Windows 8.1 Car-PC Replacing the Head Unit

[jbourassa]

Hi Guys!
I wanted to share my last project with you!

Like the title says I totally replaced the head unit by a Car PC. Here's some quick spec:
MotherBoard: Asus C8HM70-I
RAM: 2Gb DDR 3
HDD: SanDisk 120Gb SSD
Case: Voompc-2
PSU: M2ATX DC-DC
Monitor: 2DIN IN DASH 7" Samsung VGA Touch Screen Monitor (Found on eBay)
Steering wheel Interface: CarPc Joycon Exr by rcjoycon.com
Amplifier: CPJ D-AMP 90-4.1 by rcjoycon.com
OS: Obviously Windows 8.1

Pictures on next post...

[jbourassa]

[jbourassa]

This system also has a permanently hooked ODB2 reader and a backup camera is hooked to the monitor 2nd video source the monitor feature auto switch to backup camera on reverse. The amp provides amazing sound considering the low watt output. 15W per channel and 30w for sub. I have no sub installed yet.

[jbourassa]

Here's the interface I used to control the PC with the Audio control on the steering wheel, I also hooked the OnStar buttons from the light dome to it:


If anyone want to know how to use the OnStar buttons as resistive buttons I can help you with that.

[AndrewButler05]

Ok, this entire setup is AMAZEBALLS!!!! I WANT ONE!!!

-Andrew

[xintersecty]

I am impressed. It's a lot of cash and it does give you great capability

[05Aveo]

All I can say is sweet. My little girls would love that. Where can you get one for a 2005 Aveo?

[jbourassa]

Thanks for the comments!

xintersecty: It may be less expensive than you think, but the cost varies depending on what you want to add to the PC.
A basic system will cost you about 500$ more or less. But that's just the case, PSU, motherboard, touchscreen and HDD.

05Aveo: This setup is not specific to my car, The only two things you need to look if you can do it is: Can you find a double DIN trim kit from metra of scoche for your car and do you have room to place the the pc case somewhere. I initially wanted to place mine under the driving seat since there a nice carving down there but The OnStar unit is allready there and can't be removed cause the car refuse to start without it plugged.

Since you guys seems to like this setup I will make an How-to for this Setup. I myself ran into some issue and my experience can help you guys save time and money on it.

[05Aveo]

Thanks been researching them all day. Looks like a good deal if I can get one for under 300 dollars. Well will wait and see what you put up on here and see if I can handle all the work. Probably can just tired of working on the car right now.

[jbourassa]

Thanks been researching them all day. Looks like a good deal if I can get one for under 300 dollars. Well will wait and see what you put up on here and see if I can handle all the work. Probably can just tired of working on the car right now.

Unfortunately For 300$ you will not find any Car-PC powerful enough to Run Windows 8 you'll have to stick to Linux distro or something similar. It would be able to run Window 8 RT but that version of windows 8 is not sold standalone because each hardware manufacturer need to embed their drivers in it. The motherboard Asus C8HM70-I has an integrated Celeron CPU powerful enough yet not as power hungry like the Core i series. It's the least expensive I found that was Windows 8 certified and it also have some SATA 6G/s port that you want for a SSD HDD. Warning don't think about standard HDD for a car-pc they hate vibrations while in function and we all know that a car rides provides plenty of those. A standard HDD will die on you in a very short time span. And with this setup you can't have a low watt PSU. I piked a 160W myself I calculated that my setup consume 90W witout any USB device connected, the extra watt are for all those USB dongles like my OBD2 scantool, wi-fi usb, usb gps etc... Well I'll cover all thise things in my how-to.