Alright! My first useful post after 1300 unhelpful ones!

I'm planning my car computer build right now and I'm using a full fledge PC, a 7" touchscreen, and wiring it all to an amp to put sound through the speakers. I'm more knowledgeable on the PC portion of this how to, so bare with me when I go to put it in the car.

Things to keep in mind, heat (computer can overheat, start a fire, make it uncomfortable), electricity and keeping these balanced with performance. The parts I choose will be the (IMO) best balance (bang for buck, so to speak).

To begin, I'll be building a complete computer in a box that's 10"x10"x3.5", just small enough to fit under the passenger seat. You can find the case here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811234021
[NOTE: There's several other cases that will fit, I like how this one looks]

Now since that's out of the way, I need the actual components in the computer. Since I'm using a small form factor (SFF), I need to buy the smallest and most affordable type available, which is MiniATX. The motherboard is the part of the computer that connects everything essentially, so make sure you don't skimp on it.

I chose one that has a decent video chip for video playback. You can find something that will play new games and super high def video, but it'll put a toll on your battery. Remember, the ALT only generates so much power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813500012

Next is the computers brain, the CPU. I chose the lowest power consumption one possible. Any CPU can play music and video, only reason to step up is for games and super high def media, which you don't need in a car.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116039

Now you need RAM, ram isn't really going to effect anything, and 10 bucks for a GB is an awesome deal, which is why I picked 1 GB, you can get away with 512MB. The stick I chose is half size, which helps in this small build.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134634

Lastly, is the Hard Drive. Now, I could go all out and get a Terabyte and never worry about storage, but the goal of this build is minimal. So I chose a laptop HDD with 80GB, plently of room for music (I have 33GB which is 8000 songs, so it's good) and video. Laptop hard drives are more resilient to shock and movement, so it's better to get a 2.5 inch laptop drive than a standard drive. That and they cost the same.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822116039

TOTAL AMOUNT SPENT: $214.00 USD

A fully working computer for 200 dollars shipped. Yeah, I did it.

You may need cords for the hard drive, so search for a sata cord on Newegg and its only like 3 bucks. I have about 50 so I don't need one.

If you don't have any knowledge of computers, you MAY need a disc drive. I'm just going to wire my hard drive up to my desktop and load an OS on there. I'll include a step by step for that also.

I'll be working on this next week as my parts arrive. I hope my thread becomes useful to others. I'm holding off my touchscreen until later as I want to get the computer fully working before I start to complicate this. As for the bezel, I'll be ordering from 6LITEREATER, because he's products are ALWAYS amazing, and I have no doubt it will simplify this a lot.

OPTIONAL PARTS:
If you want to make it easy and spend the extra money, here's a disc drive that will work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118018

And the cord needed for the disc drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812123197

Also, I didn't notice before, these wires are needed for the hard drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812123197
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812189005

You'll notice, the hard drive and disc drive use the same cord, because they both use that format, which is very speedy.

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I've decided on a 6 channel amp, I don't know much about amps, but Infinity is a good brand and the specs look decent for the price. If someone more knowledgeable comes in, direct me please!

Infinity Reference 5350a (Cannot post a link because of sponsor issue)

I'll use splitters to red/white (RCA) audio connectors of the onboard audio of the mother board. On board audio is actually great, no need for a sound card, unless your Batman with good hearing and you like gadgets. Here's my as of now, wiring diagram...


Hatch speakers WILL NOT be wired.

For GPS functionality, I'll be using this:
http://www.amazon.com/USGlobalSat-BU...020877&sr=8-10
Or atleast, I plan to use it. I may change my mind later, but for now, its the best thing I can find.

 

Alright, my computer parts are here so I'm starting the build... heres a size comparison for those who don't think this is small enough.



That's an average size wallet. too. Board is smaller than my hand and isn't even 2 inches high.

 

After you get all the parts, you need to assemble everything. Get the computer put together, boot it up, make sure everything works correctly to eliminate this if problems occur later.

First you need to run power wires. Run a 12 inch wire (I ran 8 gauge) off the better to a fuse or circuit breaker. After that, run the wire into the cabin. I used the little hole behind the PCM, it was enough for the 8 gauge, you may be able to run a 4 gauge, but definitely not any bigger without drilling.

The wire will come through on the passenger side, all the way to the right (looking forward), run it to under the seat. I mounted my distribution block (4 gauge to (4) 8 Gauge outputs) right at the end of the hump in the floor board. The bolts for the seat make a great ground, so sand the paint off one and sand around it for a good connection. Connect the wires on the power supply of the computer. I did NOT use the Ignition wire, instead I ran another 12v wire to a switch to turn the computer on and off manually, but still have the auto shutdown (no hard off).

Set up the amplifier, I will not go into detail here. Run wires to your speakers, I ran 14 gauge to my doors and sails. Walmart wire works great. Setup power wires to the amp.

Now, this is where YOU WILL HAVE TO DO THE ONLY CUTTING REQUIRED IN THIS INSTALL. You need to pop the bezel off, trim the bezel to fit, and you need to trim behind the radio to make the screen fit, the radio harness is at an angle, and it will not sit right unless cut, sorry.

Mount up your monitor, mine required a custom made mount, from liquid nails and plexiglass, but it works great, very sturdy. Pics can be found on page 8.

