Car-PC Hardware Review 56k Users beware, Comprehensive Review

G'day ladies and gents of MEA.

Foreword:
Near the beginning of the year I decided that the idea of a fully-fledged computer in a car environment would be a great idea. I set out on a mission to learn about ways and products I needed to implement such a task. I am here today reviewing what I have learnt and the products I have chosen along the way. This will be a comprehensive review of the major components that go into a Car Computer (a.k.a CarPC or Carputer) that I have had direct experience with; I will break up the review into two categories: Hardware Components, and Software components, each specific item I will be going into detail about the reason I chose the product and my experience with them. Accompanying these will be a barrage of photos, so I'm sorry for all those 56k users out there!

The objective of this review is to:

1. Review the products I have purchased on my quest for a CarPC
2. Educate (and hopefully help someone in the future) who is looking into the CarPC environment and share some of the knowledge I have gained along the way.

So let's get started then shall we!

===============================

Hardware Components:

There are many products which comprise of a computer in general, some of these components you might be familiar with; others are specific to the CarPC environment. I will be listing all the products I will be reviewing, then taking each one and reviewing them individually.

My CarPC consists of the following hardware components:

• Case: Voom2 Mini-ITX CarPC enclosure
• Power supply: M2-ATX 160w DC-DC powersupply
• Motherboard: Jetway J7F2WE2G Mini-ITX
• CPU: VIA C7 2Ghz
• RAM: 1GB Kingston Value
• HDD: 160GB Samsung 3.5"
• Optical: Pioneer 16x Slimline Slot-loading DVD-RW
• Audio: Creative Audigy 2 NX
• GPS: Globalstat BU-353
• Connectivity: Wifi-Link external USB dongle with 9dbi antenna, Bluetooth USB dongle
• Monitor & Input: Xenarc 700IDT 7" In-dash touchscreen 500NIT brightness

Now lets get reviewing shall we!

Case: Voom2 Mini-ITX CarPC enclosure

The first item I ordered for this project was the Mini-ITX case and the M2-ATX powersupply (see the following review). Before I get a barrage of questions, let me state where I got these items from, a majority of the items were mainly sourced from the United States, I have a friend over there that deals with the Mini-ITX motherboards and enclosures (for those who don't know what the mini-itx form factor is, it's a motherboard that measures 17x17cm), other hard to source items (and I know these forums don't approve!) were sourced from EBay, the rest were purchased from local computer shops.

The Case enclosure arrived in a pretty non-descript white box but with sufficient padding to keep the case and other items pretty well secured for the trip from the states. The dimensions for the case are: 210(W)mm x 265(L)mm x 66(H)mm. The instruction manual goes through the steps required to put together the system, it was a little confusing at first, but after a few reads and a little common sense everything fits in nice and snugly!

The old adage, a picture tells a thousand words come in handy here so instead of me describing the item, ill just show you!

External (Front View):





External (Rear View):



External (Front View, Faceplate off):



Internal (Top View):



Front RCA Jacks (Front View):



If you follow the manual, putting all the items in is pretty straight forward.

My opinion of the item: The case seems to be really well built, I was quite surprised at the engineering of the case, space was provided for all the items you need to put in, and everything sits in pretty snug. The only gripe I have with this case is that the two little fans at the front of the case (see picture 3), once powered, gets pretty loud! In a car environment I'm pretty sure this will get quite annoying, so for the time being I have left these disconnected and am monitoring the temperatures of the CPU and case from inside windows, if the temp rises too much I will reconnect them. Another nifty feature of the case are the front RCA outputs, basically this is just a header that connects to your motherboard, but instead of providing a 3.5mm jack, it outputs to an RCA. If you're going to be using the onboard Audio, this is a nice feature in that it will allow you to connect to your head unit or amps without the need for a 3.5mm -> RCA converter. The reason I chose this case leaned towards it being specifically built for CarPC purposes.

Power-supply: M2-ATX 160W DC-DC Power-supply

This particular item is one of the most important in a CarPC for a number of reasons; ill try to explain it to the best of my knowledge!

Computers in a home environment have access to 240v AC mains power, in a typical home computer, an ATX power-supply takes this 240v AC and converts it into a number of 'rails' providing constant 12v and 5v DC power for the computer to use (computers essentially run on 12 and 5v DC). Voltage variations on computer hardware is a serious issue, a small voltage fluctuation on these 12v and 5v rails in most cases, causes a computer to reboot or behave in a manner we wouldn't like. Thankfully computer ATX powersupplies have strict regulators, and for this reason provides tight regulation to produce clean, constant power to computer hardware.

