Hehe too true you can't go wrong with AMD
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The whole complete system from start to finish cost me £400 approx (give or take from random little things and wires) But that includes all the hardware and software. That is around $800. This is really as cheap as you can go with a flipout monitor but if I went for a fiberglassed 7" screen into the dash it would have been closer to $700 or even as low as $650. But it does alot more then the top of the range headunits out there.
The system takes about 30 seconds to load up from the turn of the key to the music playing. Now this may seem like it is a bit long to wait for music but to put it into perspective. I get comfortable, start the car (the computer starts when the key turns to ignition (like a "normal headunit)), and by the time I am out of the drive or at the very latest by the end of the road the music is on. It could be much faster but my motherboard's sound card does not like the stripped down version of Windows I wanted to us. If I could use that then startup takes me only 15 seconds. That is about as long as some head-units I have had have taken to access 300 tracks off an MP3 cd and I have access to several thousand tracks on the computer.
You can get dedicated car power supplies that connect to your computer as a normal one would, but they control how the computer switches on and off. Mine starts the computer when ignition is turned, it switches it off with a 5 second delay when the car is switched off. It cuts power if the battery goes below a safe voltage for the car to crank. It is called an m2-Atx and it is what most people use to power their computers. It is conected to the car by a +ve cable to the battery, a cable to the ground and a remote cable. just like an amplifier.
Below are some pictures of various parts of the computer and one of the actual install itself. It was just after I had put it in so is not quite neat yet but you get the general idea. I have a 4 channel amp in there to run all the speakers as the computers sound output will not be able to run speakers but it does give a very high voltage pre-out which is nice. Nice clear signal for the amp. And as its a 7.1 card I have 4 preouts to play with and customise with the on board graphics equaliser. Even has certain level of phase processing. If there are any more detailed pics requests or just general questions please ask
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A video for you from when the car is started to it playing music and stuff
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My CarPuter
And lots and lots of pics of it in action
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The settings tab...
The radio (should you choose to connect it)...
What full screen looks like...
What normal video looks like...
Full screen music playing with weird WMP visuals...
Normal music playing screen with playlist...
Sat-Nav screen...
What it looks like when it starts up...
What it looks like before the front end loads...
A pic of the hardware in my boot (Have not had the time to tidy up wires yet though)...
... Version 2 is going to be way faster and as small as that little amplifier you see in the background :P. 
Linear Mode
