VS6000 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Hey guys, new to this forum. It's already looking like a great source for info. What I'm doing is building an emulation machine inside an NES case, keeping it looking as original as possible. This will be a reasonably long term thing (few months I'm betting) and I'd like some help starting with hardware selection. I will be emulating the usual NES, SNES, GBA Genesis up to N64 which I'll be playing on a Full HD 55" tv. Should I worry about upscaling on the larger tv? What do I need to be running the emulators at 1080p if that will be an issue? Will be installing Windows 7 32 bit, would 64 be any advantage? Looking at using this motherboard: Model IONITX-C-U Form Factor Mini-ITX Chipset MCP7A-ION CPU Integrated Intel Atom N230 1.6GHz Dual-Core Onboard Video GeForce 9400M Onboard Audio 5.1 Onboard LAN 10/100/1000Mbps Memory Size Up to 4GB Memory Slots 2 x 240 pin DDR2 DIMM Memory Type DDR2 800 FSB 533 MHz SATA 1 x eSATA 3 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s RAID 0, 1, 0+1 Video Ports D-Sub + DVI-D + HDMI USB Ports 10 (6 on back panel, 4 via pin header) PCI 1 x Mini PCI Express Power Connector 90 Watt PSU Package Contents 3 x SATA cable 1 x SATA power cable Dimensions 6.7in x 6.7in - 170mm x 170mm Would it be worth getting a cpu fan for this or would it run cool enough? Rather be safe than sorry. And this as a HD with maybe 1 16-32gb SD card: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/261302988511?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 RAM wise, would it be worth getting 2 sticks of 2gb? Will post more questions as I get to them, but any help would be awesome! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zinger19 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 To run hyperspin smoothly I'd recommend something other than an atom processor. Perhaps a dual core Celeron, I3, core duo. Atoms aren'tvery powerful. You'll experience a lot of lag. You can also look at the AMD processor /videocard combos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown50862 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 To run hyperspin smoothly I'd recommend something other than an atom processor. Perhaps a dual core Celeron, I3, core duo. Atoms aren'tvery powerful. You'll experience a lot of lag. You can also look at the AMD processor /videocard combos. Second this. Made that mistake with my current build and performance is an issue. It's passable, but N64 emulation is mostly out of the question. Luckily this was a planned prototype, so lesson learned. For your heat concerns, the build mention is actually housed in a NES with similar specs and I haven't had any overheating issues with just a heatsink (no fan). Though I haven't put it through any strenuous testing yet, as I'm still tinkering with the frontend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VS6000 Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 Thanks guys! Budget i was trying to keep around 300 or so, but if that's not going to do it properly I'll spend what I have to! Any recommendations for particular boards? Also, being a total noob, I'm having trouble getting my head around which boards already do or don't have graphics cards etc, so something that will fit in the NES nicely and is basically ready to go with power supply etc bar a HDD would be great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nespcbuild Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I went with a ZOTAC H67ITX-C-E motherboard and so far it's worked out great. You can find them online ranging in price from about $90 up to $150. 2 things that are really nice are: 1) The HDMI port, display port and 2 USB 3.0 ports line up perfectly with the spot on the back of the NES where the RF out is (if you position the board properly inside of the NES case). This is nice if you don't want to cut out a big hole for the whole backplate of the motherboard to be exposed. Instead you can cut a smaller hole for just those ports. You will lose access to some of the other ports on the back since they'll be covered by the back of the NES if you go this route though. This isn't too big of a problem because... 2) There are quite a few internal USB header pins. There are header pins for 2 USB 3.0 ports and 4 USB 2.0 ports so you can keep all of your controller/bluetooth/wireless adapters inside the case. It also comes with a wifi module attached to a mini PCIe slot on the motherboard but I don't think the mini PCIe slot can be used for other devices. If you do go with this board, make sure you get a sandy bridge processor. This board supports ivy bridge, but you need a sandy to install the update. The board won’t post without a sandy installed. Your cheapest CPU option for this board would probably be the 2.4GHz Dual-Core Intel Celeron G530 Sandy Bridge. I had this CPU installed for a bit so I could flash my bios (in order to install a newer CPU) and it performed well. Project64 ran fine at 1300x786 resolution but I didn't try cranking up the AA or other graphic enhancement features though so no promises there. The biggest drawback to this board (or any intel board if you're using integrated graphics) is that, from what I've read, the mp4 videos for hyperspin won't play properly with intel hd integrated graphics. I think you can convert them to FLV or some other format and get them to play but they will take up quite a bit more HDD space in that format. The other option is to just use .png images instead of videos. I haven't actually installed hyperspin on my system or tried any of this yet but there's a thread about it