2k1Toaster

Very serious. Many an AMD fanboy have turned to Intel recently too. Even the newest Quad cores from AMD fall short of Intel's older cheaper quad core big time. The race is not even close anymore.

Not sure where you are getting your cache numbers... AMDs have 1Mb on the high end per core (total of 2mb) while most have 512kb per core (total 1mb). All intel c2d, have 2mb L2, and the higher ones have 4mb. Intels new 6 core processor due out late this year has 16Mb of cache.

Intel wins hands down.









Ok, the only AMD winner:


Now that is very understandable. The read is large, and AMD has a built in memory controller. Intel uses offchip memory controller. But still 1 test at memory reading and only for large access in short time does it even make a difference. For smaller reads, Intel blows AMD away big time again...


Notice the next ones have time in them, so less is better.


















The way the magnetic field is put on the platter. Vertical (or perpindicular) allows more data in the same space. Therefore easier for more data to be corrupted with each time the head smacks into the platters.







The HD will crash no matter what. Both will. The media will die before the others though because of above. Make them partitions and it will be safe enough. Keep the second drive as a clone in your glovebox for a quickswap spare if you are truly worried.

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mrbean_phillip

and


I have been in the top20 3dMark Hall of Fame many times over, and the best you can buy (been like this the last 2 years) is the Intel Core 2 Duos - get a T7300/T7500 mobile chip, and let's talk about cache then again. They vary from 2M-4M L2 cache....Remember, there's a huge variety of these cpu's - get the one I mentioned above, anything from 1.83gig+ will be way more than ample, with very low power consumption.

As I mentioned earlier, I stand by my <250W specs.

I use Commell LV-677, 2gig Merom dual-core cpy, 2gig ram, 1x slimline multiburner, 2x Seagate 7200rpm 120Gig 2.5" drives, and 1x 4gig CF 233x - all running reliably on 160W M2-ATX - not one freeze/reset in over a year.

So.....hope you take the good advice, no need to go AMD at this point in time, and very good reason to go Intel, specifically mobile (laptop) cpu-based setup.

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Tumeski

Its true that new Intel kick AMD's *** pretty hard... I wouldnt go with 6000 series, i would go straight to the new ones E8200-E8500... theyre really price-quality efficient, i got mine under 130eur (E8200). And i think the best to buy from Intel atm is E8400... thats 3ghz clock at standard and it overclocks to 4ghz at basic cooling very nicely

Its nice to see people making power machines in their cars... if i have few at home/office then why not in my car :P who cares to wait for boots

2k1Toaster

I wouldnt use the desktop CPU in the car if you are planning to run lots of other stuff too, but a desktop Intel is better than a desktop AMD anyday.

And I have seen the 3.0Ghz overclocked to 4.1Ghz using the stock cooler perfectly stable. !!!

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DarquePervert

There's a reason people don't setup 7.1 in a vehicle. You wouldn't notice, so al that additional processing, coding, decoding and effort is for naught, IMHO.
I'm not saying DON'T do it. I'm saying the overwhelming majority won't notice a difference in a vehicle install and the majority of the time, the additional encoding won't even be used. Sorry, but music files aren't encoded in surround sound.


Food for thought. At least you're thinking about the big picture with this project. That's a good thing.


The cheap little hubs in your diagram don't provide power to USB devices. Some devices don't need power, and will work just fine. Other devices draw power on the USB connection and unpowered hubs will cause unreliability, particularly at startup/shutdown.



Is that all? Pfft. I have about 5 times that many music files. Big deal.
Honestly, how many movies do you plan on having avaialble in your ride at any given time?

Here's an idea that some have adopted....
Use an external hard drive. you can get an enclosure and put in as big a HDD as you want. Keep your movies on that. You can move movies on/off as you desire.
Travelling with the kids? load it up with Disney flicks and Hanna Montana.
Showing your ride off? Load it up with music videos!
Taking your wife up to "the point"? Load it up with porn or chick flicks or whatever.

The idea being that a portable storage unit can be removed from the car and loaded up with whatever you want in the house.

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mrbean_phillip

Good input as always, DarquePervert

Should help our freind on is way.....it makes sense using USB HD for movies, sooooo easy to take out and delete/reload with new files.

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BillyGalbreath

Thanks for all the info guys! This is wonderful!

