Building a mini computer in my car

[doyletr]

So I am thinking about building a mini computer in my car and hook it up to some small lcd touch screen on the dash. The mini-itx computers would be perfect for this. What do you guys think?

http://www.mini-box.com/KIT-M350-INTEL-DH61AG-19V-160W

That kit plus a cpu. I already have the hard drive and ram from an old laptop. Would be looking at ~$300.

Edited January 6, 2012 by doyletr

[IBleedMusick]

How big of a hard drive and how much ram would you be running to it? Will the screen be touch screen or will be a trackpad keyboard set up?

[Ladybridgeport]

How big of a hard drive and how much ram would you be running to it? Will the screen be touch screen or will be a trackpad keyboard set up?

I'm doing that to my monte carlo with a 10" touchscreen. Anything smaller would be a bit nerve racking to try to be accurate with the touchscreen. Get a solid state hard drive so vibration and bumbs don't mess things up. I got a USB GPS antenna so I have nav with it. My motherboard has fiber optic output and my sound processor has fiber optic input so I'll have virtually pure signal. I'm going to have multiple hard drives for my music and copy from CD to wav format. I also am using a fusion brain and removing my heater controls integrating them to my computer. I could go to the extent of USB bluetooth and stream my music from a phone. Later I may add a second computer and replace my cluster gauge with 7" LCD or touch screens.

This is what I bought: 619.28 with shipping

From MP3car.com

1. COM-102 Ultra Slim External Optical Drive Enclosure USB 2.0 for Slimline SATA Drives $15.99

2. MON-104 Lilliput 10.1 Inch USB Touch Screen UM-1010/C/T $229.99

3. COM-133 Fusion Brain Version 6 $69.95

4. ADT-011 4-Port USB Hub USB-MH20-GRY $5.99 (needs power adapter)

5. SOF-022 Centrafuse Auto Navigation Edition for North America $124.99

6. PWR-023 Mp3Car DSATX 220 Watt Automotive Power Supply (note: needs ATX 20 Pin TO 24 Pin Female to Male Power Adapter Cable) $159.99

6a. ATX 20 Pin TO 24 Pin Female to Male Power Adapter Cable $2.95 on ebay

The rest I bought from buy.com: $364.41 with shipping

7. ASUS AT5IONT-I Desktop Motherboard - Intel - Socket BGA-559 - Mini ITX - 1 x Processor Support - 4 G

8. Kingston ValueRAM KVR800D3S8S6/2G RAM Module - 2 GB (1 x 2 GB) - DDR3 SDRAM - 800 MHz DDR3-800/PC3-6

9. Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CT040G3 40GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

10. PLDS DC-8A2SH Internal DVD-Writer - OEM Pack - Black - DVD-RAM/±R/±RW Support - 8x Read/8x Write/8x

Ituner Networks Corporation Mini itx case and accys: $60.21 with shipping

11. 1 M350 Universal Mini-ITX enclosure $39.95

12. 2 DF124010BM FANS Top Motor 40x40x10mm $5.98

13. 1 M350-HDD Brackets $1.95

other things I bought were anti-static gloves and grounding strap. Also 2 pin cable for computer led status and reset button so I can monitor and reset at the dash with computer in trunk. Some FLAT CAT6 wire, which is good 26AWG wire for fusion brain relay switching. I used nino micro 12v relays 1/2" in size.

From carMP3.com:

14.COM-111 Joycon EX Steering Wheel Control PC Interface $47.34 with shipping

To save on power because my power supply is small and don't want to overload CPU:

15. 5 Volt 2 Amp Switching Power Supply Item # d-400116 I don't remember the site, but this is on the paypal invoice [email protected]

Edited January 6, 2012 by Ladybridgeport

[doyletr]

I got a 320gb HD and 4gb ram. I suppose sometime I would want to look into SSD's though because like Ladybridgeport said, vibrations and bumps could mess stuff up. I would have to go touch screen for sure otherwise I would get way too distracted while driving lol

Edited January 6, 2012 by doyletr

[inm]

Just make sure the RAM is the right pin type or else it won't work.

And make sure you get an 1155 socket Processor, that's what the board takes.

[AmericanLegend]

Man just install a cheap android tablet in there and call it a day.