GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 Community, GoldenEye X, Nintendo 64 Games Discussion

[bmw]

I've seen quite a few examples online of people building a PC into an old NES console, but I haven't been impressed with the crude results.

So after doing quite a bit of research into what hardware is available, I think I might build one.

Components as follows:

-Nano ITX board. So far every mod I've seen out there uses a 17x17cm mini-itx board which takes up most of the available space. I want to use a 12x12cm nano itx board. It will be mounted on the bottom such that most of the heatsink is underneath the slotted portion of the NES case for airflow. I've settled on the VIA EPIA NL10000



The other thing I like about this board is that most of the inputs/outputs are done via headers so I can place them wherever I want to on the NES case.

So I'll be using specialty FrontX connectors. They're available in 3 colors - black, grey, and ivory, which luckily, is the same 3 colors which the NES case is made out of. So for each port, I can choose the color that corresponds to which place on the case I want to put it.



This will be grey and will go just to the left of the original controller ports (thus just to the right of the reset button)



I'll probably put the speaker outputs where the original A/V RCA ports are located.



The S-video and Composite out will probably go on the back somewhere. And I think the motherboard comes with a VGA-port cable, so I'll use that too.

As for storage, I'm leaning towards using a solid state drive for fast boot up. I'm not sure if the space will allow for it or not, but I might get really fancy and take apart an old game cartridge and replace the insides with a solid state drive with a SATA interface and attach a sata cable such that you can slide the cartridge into the console, thus "pluggin in" the hard drive.

Oh, and I want to keep the original NES ports too. I will buy two NES to USB retroports and attach them from the inside of the console to the original ports (this will require, however, taking apart the retro ports and wiring them to the console ports).

Those are just my ideas. Not sure if and when I'll get around to actually building it because it will be kinda expensive. But it would be a sweet one of a kind unit

[fantsu]

Great idea, build me one ok?

[radorn]

I'm completelly against sacrificing a gaming console to stuff a generic PC inside, but I'll sure check on your results, specially if you post pictures of the innards and explanations of what you have done.

My choice would be the complete opposite; making a new case for console hardware, using pc components among others.
Maybe THEN I would consider stuffin a PC in the empty case, but it's still not too appealing.

[bmw]

Oh, I wouldn't sacrifice a WORKING console. That would be blasphemy!

No, I'd look for one on ebay in good cosmetic condition but not working (and I'm talking more than it just needing a new 72-pin connector).

[fantsu]

NES is the one of the most selling consoles of all time, GREAT IDEA!
Build one blu-ray behind the hatch OK?

[bmw]

I'm finally moving forward with this mod, I've actually decided to go with a Pico-ITX board - its only 10x7.2mm which is freaking tiny! I bought an Artigo kit which comes with case and everything, so I gutted it and will use the motherboard and power board/supply. Its also got a mounting bracket which allows me to mount a hard drive to the same bracket the motherboard is mounted to, and that whole thing fits nicely into the NES console.

So far it looks like the specs will be as follows:

-1.0 GHZ VIA processor
-1 GB of DDR 533 ram
-Onboard video with mpeg and wmv9 hardware decoders
-32 GB SLC Transcend Solid state drive
-Slim DVD burner

I considered going with a 1.2 GHZ nano-itx board, but the board is bigger AND considerably more expensive. Its just not worth it for the 200mhz gain in CPU speed.

I'm also looking at mounting both wifi and a wireless keyboard/mouse transmitter into the case.

The main software installed will be Windows 2000 with GameEx as the multimedia/emulator software. I decided to use Windows 2000 because for one, I like it, and for another, it will take up minimal space on the 32 gb drive AND apparently, Windows 2000 is the fastest OS (which supports wear leveling) you can install on a Solid state drive.

I picked up 3 non-working nintendos on ebay which are in good cosmetic shape for $37 shipped. Thats only $12 per case.

I'll post pics when its done, probably within the next month. I've still got to order a few more components.

[The Extremist]

Windows 2000 roxzorz.
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Pure hand-drawn goodness.

[radorn]

For a long time I refused to use XP and stayed on 2000, but actually it is not a very good idea if you intend to use multimedia stuff and/or 3d stuff, specially if you are going to use the kind of hardware you describe.
For that it'd be better to install xp (I use pro).
In my case, against my predictions, xp ended performing better and 2k, even in my current b0rked pc.
If space is a concern, you could experiment with windows customization tools to remove stuff and tweak things here and there.

[bmw]

This obviously isn't going to be any kind of hardcore gaming machine.

Basically I want it to be able to play standard DVD's, most video file formats you find on the internet, and to be able to run classic emulators (NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, maybe some MAME stuff, etc). It should also be able to run classic PC games that came out probably 4+ years ago. For this use, Windows 2k works fine, I've already played around with GameEx (which if nobody has used this before, its pretty awesome software and its free) and it seems to work great. I'm hoping my use of a solid state drive helps to compensate for the lack of CPU power.

[bmw]

I finally have a picture to post. The PERFECT (and I mean perfect as far as just how incredibly well this thing fits - its like it was MADE for the NES case) core is the guts from an Artigo Pico ITX car computer kit.



That is the entire guts of the computer - motherboard, ram, video, sound, and 80gb hard drive (I decided to keep the original hard drive for price reasons, I may still upgrade to SSD when prices come down). It mounts into the case PERFECTLY and the fan lines up PERFECTLY with the air slots on the top of the case.

Now I still have a lot of wiring to do with power, ports (video, usb, etc). I'll post more pics once I have some more work done.

With all that extra space, I'm going to add in both wifi and a wireless keyboard/mouse transmitter. I'm going to go with a high power alfa usb wifi transmitter which has an antenna port on it - so an antenna can be connected and will be sticking out right where the old RF-output is on the NES case.

[Kode-Z]

Nice!

[00Dark]

I totally agree with Kode-Z. This is freakin awsome that your converting a Nintendo Entertainment System into a PC. I'd love to do this, but I need to keep informed and get more knwoledge on how to build a PC. Just seems like I'm kinda dumb because all I do is sit on my ass.

[bmw]

After placing this project on hold for a while, I'm pretty much finally done with it. It has a high power wireless wi-fi adapter built-in as well as a wireless keyboard/mouse transmitter built-in. The front controller panel has been replaced with 4 USB ports. On the side I put the hard-wired keyboard/mouse adapters (PS/2), on the back is both a 15-pin VGA port as well as a DVI port. Audio input/output. Hard-wired ethernet port. Also, the round hole you see to the right is access to the connect button on the wireless keyboard/mouse transmitter.

On the front you will see I replaced the red power led with a blue LED and also added a green LED for the hard drive. The optical drive is a DVD/CD burner.

I'm fairly confident this is a one-of-a-kind item. I've never seen anybody use a pico-itx board for this mod (most use mini-itx) and I've never seen one where the person didn't just cut a large rectangle out of the back of the console and have the entire motherboard i/o up against it - I kept mine as stealthy as possible.

Also, the front-usb ports are straighter than they look in the picture, not sure why they almost look crooked.

[radorn]

hey, you finally did it, congrats. looks very solid.

[HackBond]

That looks awesome.
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