Decided to go Intel - found me a nice proc and a sweet mobo! Mobo has 10 (TEN) USB 2.0 ports!!! So, no need to use USB hubs anymore!

I also decided to go DC-DC (looking in the mp3car.com store I found a 320 watt Opus!) instead of using an inverter.

I've uploaded my latest mockup (#6) to get ya'lls opinions on it. Plus, if anything seems a bit odd/weird/wrong/bad about something on it, ya'll would be the ones to know!

Thanks again everyone!

Attached Images

 

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2k1Toaster

Suggestions/Questions:

1) I dont know what that heatsink looking thing is between the alternator and batteries, but I hope it is an isolator.

2) That FM tuner will more than likely suck. Not meant to be used while on the move. Spring for a HQCT or just get sat. radio, it is better anyways.

3) That wifi is the netgears one right? I got one of them off of w00t.com a while ago and it sucks. The drivers are a mess. The hardware works ok under linux, but under windows there drivers screw with the welcome screen and do funky things. Steer clear of it.

4) I see you have a DVD drive there... That's what I thought when I got my carPC in and I still have my slot load slim dvd drive. 2 of them since I broke one molding it in at $90 a pop plus shipping. Never use it. Think how often you want to put a cd/dvd in when you have all your movies and songs on the harddrive to begin with, and when you dont it is easier to wifi sync than to burn a disk and transfer leaving you with a transfer coaster afterwards or a slow writing RW disk. The only time you would use it is when a friend has some music... But now think how many people still use portable CD players. Nobody. Everyone even trailer trash have mp3 players usually an ip00d to just plug in, so route a USB port upfront, and then they can plug in and if you choose a good frontend like RoadRunner it will show up as an external drive and you can play it.

5) The LCD screen is good, but if you are going all out, you may want to look at transflective options. The only part that you interface with all day is the screen, might as well make it as powerful as the computer.

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BillyGalbreath

lol! Yeah, its an isolator. I still havent looked into them too much and needed an image for my mockup so I found that one on google. Looked interesting, so I used it. Now, if thats what they look like or not, I have not a clue...


I'm not willing to pay for sat. radio subscription. Seems pointless with the amount of mp3s I'll be carrying around. As for FM, I'd like to find an HD receiver but havent found one yet. This one I found and it seemed nice, but I was mostly looking at price on it hehe! I'll have to look into HQCT, for sure!


I already own it. I've had it for years, actually. I rather like this one because I can run it natively on Linux (prism) and sniff out WEP keys with it. Nothing else fancy about it, but I really don't need anything fancy either. It probably wont get used very much seeing as I'll be using my Voyager via bluetooth to get on Verizon's EVDO network.


Too true! Something to definitely think about.


Idk. I looked at the transflective screen in the mp3car.com store and its a bit pricey. If I was to get it, it would be about 50% my project cost. Seems kinda steep for right now. Plans might change before I purchase/build. It's always on my mind though, like a thorn.

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galvitron

Look on ebay for a new Visteon HD receiver. I payed $30 for mine...

I've had great results with it using the "Mitch cable".

BTW, that motherboard looks like a powerhouse. Make sure to post some pics of your build when you're ready!

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Tumeski

Damn that's sweet setup, i would still say go with Intel Core Duo E8400 (if its available at your country/region whatev). It will boost your setup even futher, with really no cost. CPU speed is always OK and the E8400/E8200 consumes less power than E6750, actually its the best thing about E8000 series... and of course its 45nm techincs and haves better L2 cache.

And the DVD drive is pretty useless. Just insert regular DVD somewhere in trunk (or wherever ur setting ur comp at).

Waiting for you to get that stuff together GL HF!

BillyGalbreath

Sweet deal, guys! This is really starting to come together

Here is mockup #7.

Notice there are a few changes.

Firstly, and most importantly, I have removed the USB FM receiver, the DVD drive, & the 400 watt 4Ch amp. In their place I have decided to keep my current head receiver unit. This will act as an amp for my 4 front speakers, an HD radio, and a CD player. The computer will be directing sound directly into the receiver's external input jack. The only downside to this is that I will lose my 7.1 surround sound capabilities (even if only for compatible DVD movies), but this is something I can live with.

Other worthy notes are the faster proc (thanks, Tumeski for pointing out the lack of price difference :P) and the addition of ground/negative wiring added to the diagram.