In a car environment we run into a serious problem! As most of you will already know, a car essentially runs on 12v (usually varies from 11v-14v) DC, as a majority of normal ATX powersupplies made for computers are built to run on 240v Mains power we have a serious issue. Thankfully as described above, computers essentially run on 12v and 5v DC current, all we need is a power supply that takes this 12v DC car input power and regulates it so it produces a clean, constant 12 and 5v DC.

This is where DC to DC (DC-DC) powersupplies step in, it essentially takes a "dirty" 12v supply (being unregulated and fluctuates between 11-14v, as per a car environment) and cleans the output power so it's suitable for computer hardware components. Anyone who has a semi-serious audio setup in their car knows that when a big low bass note hits, a majority of the time the operating voltage of the car can dip as low as 11 volts, if we used the unregulated power directly from the cars constant 12v, we would have fried computer components (over-voltage, and voltage spikes due to voltage dumps) and constant restarts (under-voltage).

Another reason I chose to use the M2-ATX DC-DC power supply is its smart shut-down controller and its ability to survive engine cranks. When an engine in a car is started, the starter motor draws a lot of current and for those few moments the voltage can drop significantly, the M2-ATX has the ability to function normally when the voltage drops as low as 6v (max 24v). The M2-ATX also has a built in shut-down controller, basically this hooks up to the accessories switched 12v of your car and acts like a remote switch. When the IGN (ignition) of the car is on, the power-supply waits for a pre-defined amount of time before sending the 'on' signal to the motherboard, which in essence starts the computer, the smart stuff comes into play when the IGN is turned off. You have a variety of options (set via Jumpers on the M2-ATX) that specify what to do with the computer once the switched 12v line is set too off (IGN off). These include waiting a specified amount of time before sending the 'off' signal to the motherboard, a Hard-Off time – basically after a user defined amount of time the M2-ATX stops all voltage on the 12v line, and a Traditional PSU mode. The nifty thing with the traditional PSU setting is that the M2-ATX constantly monitors the input voltage and if it dips below 11.2v for more than 1 minute, it cuts all the voltage to all rails in order to stop draining the battery completely.

Okay, your eyes must be exhausted after reading all that, so ill throw up some pictures of the item:

External (Top View):



External (Top View, another shot):



While I'm at it, if you're considering building a CarPC you must take note of the power consumption for each item in the system. The M2-ATX provides a maximum of 160W, when selecting components for the CarPC you should look for low-power consumption items so that the power-supply can provide enough juice without falter.

Here are some general specs of the item:

• Minimum Input voltage 6v, Maximum 24v
• Deep-Discharge shutdown threshold – 11.2v
• Max Output Power – 160W (15A mini-blade fuse)
• Efficiency (Input of 9-16V) - >94%, all rails combined, 50% load
• PCB Size: 160x44mm
• 20-pin ATX Power supply cable

From my experience with this item, as long as it's set up correctly (there are only 3 wires that you need to connect to the car, Positive (Constant 12v), Negative (Ground) and Switched 12v (Ignition)) the item works without any problems, it powers my hardware without any complaints, the shut-down controller works great and when you switch the IGN is off you can see Windows XP gracefully shutdown without any hassles (like if you pressed the power-button on a home PC) , and if windows gets stuck on the shutdown process, my user-defined settings specify that the Hard-Off delay is 45 seconds, after that amount of time has expired the system will cut all the power (an analogue would be pulling the wall socket plug out).

Motherboard: Jetway J7F2WE2G Mini-ITX, CPU: VIA C7 2 GHz and Kingston 1GB Value Ram

Since these items make up the bulk of the performance related items in the CarPC, I will review them all together.

Firstly the Jetway J7F2WE2G Mini-ITX motherboard measures a tiny 17x17cm and has a hard-wired VIA C7 2Ghz CPU attached directly onto the motherboard. With Mini-ITX motherboards, there are two basic paths you can follow, the first being the VIA chip approach, or the second is the new Intel Core Duo (or 2 Duo?) approach. The later is a more expensive but the CPU's are not hardwired and will no-doubt provide superior performance over my chosen VIA path.

Why did I choose VIA then? Well basically my application didn't call for such a fast set-up, I wasn't intending to use the CarPC to play hi-end computer games whilst in the car; rather I was going to use it for GPS, Video, (wank factor ), Internet, and the other goodies that come along with such a set-up.

I opted to choose the fastest VIA C7 CPU and Motherboard Combo (the 2 GHz one) which from my observations, is more than adequate for running the applications and computer itself with plenty of headroom for the future.

