building a mini-itx based car-pc

[Walleye]

i'm pretty much decided on using an ammo can. basically a cross between the "ammo lan" and the "ammo box" projects you can see at www.mini-itx.com. anyway, i'm wondering what kinda Power supply specs would be necessary to run the 5000 (533 mhz CPU) mini-itx mobo, and a 20-40 gig 7200 RPM hard drive? would it behoove me to bump down to 5400 RPM for less power consumption?

anyway, i'm gonna be using either an audigy or a hercules fortissimo sound card, and run line level inputs directly to an amp.


i'm still not sure how i'm gonna do volume control or listen to radio (news/weather)


i'm almost set on using an LCD attached to the cieling of the car, that will flip down, as a display. almost. not ENTIRELY sure...

 

[Walleye]

if anyone's interested, i've made a small layout schematic (not to scale...) of what i'm going to be making, available here.

 

[tyanni]

Have you seen www.mp3car.com? the forums are great. You should also definitely look into the OPUS DC-DC power supplies. They are incredible, apparently, albeit expensive.

Have fun!
Tim