What exactly do you think I would have to do in order to power an full computer in trunk I was thinking of running it off my amp with a decent AC to DC? Im not sure if any one wants the details on the project so I left it out.


"boobs now with Riboflabin"

Depends on the amount of power the computer needs. http://www.mini-itx.com/ Is a pretty good source for mitx motherboards and custom compact computer design. The easiest thing (and cheapest) to do is just get a power inverter that can handle around 300 watts rms (Walmart is pretty cheap) and get a < 300 watt power supply. 300 watts should run most any desktop pc. You can get dc-dc power suplies and I believe most are around 150 watts, should be enough to power an epia board with built in sound and video, 1 hd and an optical drive or so.


Have you already built the pc or are you planning on building it? There is more to it than this really but this is the basics. If you want more technical info let me know.


BTW, I really like your sig, reminds me of my cat every time I see it.


03 Cavalier LS
Ecotec 5 Speed

i want details of the system

Ok so im in computer science course and am doing this for a project in my next semester. although i will be running a custom linux setup that my group will program and a custom front end software that will allow me to control everything with my existing sony remote or by touchscreen. i have a few thoughts for you.

a) go for either a mini-itx or a nano-itx board
- they use less power
- take up less space
- the nano-itx board can be placed in the stock radio slot without much mods to the hole

b) for the power supply go with an Opus power supply (search on google)
- this is a DC to DC power supply which means no need for a messy converter which will also save room
- it comes with i believe a 140 watts and if that is not enough you can also run dual power supplies
- its cheaper than a regular power supply and inverter

c) go with a touchscreen it will be well worth the extra cash

d) as for hd they are gonna fail eventually but a regular one is cheaper and lasts just about as long so i would pick up a regular 60-80 gig drive

e) optical drives arent needed a lot cause of the invention of USB keys

so thats all i can think of right now but if you need any other info let me know




Whats up people?

about the opus they will automatically control the computer shutdown like 2 mins after you shut off your car


Whats up people?

WOW thats why I love this site, ok on to business.


heres the deal I plan for now to drop an off the shelf tower in the trunk. basic dell minitower. at first I was thinking of running a stratight converter from an amp but the power supply idea sounds like a good one. the problem is, is what should I hook the power supply up to, or are you suggeting that it should get powered by an outside inlet? also I alredy have two monitors with svideo in and rca for sound so those will have two be the outputs. as things start to work out ( the base model with everything else works ) I will slowly start to upgrade the system new tower, new card new cooling system........ which brings me to my next question will the fans be able to do their job in the hot ass heat.


"boobs now with Riboflabin"

ok let me ask you why you want a regular case in the trunk???
what you are suggesting will work but its not the best solution.
see the board you are talking about is either ATX or microATX motherboard
which take a lot of power. I would strongly suggest you take a look at
this it is a mini itx board. It includes built in video and audio and you will not need
a lot of fans maybe 1 at most. You may want to upgrade sound cards depending on
if you go headunitless or not. as for graphis well you are probly going with a 7" moniter
best so you really wont need a high end graphics card.

the board im going with is this which isnt the fast or most powerful computer but hey are you really going to need that much power. at most your going to be listening to music/playing movie/gps navigation right?

only down side to these small boards is that ram is expensive cause you need SODIMM cause of the space requirements.

yeah i wouldnt advise a full out tower cause you would be better to just put it in a custom metal case that is totally vented and covered with screen and then put it under you passenger seat or glove box or something. the reason for this is cause you probly have subs in you trunk and I can see that you may have some serious vibration problems if you stick a computer next to some subs and then crank the subs.


Whats up people?

for your power supply connect the dc-dc power supply directly to the battery but make sure you have an inline fuse!!!

otherwise you could have problems


Whats up people?

ok Lets try and settle this hear becuse the information being posted is not only going to be used in a report im doing for school. (don't worry you wont be quoted unless you want to )

starting off the minitower you plan on useing I will read over it again but does it come with everything I need besides a power supply and drives and HD.

the only reason I was going to buy an off the shelf was for the price but I was looking at computergates deals on mother boards and there not bad but im am worried about the full cost of piceing them together. and finnaly


whats with the buying sitiuation? I cant get it on that site but if I go to another one how do I know that I will be getting everything


"boobs now with Riboflabin"

first off what do you want your computer to do?
second are you going to be going headunit less?


Whats up people?