The Motherboard, being so small has to cut back on some of the features that you commonly find on normal sized ATX boards (e.g. 1 DDR2 Ram slot, 1 IDE port, 1 FDD port, 2x SATA), but it still provides ample amount of integrated peripherals. Onboard Video is provided by the VIA S3/Unicrome chipset, Sound is taken care of with AC'97 5.1 Realtek chipset, S-Video, 10/100 LAN, 6x USB ports (2 included on the back, 2 on the front of the Voom2 Case, 2 more if you can find or fabricate a header for it) and a firewire port are taken care of by the motherboard.

Seeing as the system will only allow 1 Slot for RAM, I opted for 1GB of DDR2 533 MHz Kingston Value ram as this would be more than enough for such a system.

Enough talk, let's see some pictures! Below is a photos of the motherboard in the Voom2 Case

External (Top View):



From my observations this setup is more than adequate for the objective I set out to achieve, the system is very responsive, remains relativity cool, consumes very, very little power when compared to Desktop PC's equivalent, which is a bonus seeing power isn't of abundance in a car environment and the more efficient the better!

HDD: 160GB Samsung 3.5" and Optical: Pioneer 16x Slim line Slot-load DVD-RW

Since these two items are only small, I shall review them together. The Samsung HDD was chosen for three reasons: its capacity, its price, and its quietness. With 160GB of hard disk space, it provides me with ample amount of storage to put my Video and Audio libraries along with any other media I choose to put on the CarPC. The Pioneer drive (pictures can be seen from the external case, front view) was chose because I liked the idea of being able to burn any format (DVD-R, CD-R etc) and read the same formats in a car environment. I opted for a Slot-loading drive because it would be too finicky trying to load CD's or DVD's in a practical manner with a non-slot dvd drive. The slot works just like a typical Head-unit that 'eats' the CD, if you can picture what I mean! Both operate as their specifications specify, I have no complaints!

Audio: Creative Audigy 2 NX

This was an important consideration for me; the onboard sound from a computer isn't anywhere near up to scratch for a sound-quality oriented sound system. I opted to go for the Audigy 2 NX because of a few reasons. Firstly it is their top of the range notebook (in my case CarPC) external sound card, there is a Live! Range, but doesn't possess the same DAC's or output quality of Audigy 2 NX.

Some general specs for the sound-card are as follows:

• 24-bit/96kHz Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC)
• 24-bit/96kHz Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC)
• 102dB SNR @ 2vrms
• SPDIF out with up to 24-bit/96kHz

I faced a problem with the sound card when I received it, you see, being external it isn't bus-powered (i.e. it cannot run just off USB ports' power) and needed a 5v DC input, one solution that I have found is that you can use one of the 5v Rails from the M2-ATX to provide 5v DC to the external sound card, but I haven't set this up as of yet so I can't comment on it, but I shall inform you once I have it all up and running!

Here's a Picture:



The specs of the sound card seem mighty impressive, basically the output from the soundcard will be going into the AUX-In of my Alpine CDA-9887 which, well I hope, will provide me with much better SQ than the on-board sound.

=================
Ran out of room for the thread, read on to the next post
=================

Connectivity devices: Globalstat BU-353, Wifi-Link 802.11g with 9dBi antenna and Bluetooth dongle.

Seeing as GPS in a car environment has been booming in recent times, I only saw it fit that I should include it in my CarPC setup, the GPS dongle I chose was a Globalstat BU-353 item. Based on the BU-353 chipset, it provides accurate GPS information and locks onto approx. 11 GPS satellites when taken outside. Being a GPS 'mouse' it only provides specific GPS data such as longitude, latitude, altitude etc and is completely useless if you don't have any software that takes advantage of this information and displays it on a map! (I will discuss these in the Software thread).

From my experience with the GPS device, it works faultlessly when there isn't too much in its way, its accurate (as you can see in the software section) and its compact, it plugs into a USB port aswell!

Here's a Picture, Globalstat GPS Mouse (Top View):



I also decided to add a few more connectivity devices to the system, namely an 802.11g wifi adaptor and a Bluetooth adapter, these items really just allow me to connect to the wireless system in my house and allow me to use the internet from my Car when I'm near the house (or someone else's house, that I have permission to use of course!), it has a HUGE 9dBI antenna attached to it so it can pickup and connect to distant wifi networks.

Wifi-Link 802.11g usb dongle with 9dBi antenna:



The last connectivity device I've decided to attach to the CarPC is a simple Bluetooth dongle, this allows me to connect my Mobile Phone to the CarPC or any other Bluetooth device, it's a stock standard item so I won't bother posting up pictures of it!

