hey guys, have been enjoying this site from a distance for awhile now, and am ramping up to start my first mod of any kind... plans are to mod an old school Nintendo Entertainment System into a little HTPC used mostly for my collection of music and to play DVDs on. with that out of the way, here are my questions.. 1) anybody happen to know the internal dimensions of the old NES systems off the top of their head? would aid in pre-planning 2) which would be a better fit for the guts of the system? sff or laptop parts? or is there really a difference in the two? more questions will come later as i get further along. thanks for any and all help, happy modding everyone
welcome to the forums. I couldn't quickly find the dimensions of the old nintendo sysem (I assume you mean the SNES) but there is some good info here. Something that small is probably going to mandate something smaller than sff or notebook motherboard. You may have to look at one of the VIA epia boards. They are incredibly small but still have enough power to drive an HTPC function. My advice would be to get your hands on the game chassis you want to use first and work from there.
thanks .. still no exact specs, but oh well, guess i need to go get my old beat to hell NES out of storage and take it apart to get the specs so i can can get planning started
wow that has to be one of the best nes mods i have ever seen looks really stock. Anyways there is another NES comp at mini-itx.org(or somthign like that).
man they had some fun games for those like final fantasy and Red Racer The Good Ole Days and im only 15 damn lol i have 1 NES 1 SNES 1 sega genisis 1 sega saturn 1 playstaion1 1 ps1 i got the whol collection lol
I was actually refering to question #2, the what kind of parts should i use one. Just a choice by one guy who completed the mod. What are u planning to fit in it?
thats the problem im having right now, im not familiar with the smaller mini systems really ... have spent the last hour taking in as much info on mini-itx boards as i can. for the most part, it has to be powerful enough withstand my dvd/cd/mp3/video file collection as i'll still have my desktop to use for my photo editing, downloading and web surfing. i want this to be as stealth as possible, no external visuals of there being a PC inside other than the I/O on the backside. am going to be turniing to this booard for a lot of questions and insights on parts to be used as i am not too sure on what board would be best for this project. as for destroying the NES, dont forget that most of these relics dont xactly work anymore, so its giving life to a piece of my childhood instead of destroying a memory
Nice Idea I hope it goes well for you. On a side note most of the so called "broken" or not working NES are actuly just in need of a clean or a replacement of the connector witch holds the game catridge.
Here is a list of the parts I am suggesting you use for the best conservation of space: 2.5" Hard Drive Slimline CD/DVDRW drive ITX motherboard with socket 478 1U Server PSU or external laptop PSU solution It's going to be a little on the expensive side b/c the parts are not as mainstream. Try Pricewatch for some good prices
so far after some research, ive come up with this combo: mobo: VIA EPIA MII1000 - 1GHz VIA C3 Processor ram: PQI POWER Series - DDR PC-2100 1GB hard drive: Western Digital WD400UE - 40GB 5,400 RPM 2.5" dvd/cd-rw: Panasonic Slimline Slotload Combo Drive - 24x CD-R/16x CD-RW/24x CD-ROM/8x DVD-ROM haven't figured out a fix to the power source problem, will probably be something like a Morex 80W PSU, which uses a brick externally to send power through a dc/dc converter card inside the box .... but iono yet. How's that sound so far? still have to find a retailer for the board though, hmm.
nice idea, im wanting to do the same with a sega megadrive at somepoint. I think an external power pack is going to be best cos it will be real tight for space i think Rowan
I'm currently in the process of building a nespc... found 2 broken ones on ebay for 5 bucks + shipping. It's expensive but I got a iBase M870 mobo with excellent onboard video so I don't need to add a videocard (aka more space to work with and less heat to deal with) if you want to go the non-"cheater" route (cheater being using an external PSU, for non junkmachine peeps) there are several PSUs that will fit.
about 8x10x3.25 (that is however the external dimensions lwh) If you really want i can open her up and take some pics or something. let me know, dave
the only thing im worried about with the internal PSUs is the heat inside the case, wouldnt having the external cut down on some of the heat inside the box? i don't plan on cutting any more holes than i have to for the I/O so the less heat inside the box the better imo, not to mention that i think the external brick looks a lot more oldschool nintendo-ish. but, heh ill probably get flamed for this, i have considered making a plexi window in the bottom of the case to allow for a small lightsource inside the case to omit a red glow from beneath the box at night, just a thought, probably not going to happen
if you dont mind, then i would aprreciate it, but it isnt required, i have the external measurements already, but havent been able to find any interanl measurements .. thanks
Reject, if you do it right you can fit an 80mm fan in it as well as the psu fan and keep the temp below 40*C its not great but it is do able. btw the dimensions are: Bottom: 19.685 cm x 22.86 cm Top: 19.865 cm x 25.4 cm You have to do a lot of cutting and sanding to get rid of the bulk in there and cut out the "T" portion, most people glue it back in once they make it flush with the bottom but you can put plex there and give it some lighting if you want.... some people have made worse abominations. go to the junkmachine forums gallery and look at some of the other people's NESPCs to get an idea of what kind of room you have to play with.