here: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?22735-Hyperspin-Intel-HD4000-No-Videos I also saw that you mentioned 32 bit VS. 64 bit windows. The biggest advantage to using 64 bit is that you can install more ram. The max you can have in 32 bit is (i think) 4GB. I don't think you'd need more than that for emulation but I could be wrong. I went with x64 and have 8GB of RAM installed but that’s probably more than I needed. About graphics cards: You're probably going to want a CPU with integrated graphics. Fitting a dedicated GPU inside the NES would be tough and fitting a power supply capable of powering it would be even tougher. You would also have to do some careful planning to keep everything from running too hot. Most newer intel CPUs have integrated graphics and AMD calls their CPUs with integrated graphics "APUs". I think most boards that are compatible with the CPUs will support the integrated graphics feature. If you want to be sure, just look at the specs for the board. They should say if it supports it or not. The intel CPU specs will say something like “intel HD2500 graphics” or “intel HD4000 graphics”. Generally, the higher the number, the more powerful the integrated graphics are. I think all of them would be fine for emulating consoles up to N64 though. For a PSU, I went with the picopsu 90. It’s tiny, runs cool and works great for my project. You’d need an AC adapter to go with it though. I think it was about 40 bucks on ebay. The adapters are a bit more though (maybe around 50 to 60). I hope this helps and wasn’t too long. Good luck with your project. It’s a lot of work, sometimes frustrating, but totally worth the effort. I’m almost done with mine and so glad I decided to finally go for it. Here’s my NES project: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?30687-My-NES-PC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momentarydogma Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I would definitely recommend against getting a celeron for HyperSpin. I just built a mini cab with a tiny PC that has an integrated celeron in it (latest gen, but celeron nonetheless) and I definitely get some lag on the menus. Not a dealbreaker, but for me it's worth the extra money to make it all run smoothly. I'm building another mini cab now that runs off of a Shuttle DS61 and I need to buy a CPU for it, but can't decide between and i3 or an i5. the DS61 supports Ivy Bridge processors up to 65W. I can get an i3 for around $130 or an i5 for $195. I would think that HS would run just fine on the i3, and I'd rather spend less of course, but I don't want to get it set up only to find out that it's not quite powerful enough. Anyone have any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momentarydogma Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Did a bit more research and decided on an Ivy Bridge i3-3225, which is the only i3 that has integrated HD4000 graphics (the other i3s have HD2500). Seemed to provide the best bang for the buck at $135. Nothing wrong with the i3-3240 (which costs $15 less), but I'd personally go with the HD4000 graphics if at all possible. I bought a broken NES with a nice case last week-- plan to start that project next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zinger19 Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I have an e3400 running in my cab and have no lag at all. You used an integrated celeron. That's like using an atom processor. Anything that is integrated is going not be a very powerful cpu. With that said an i3 is another good solid choice. For your power supply you will want to use a picoPSU. Probably like a120w. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
showstopper Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Did a bit more research and decided on an Ivy Bridge i3-3225, which is the only i3 that has integrated HD4000 graphics (the other i3s have HD2500). Seemed to provide the best bang for the buck at $135. Nothing wrong with the i3-3240 (which costs $15 less), but I'd personally go with the HD4000 graphics if at all possible. I bought a broken NES with a nice case last week-- plan to start that project next! You know all the emumovies don't work with that chipset. You will still need an external gpu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momentarydogma Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 You know all the emumovies don't work with that chipset. You will still need an external gpu. They work fine if you're using flv files instead of the standard EmuMovie mp4s. If you must use mp4 because of storage space concerns, you can convert them using any other mp4 codec other than the native codec that the EmuMovies use and they also work great. Your best bet with the HD4000 graphics chipset is to go with a large HD and stick with flv, and if you've already downloaded all of the mp4s, EmuMovies has a one-click converter to convert them to flv. External GPU not necessary at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
showstopper Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 They work fine if you're using flv files instead of the standard EmuMovie mp4s. If you must use mp4 because of storage space concerns, you can convert them using any other mp4 codec other than the native codec that the EmuMovies use and they also work great. Your best bet with the HD4000 graphics chipset is to go with a large HD and stick with flv, and if you've already downloaded all of the mp4s, EmuMovies has a one-click converter to convert them to flv. External GPU not necessary at all. Yep - so you already know then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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