Monitor & Input: Xenarc 700IDT 7" In-dash touch screen 500NIT brightness

Since I've bored you a lot with talk thus far, I'll start this one out with pictures:

Xenarc 700IDT (Front, Closed):



Xenarc 700IDT (Front, Open):



Xenarc 700IDT (Side, Open):




Xenarc 700IDT (Top, Open, 15 Degree side tilt):



Okay! So now here's the most exciting and obvious part of this whole essay! I've done a fair amount of research on which monitor to choose for the car and I came up with this, it's the new Xenarc 700IDT 7" in-dash touch-screen. This is not a stand-alone device which can do anything by itself; rather it's the perfect companion for a CarPC. It allows a VGA input from the CarPC and has a USB cable which attaches to the CarPC and allows you to touch the screen and use it as a mouse (hence being a touch screen device and replacing a keyboard, mouse, and monitor in one package).

The size of the unit is a single-din so it can simply go into the existing stock radio position of a car equipped with a DIN slot, the monitor has an input voltage of 11-14volts but it's safer to run it off a proper regulated 12v power supply (like the M2-ATX or a Point of Load device). Basically the touch screen monitor is the only visible part of a CarPC setup and needed to look reasonably good yet still provide a great picture and perform well.

When I received the Xenarc 700IDT it came in a pretty standard sized box, upon opening it, the unit was secured nicely with foam so that it wouldn't be damaged, I was initially impressed with the build quality of the item, but I have a few gripes about this item!

Xenarc have gotten great reviews in the past but I'm here to give an honest opinion from my experience. Firstly the native resolution of the monitor is 800x480 pixels, the native resolution of a monitor is the resolution that needs to come out of the CarPC for the picture to look sharp and accurate, any resolution that is NOT the native resolution of the LCD panel in the monitor will result in a hazy and blurred picture, if you have a LCD at home, you can see what I mean by changing the native resolution of the monitor. The reason that this is a problem is that 800x480 pixels is not a standard resolution like 800x600, a lot of tweaking and mucking around is needed to correctly (but I have yet to get it perfect) display a sharp and accurate image. I will go into detail about the settings I have used to get the monitor to display a decent image in the following Software thread, seeing it's a software related issue.

The second gripe I have with this monitor is its spring loaded mechanism; I chose this for a specific reason, being that motorized items will eventually breakdown and parts would almost be impossible to find in Australia. Being spring loaded, I thought the item would last a lot longer and, over time would be the better choice! When I tried ejecting the monitor (by pressing it in) it opened about half way and got sticks there, here is a picture of what I mean:



Since it sticks here, you need manual intervention to pull the monitor out! I thought that this was pretty annoying considering this is one of the most expensive dedicated touch-screen monitors you could purchase.

The last gripe I have with this monitor is that the paint has started to chip away on the corners after about literally 10 minutes use! It seems that the metal bottom plate (when you slide the monitor back in) grazes the actual top of the monitor, once again I think more attention to detail would have been nice on an expensive device such as this.

Heres a picture of what i mean:



My opinion of the Xenarc 700IDT, other than my few gripes, is that it's a pretty decent touchsreen monitor, the software allows for edge compensation so people with big fingers can still close windows, and the actual touch doesn't need to be forceful, and is surprisingly accurate! The outside looks are more than appealing and the brightness is great (and adjustable).

Conclusion:

I've probably bored many people to tears with such a long thread, but for those who are looking to get into the CarPC environment, this thread would be a great help for the hardware side of things. Overall I think that the CarPC I have built has accomplished what I set out to achieve: a fast, responsive system which allows me to attach an abundance of peripherals and allow plenty of headroom for the future.
Thanks for Reading and hope it can help someone in the future!

P.S. If you found this helpful, read the Software thread, it will go into equal depth regarding all the software side of things and how it integrates with the hardware setup!

Author: Adam Khan, September 2007

Informative. Gave me some insight.
Thanks

I'm doing a write up myself on my CarPC at the moment. Just looking for motivation to continue on writing it

you are the man! excellent idea for a thread a very well excuted.

i've always thought about a carPC and this makes me want one even more now

Very well done I have already done a fair bit of investigations myself and this just confirmed most of what i found I have slightly less hardware though (see my sig), but i went for a 2.5" Hdd as they are more resistant to shocks...

I think i might need to look at getting a better sound card though (than onboard), probably the one you suggested

I look forward to reading your software thoughts I have used a few myself so i look forward to your thoughts

On a side note, slightly off the original topic, did you use hibernation? if so how did you go with windows detecting your USB devices when it booted up again? I had trouble with my USB BT dongle, i used to have to regularly unplug it and plug it back in to get windows to detect it (though not ever time, so was a bit odd)

Any word on the Software part mate? Love to no what sort of software you will be using.

Havnt Had a chance lately, been a very busy kid. If you pop down to the SQ meet on Saturday i would be glad to give u some advice. Adam

I got the software part now i need the hardware lol. I got Centrafuse XLE is that what you use or just windows?