Sweet, good to see more people on here interested in carputers. Maybe there were before, but I never walked into audio/ electronics forum much. I just got my mini-itx motherboard in my car with an M1 ATX power supply. its 90watts, and works just fine with my setup. I mean, I dont need to be working with photoshop, or anything like that in the car.

check out
http://www.logicsupply.com
also
http://www.mp3car.com

I'm not sure which dell you plan on using but I know the Compaq I was going to use has a small enough motherboard that it could be removed from the case and put in its own custom box and put in the glove box. Only downside is the Athlon it has (AMD runs hotter than Intel chips). I have not put into my car because I got a 7.2" monitor to run an S-Video signal to from video card however even at 640 x 480 resolution windows is not viewable. I'm sure some custom OS designed for these resolutions would work great, such as ones based on Linux, but to me its just not worth the configuration headaches. Windows is so much easier. Install and watch it not work right

Another thing I've seen around is people who get old laptops with working keyboard, mo-board,etc but the screen is damaged and non functional and they rig these to LCD screens. (Ebay) This way you have an already built computer designed for travel, ie bumps, compact spaces that is ready to go. Of course you have to know what you are looking for and even then you might not be able to get it working if parts are not available or cheap enough.

I would say get an old desktop, looks for low profile desktops (not towers), they were and still are made by companies such as dell and they have relatively small cases (12" X 12" or so). get something with a 933 PIII or so if you are just doing music & video. If you find the right one it should fit under a seat or in trunk to the side.

Theres also a vent in your trunk on the passenger side behind the carpet near the taillight. There is on my 03. Maybe rig up some kind of filtered air hose from under car to cool computer off.




03 Cavalier LS
Ecotec 5 Speed

Well, I'll put in my 2 cents b/c I'm currently working on my own carputer set-up.

I have an old Compaq Presario 715US laptop, it works as well as Compaq can, and it was sitting around doing nothing b/c I got a slightly newer Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 through work. I decided the Compaq would be installed in the Cav. Here's a pic of the 14.1" screen (only 1024x768 max res tho )



The surround piece used to be silver, I painted it a custom color, the headunit face (to be installed in headliner) is painted the same color Sorry for the crappy pic quality, a silver muffler isn't the best background, heh



As for where's the monitor going... I'm still debating between headliner (drop-down) or in-dash (needs a whole new lower dash to be built...) I've already cut the headliner, but I may switch to in-dash and have it open like a door, w/ the h/u and HVAC behind it

www.mp3car.com will give you all the info you need

I could sell you mine if you're interested. Comes with everything, works perfectly, etc.

BigDaddy98 wrote: Only downside is the Athlon it has (AMD runs hotter than Intel chips). I have not put into my car because I got a 7.2" monitor to run an S-Video signal to from video card however even at 640 x 480 resolution windows is not viewable. I'm sure some custom OS designed for these resolutions would work great, such as ones based on Linux, but to me its just not worth the configuration headaches. Windows is so much easier. Install and watch it not work right

um, you've obviously never used a Prescott... those get EXTREMELY hot. The Athlon will be fine as long as you get a nice copper heatsink and a thermally controlled fan. Make sure to put some arctic silver 5 between the heatsink and the cpu.

also, windows will work in 640 x 480, but you have to boot in to VGA mode by pressing the F8 key just after you see the bios screen.

Y not just get a cheap shuttle and plant that in the trunk

I never said you couldn't run an Athlon in a car, I just meant on the whole AMD chips run hotter that Intel Chips on the whole.

Also I know you can view windows in 640x480. I meant that I would reccomend getting a VGA monitor and not trying to use an NTSC monitor on an S-Video hook up as you can't read the text. I did manage to get my card (GeForce 6800 GT) to output at some really wierd resolutions like 400 x 500 or something (Not over VGA but on video out) and I could read it but then the start menu takes up half the screen. Could turn it off and us some custom software or something I suppose to control everything.

Also if you are on a budget and aren't worried about space or electrical effieciency I believe it would be cheaper to buy a power inverter and an Uninteruptible Power Supply.
This can be used to power down your computer on car turn off and will filter the electrical current from car. This is more so if you plan on needing a lot of power. Those 150 watt opus supplys are around $180. And 90 watts are $80 and up. 90 watts is roughly (give or take 20 watts) the draw of a mid power laptop at max power (A mid level pc designed to use the minimum of power). I know mine draws 150 watts on ac power and 100 watts on battery power, but then it also could probably suck a car battery dry in an hour or 2.


And I believe the maximum die temp on most processors (I.E. it melts) is ~170 degrees F. or so. My 3000+xp runs at about 40 degrees hotter than ambient air temp with just a pretty lame fan and heat sink. So unless you live in the desert where its 120 degrees, you should be okay. Your car can get up to 130-140 when in the sun on a very hot day but when you get in and turn on air or open windows it will cool fairly quickly and should be fine. You can check on intel and amd websites for max cpu die temps to see how hot they can get. I wouldn't run a chip to that temp, but use it as a guideline. Get a themometer that shows cpu temp and put somewhere visible or have an audible alarm or auto shutdown setup.


03 Cavalier LS
Ecotec 5 Speed