Turn the ignition or flip your switch and check to see if you get a boot. If you have trouble, post here! I'll do my best to help.

 

Very Nice set up, but you forgot 2 things.
CPU fan
heat sink thermal paste

Water cooling is an option but you have to keep the water tank outside the case, something not feasible with the limited space in fbodies.

Air cooling is a better choice.

I didn't have any heating issues when i was testing my asus mini laptop being placed under the passenger seat. I 'll be puting my mac mini to test it as well.

Hypothetically if you put the brain on the opposite to where your amp/sub is, you are still fine because it is still getting enough air like it 'd in a regular room.

 

Nah, I didn't forget. The CPU comes with one. I want to keep this as cheap as I can. The cpu CAN be passively cooled, also, but I'd rather keep a fan on it so my hardware has max life. And I know, Intel fans suck, but my goal is on budget to performance.

I'll be adding extras that can be bought for the people who want to get max performance, such as an SSD (great little device, especially for a car, but not necessary.

Oh and placement of the computer is not set, I just had planned on putting it somewhere out of the way (so under the seat). I may move it if it becomes to hard to work under there.

 

sounds good, i am running an 8" touch screen in mine right now, what software are you going to run? You will need a good frontend for it, there are some free ones and others that you pay for, like street deck or centrafuse, but they integrate the gps into the touchscreen. The 8" is great but i have a 10" screen that i just have to fab up and then that will be installed.

 

I'm going to use Windows 7, since it's free right now. It has Media Center which works great with touchscreens. Plus with just windows, I can get a GPS reciever to hook right up via USB.

Can I get a pic of the 8" for reference? I might step up an inch, trying to fill the bezel out more.

 

Are you going to mount it potrait position and remove the HVAC?

Very intersted in pics.

 

yes i removed the hvac, heres a pic of the bezel i made out of the bezel for the monitor and the stock t/a radio bezel, i intended to wrap it in leather but i got a good deal on the 10" i stopped working on the 8" and installed it without wrapping it in leather. I think what i am going to end up having to do is pull the whole dash out to be able to install the 10", for what i want to do with it anyway.

 

Damn thats a big screen. It's like a Computer that drives, rather than a car with a computer. Lol.

 

You order the 7" yet? Im going to order a 8.4" widescreen which should fit if i lower the hvac some (would sell screen before relocating). transambandit kept the buttons in but thats not necessary, this one comes with a remote (which i shouldnt need either, and might not go through the bezel anyways). I'll probably start fitting one within a month. If you wont be done by then I can let you know how it goes as an option.

 

Nah, I'm ordering it this week, though. I considered a larger screen, but I don't really see it necessary for me, because I won't do much else besides run music (and maybe an emulator) through it. But definitely keep us posted on it, I like to see what other people do with these.

 

heres a go write up on carpc.https://ls1tech.com/forums/appearanc...lled-pics.html

 

I read that a while ago. It inspired me to do this. I'm going for a much cheaper and smaller form factor and trying to make it as easy to replicate as possible.

I may have this kit sold through a sponsor is there is enough interest.

 

what screen are you going to use? ive been looking for good TFT screens for a while

 

ah. i eat in the car with a friend a lot so we'd watch tv shows on it. also for the stand out wow factor since a 7" screen is fairly normal in a car these days.

 

yea me too, ever since i saw that i wanted to do a carpc, for me i have more options on screen size because i got ride of my hvac, since my a/c compressor went out, but i think when i take my dash out i will re-locate the hvac controls to the glove box.

 

You may have done better with a faster dual core CPU or at least a non-celeron. Celerons have NO power management on them so they run full speed constantly. A low speed intel Core 2 Duo or an AMD Athlon X2 have speedstep which runs the CPU at less than max frequency when idle. This drops power consumption and heat considerably. A celeron can't do that. Just look at laptops, a laptop with a 1.6GHz celeron usually has lower battery life than if you had the 2GHz Core 2 simply because it can reduce power consumption at idle. Also, it would give more performance when needed to help things run a bit quicker and smoother.

I may have gone with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103298
Uses next to nothing at idle since it drops to about 1GHz when not too busy.

Just something to note perhaps.

 

^ thats way overkill though... honestly the fastest and cheapest way is laptop. I bought a used laptop with screen that doesnt work off ebay for $70 shipped, and its got a 2.4Ghz pentium m which is more than enough. and since it uses a battery it can stay in standby mode, not the super lag of hibernate. compared to an amp, computers usually dont take too much power, though as for the heat thing it could be a problem under our car seats which are very low.

EDIT:

also note that the more ram you have, the slower the boot from hibernate.

and with divx pro converter, you can convert video files to mkv which vlc and media player classic can read. i turned a 20ish minute of a tv show from the good quality avi file that was about 175mb to just about 80, with absolutely no loss in quality of picture or sound. its like i have a much larger hard drive now. so my 40 gig hard drive for my carputer should be enough considering all office episodes combined (37 hours of video) is like 8.5 gigs, and i dont have nearly as much music as you lol. so the 80 should be fine and you can buy pro if it starts to get kinda low.

 

I chose 775 because you can use also any Intel chip with that socket. No one is tethered. I'm going to down clock the CPU.

Besides, when you use Windows Media Center on a Core 2, the CPU revs back up to full speed. Also does that for video.