Will this work in my Brava? Picture included :)

jellymonster · 05-10-2009, 04:48 PM

Hi
I want to install my first 'carputer' into my brava. Just wondering if this will work.

This is what I currently have for the project:
- GA-8S661FXM-775 motherboard (with integrated GPU, Sound card and network card).
- 512MB Ram in motherboard.
- Pentium 4 630 cpu.
- 20GB 3.5" IDE HDD (will upgrade when working, need to know if I need some sort of anti-shake hdd?)

These are what I will be buying:
- M4-ATX 250W car PSU.
- 7" touch screen monitor.

Here is how I plan to mount and wire the PC done in paint

:

So, in english, power cable is going from the battery to the PSU in the trunk. Ignition also (forgot in picture) going to PSU/motherboard. Audio going from motherboard straight to amp. A 12V power cable going from PSU to power the monitor. VGA cable going from trunk to monitor. 2XUSB leads going from trunk to dash, one for touch screen. 3XLED leads going from trunk to dash for PSU power, motherboard power and hdd activity.

I don't think I've left anything out, if I have please tell me. Also any tips will be much appreciated.

Thanks
JM

Ramb0_Command0 · 05-11-2009, 12:38 PM

This should probably be moved to the proposed setup section.

But yea that looks pretty good, I don't see anything wrong with it, as long as the psu will power that mobo/cpu you have there. Pentium 4s are pretty power hungry. You might want to look into that. Otherwise, the wiring and setup looks good.

jellymonster · 05-12-2009, 03:52 AM

o dear, now you got me worrying

.

I've been looking around (haven't found exact power but I think this is close) and apparently the P4 630 CPU uses about 87-117W or something :S. Motherboard about 30W, 7W per 128MB RAM so 28W, 10W for monitor, say 5W for hdd, so all together = 190W at max load when the M2-ATX max's at 160W. Then it would add more if I plug things into USB or add PCI cards.
Could I underclock my CPU or does anyone know a cheap, less power hungry CPU that would work? Or a more powerful car PSU, I've looked, max I've found is 220W but double the price.
Thanks
JM

Ramb0_Command0 · 05-12-2009, 09:56 AM

If you haven't bought the motherboard yet you could get an Intel atom based motherboard, or a Via c7 based motherboard. They are decently fast, fast enough for car computing, and are a smaller form factor and will easily meet your power requirements. As far as underclocking goes, you might be able to it all depends on what the motherboard will let you do.

You could also look into getting a more powerful psu like the M4-ATX 250W or the mp3car DSATX 220W either of those will probably be able to handle what you have. The price might seem high but its probably cheaper than buying all new components.

On the bright side, its better to figure this stuff out now though.

Edit look here for some good info on power supplies and power requirements.