Originally Posted by robs06mr

So not sure if I missed it, but is this the Orbital kit on top?

Originally Posted by l2r99gst

Most front ends have settings for the time you want to switch from day to night settings, like dimmer or different screens altogether. Also, most have a dimmer slider that you can use as well.

Startup/shutdown is controlled by a 'smart' car power supply. Google m1-atx, m2-atx, m3-atx, or m4-atx. They are intelligent controllers that will gracefully shut down the computer when the inginition is switched off or they give you options for the amount of time to keep it on (say you are just stopping for gas or something) and jumper settings to actually shut it down or hibernate or stand-by or whatever you want. Also, there is a failsafe that monitors battery voltage as well so that if you choose a mode that keeps drawing power from the battery, it will automatically cut it off once the battery drops below a certain voltage, like 12V or whatever.

CarPCs have come a long way. I'm redoing mine now and may end up upgrading the MB, too. Not sure yet. Anyway, if you want to learn more, there are plenty of sites...a good one is www.mp3car.com.

Originally Posted by BoostLover99

Thanks man. Did you use a "real" MB computer mounted somewhere or did you use a laptop w/o a battery?

I have an older (but still more powerful than XP can fully utilize) Dell Core 2 Duo laptop that I want to mount under the passenger seat.

Originally Posted by Jedi_Gill

One more note.. if you want games.. I'd recommend running Mame32. Oh and make sure your system is running on a SSD Drive otherwise you'll be going through drives every 3 - 5 months. Good luck.

Originally Posted by Aman

u dont need to run ssd. it saves space and power thats about it. i have been running my pc for almost 3 year . in my audi first and now in evo. same hard drive. nothing worng with it.. buy a laptop drive and u should be fine.

Originally Posted by l2r99gst

I used a mini-itx board board with a Voom-PC case. I'm just about to upgarde my board though, since it's pretty old (VIA M10000). Probably upgrading to a Zotac ION DE.

Originally Posted by Jedi_Gill

It saves space and power..???? that's none of the reasons why I bought it.. a SSD Drive is actually about the same size as a regular hardrive. SSD stands for Solid Sate disks. Which means that it has no moving parts it's very similar to a jumpdrive. The biggest benefit is that no matter the condition outside.. Winter, Summer, Very Bumpy road.. Your drive will never skip and will have a much much lower failure rate.

Laptop hardrives spin at 5400rpm and 7200rpm. The 5400RPM are super slow but they last a bit longer.. while 72000 are fast but the won't last long especially in an Evo.

Also as an added bonus.. SSD Drives boot and have read times much faster than regular drives. Laptop's HD's aren't bad but I can guarantee you will see the music skipping from time to time or complete hard drive failure.

Originally Posted by Jedi_Gill

a SSD Drive is actually about the same size as a regular hardrive.

Originally Posted by jxs1984

i thought they're the same size as 2.5" laptop harddrive?

Originally Posted by Aman

the advantage when running car pc , ssd ( 10w max ) use less power compare to normal hd( 30w max) ( which means more amp available for ur 5v and 12v peripherals . and i haven't had a single problem with my laptop hd on car pc for 3 year and still counting. i am not against ssd. but it too pricey and i dont know if the facts that u are stating are from ur personal experience or u just read something on website and u are restating those facts. just from my experience i live ( queens and nassau county NY ) the condition of the road are worst then any part of usa. and also includes driving every day to newyork city wich is even worst then queens county. never had a problem with laptop drive. also go to mp3car.com ( hardcore car pc site ) and see how many post to find were people are having problem with hd skipping stuff. and how many people run SSD .