Carputer 101

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

For the money, there are better cards out there like Defiler said. Although there is nothing wrong with Creative.

The first step in choosing a sound card is knowing what you need it to do. BitPerfect (RedGTI knows all about this) isn't supported by all cards, as SPDIF and other similar features isn't supported on all cards. Sometimes external USB cards are favorable to internal PCI cards since they are less prone to picking up noise from the computer. There is a lot to consider when selecting a sound card.

 

[.::DuD3::. 10+ year member]

quick question, if i wanted to use an external harddrive for an old computer that i'm going to use, would all the songs that are stored on the hd still integrate with the frontend? im just thinking, would the songs if i have them in windows media player for example, would they stay in windows media player, or would i have to manually go into the external harddrive to listen to them? you know how frontends allow you to access all your music and all.

 

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

All frontends work differently. The one I use is called RoadRunner and it just has a configuration file where you can change all of the settings. It just asks you to select a folder where all your music is stored and then uses that as the default starting directory whenever you hit browse.

 

[.::DuD3::. 10+ year member]

All frontends work differently. The one I use is called RoadRunner and it just has a configuration file where you can change all of the settings. It just asks you to select a folder where all your music is stored and then uses that as the default starting directory whenever you hit browse.

ok cool. yeah i'm definately going to try out road runner first, i was just puzzled on how it knows to access all your music. i guess once i plug in the external hd everything will load right up.

 

[.::DuD3::. 10+ year member]

what boards do you all use? i'm looking at the via epia m10000 only because that seems like the popular make that everyone uses over at mp3car.com. anyone use anything else?

 

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

I'm using the M1000. It's a good solid board, not very powerful, but it gets the job done. I can run music, video, gps, basic windows games, and stuff just fine, even GPS with music in the background, but it uses quite a bit of processor power. If you plan on doing anything more than that I would suggest a more powerful board.

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

i bought the m10000 because that was the only board they really had out last year lol

 

[DragonCub 10+ year member]

i bought the m10000 because that was the only board they really had out last year lol

no it wasn't.

You don't have to buy a Epia board, I actually suggest against it.

I myself use an Asus board with a Mobile Athlon processor, very little power usage with great speed/power. 100x better then any Epia board/processor combo ever. Why limit yourself with those board. If you wanna do just the basic then its fine. But if your gonna use RR and some of the flash skins the M10000 won't handle it well. Plus I can upgrade the processor in the future and it runs 800x480 resolution, (native resolution of most 7" screens) without any problems.

 

[pwnt by pat 10+ year member]

spot on. I tried the CL10000 (more "generic" version of the m10000 which because it's stripped down a little, it is a little bit fater) and it still ******. I have a amd geode board now. Much faster //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

no it wasn't. You don't have to buy a Epia board, I actually suggest against it.

I myself use an Asus board with a Mobile Athlon processor, very little power usage with great speed/power. 100x better then any Epia board/processor combo ever. Why limit yourself with those board. If you wanna do just the basic then its fine. But if your gonna use RR and some of the flash skins the M10000 won't handle it well. Plus I can upgrade the processor in the future and it runs 800x480 resolution, (native resolution of most 7" screens) without any problems.

i originaly bought the mobo for a custom computer project i was doing for school. i needed a small mobo. I didnt know the amd mobile existed back then. was it more expensive than an epia?

 

[prochobo 10+ year member]

spot on. I tried the CL10000 (more "generic" version of the m10000 which because it's stripped down a little, it is a little bit fater) and it still ******. I have a amd geode board now. Much faster //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Geode FTW! I bought one as well instead of an Epia. I was going to go the mATX route, but it was too big for my car.

 

[Defiler 10+ year member]

I'm running a mATX board with an AMD Athlon XP-M 2600+ clocked down a little so it draws less power. I agree with what was stated above, if you have the space go with a mATX and a mobile proc whether it be AMD or Intel. You have more options available for upgrades and it will probably be the same price or less, but with more power.

 

[.::DuD3::. 10+ year member]

im checking out some of these micro atx boards on newegg, but it doesn't show any dimensions. i need this setup to fit in my center console, i dont know the exact dimensions, but maybe 8x11x8.

 

[.::DuD3::. 10+ year member]

also you dont happen to have the dimensions of just the screen do you? i'm wondering if i can squeeze this in my dash.

 

[DragonCub 10+ year member]

im checking out some of these micro atx boards on newegg, but it doesn't show any dimensions. i need this setup to fit in my center console, i dont know the exact dimensions, but maybe 8x11x8.

http://www.formfactors.org/developer%5Cspecs%5Cmatxspe1.2.pdf

also you dont happen to have the dimensions of just the screen do you? i'm wondering if i can squeeze this in my dash.

check mp3car.com. I know the exact dimensions are listed there.