Estimated price tag for this is roughly $2000 & I have officially set my carputer budget at $2500 to compensate for unseen circumstances.

Attached Images

 

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krnpimpsta

Hey, read through most of this thread and skimmed towards the end. Here are my comments:

1) You probably will want to use external powered USB hubs, even if you have 10 USB ports. I have an Opus 320W. I have a desktop rig that pulls about 250W (AMD64 3500+ with a Radeon X850 XT). My computer would not post sometimes due to excessive power draw on the +5V rail. The thing is, most desktop computers supply an extra 10A or so to the 5V rail, but the Opus320W puts out up to 15A on 3.3V/5V/12V. This means that all your 5V USB devices will eat up that rail pretty quickly. The only way I've gotten my USB devices (about 10) to work properly is by offloading them to 3 hubs. One of the hubs is connected to another hub, so only two hubs are connected to my system. I did this to minimize current draw from my Opus.. I have external 5V sources for my hubs. Given that you're trying to implement a full desktop system as well with many USB devices, I think you will also have to go the route of powered hub + external 5V power source.

2) Nice, I'm glad to see you went with Intel. I've also been a AMD fan ever since they came out with the Athlon. But Intel has become the undisputed leader in both performance and performance per watt.

3) USB Radio: Get the Visteon or Directon HD Radio's ($50 on eBay) and use Mitchjs's $20 cable (from this forum) to plug it into your USB port. The latest version of DFX3.0 for RoadRunner supports this HD radio functionality perfectly. No headaches. HD Radio.

4) Fast processor in carpc: Not overkill at all.. Right now my old 2.2Ghz (single core) Athlon64 is struggling pretty hard to process voice commands through Dragon Naturally Speaking. I wish I had a decent intel dualcore or even quadcore... Also, having a high end (ok, mine was high end 3 generations ago) video card is nice if you want to run difficult 3d winamp visualizations (Ok, I only did it once, just because I can.) My original intent was to be able to run counterstrike, half for killing time when I have to wait in my car and half for "holy ****, you're running counterstrike on your car!" but haven't gotten around to putting a wireless mouse/mousepad in the car for that.. (touchscreen isn't the best interface for pwning noobs)

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96300NAZ

1) Transflective all the way. Why? See a regular screen in sunlight vs a transflective and you'll see why. You're dumping all this high end hardware into a pretty good gaming computer and you're going cheap on the monitor???

2) 7.1 Surround sound? Why bother? Do you have a blue ray player attached? If not, thats the only way you're going to get 7.1 surround sound. Anything else is 5.1 signal processed to emulate 7.1 surround. You stated you're doing it for bragging rights?..pshhh, thats fake 7.1 w/o a blue ray.

3) Why are you still opting for the desktop board? MSI makes great miniITX boards that will fit the T7500 core2duos. Added with the pci-e x16 you can upgrade the video card anytime a new one comes out...which you cant do with the integrated nvidia. Also, the desktop E series core2duos draw alot more power than the T series mobile chips...why? Because they have a constant 120vac source and not a laptop battery.

4) You're putting all that money into a system that has potential and you are going to use a JVC HU? why not use RCA's and control the sound directly through your Front end. If you're adding amplifiers to drive your components and subs, why would you need a HU to drive the 4 fronts? The signal processing will be off between your front and rears. Sound blaster cards have 2v output which is on par with most other HU's. Secondly, even if you were going to use a HU, why a JVC? They have one of the worst track records for performance, features, and reliability....thats why they are cheaper than the other brands. If you still insist on using a HU, alpine or eclipse. Save the money and buy a 4 chan amp for the fronts and centers...

4) Wireless keyboards and mice... Sure, wireless keyboard, but an optical? No. If you intend to do precision things such as games and design you really should get a trackball. Its just as precise and yet is stationary. Think about it, do you really want to pull a keyboard, mouse, and mouse pad out from under your seat and try to juggle it all on your lap? Trackball mice you can sit it on your console, wrap your hand around it and all you need to move is your thumb. If fragging in your fav FPS you have more movement.

I think my rant is over, hopefully you listen to some of this.

galvitron

Yeah that MSI fuzzy with the 965 chipset is a great Mini-ITX or you can go for this beast and add an E8400:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/gene...ml#post1224276

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2006 Lancer Evolution IX MR In-Dash PC Project - WIP

Planning:
[----------] 100%
Purchasing:
[----------] 100%
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