...

but, if you were to take constant backups/images of the drive, you would be able to revert to the most recent backup, possibly saving alot of time, and stress.

i honestly just do not see a reason to build a super powerful computer for a car-- my system with a 1.2ghz atom dual core, and 2gigs of ram is more than enough--and i am doing more audio processing than your standard system(i could deffinitly downgrade to 1gb ram)

hailrazer · 09-11-2009, 09:22 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by soundman98

i honestly just do not see a reason to build a super powerful computer for a car-- my system with a 1.2ghz atom dual core, and 2gigs of ram is more than enough--and i am doing more audio processing than your standard system(i could deffinitly downgrade to 1gb ram)

Blu-Ray...... All the movies I buy now are Blu-Ray. Having a Blu-Ray capable Carputer means I don't have to spend an extra $18 per movie buying a Dvd version for the car. That adds up quickly , so spending an extra $150-$200 on a beefier carputer more than pays for itself after buying 50 movies a year.

kross · 09-11-2009, 03:30 PM

ION boards (Atom CPU + NVIDIA 9300 GPU) can play Blu-Ray fine.

hailrazer · 09-11-2009, 03:38 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by kross

ION boards (Atom CPU + NVIDIA 9300 GPU) can play Blu-Ray fine.

Yes they can what's your point?

kross · 09-11-2009, 03:50 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by hailrazer

Yes they can what's your point?

You said you need a beefier computer to play Blu-Ray, I was pointing out that isn't necessary.

hexxamillion · 09-12-2009, 06:30 AM

I was reading the replies in this thread and they all have valid points. So here are my thoughts:

Regarding: RAID 1 with 2 500 gig drives

What kind of data do you plan on storing for your CarPC because 500GB would be a heck of a lot of MP3's? I think this is way more than you need even if you added avi/divx which would not need to be huge filesizes due to the small monitor and environment being used compared to your home TV or monitor.

Regarding: 4 gigs of ram, quad core possible and special fan

Now...unless if you are planning on installing a gaming system environment then 4GB Ram and Quad Core may also be way more than you really need.

Your CarPC environment can be as complex and unique as you want it to be..which is why these projects are so fun. But one common factor is trying to keep power consumption minimal and system lightweight as possible.

Regarding: As many USB ports as possible

The MP3Car store has some nice accessory and components which happen to include USB ports you can attach to the mobo, which helps prevent from using usb hubs- http://store.mp3car.com/USB_Header_E..._p/cbl-059.htm

You can also mod out those automotive components that you may or may not use such as the Cigarette lighter port. I replaced my cigarette lighter port with a USB port which can also be found at the MP3Car store- http://store.mp3car.com/Automotive_M..._p/com-040.htm

So my conclusion is that if you are working with that much diggidy doh to build your system I would focus some of that on the monitor and other component/accessory hookups because your PC itself can do a lot without spending alot on it and still be a lightweight environment.

STZ · 09-13-2009, 03:04 PM

This post didn't come up and should be molded into my other one.

The PC is going into a boat and is going to be running MAXSEA.

hexxamillion · 09-13-2009, 07:50 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by STZ

This post didn't come up and should be molded into my other one.

The PC is going into a boat and is going to be running MAXSEA.

Well in that case if its gonna be in a boat then I say go all out. That's cool. You could even include some solar applications to your project.

XRTHIS · 09-13-2009, 08:56 PM

Hey Dude You Don't Need To Blow Heaps To Get A Good Car PC!

This setup cost me about $600 for Cables Connectors and 4 - 5 Days on it solid...

This is my setup and i just finished it yesterday and she runs Perfect.

Mother Board
7" Monitor
RAM
Case

Here Are Some Photo's Of My Setup:

STZ · 09-14-2009, 09:09 PM

these are the recommended specs of the program

Processor: 32 bits (x86) 2 GHz cadenced (Core Duo)
RAM Memory: 2 GB
Hard Disk Capacity: 120 GB
Video Card: DirectX 9 (WDDM driver, Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel); minimum graphic memory :
MaxSea Navigator : 256 MB
MaxSea Explorer : 512 MB for NavNet3D radar display
Screen Settings: 1024 X 768 / 32-bits
CD/DVD - ROM Drive 24X recommended for MaxSea Installation
Operating System : Windows XP x32 SP2 or Windows VISTA 32 capable / Windows VISTA 32 Prenium Ready Computers.
Used Ports : USB / Serial
Network Ethernet 10/100 Mbits connection Base-T

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