# nes pc for my dad



## ste2425 (Jun 3, 2009)

well ive seen it done many times and your probably bored of it but my dads keeps moaning on about how old consoles were the best bla bla bla well for once i listend and since he gave me his car when i recently passed and helped out so much on my lessons i thought what better way to say hanks then to build him a meadia center like pc in an old nes (nintendo entertainment system) case? hook up the orig controllers etc and load a ton of emu's on it?
so here is my work log of this little pressie






here she is all gutted out, not much room to move as you can see so it'l be a tight squeeze





i hope to be able to hook up all the old buttons and what not and maybe attach some usb adapter on the inside on the controller ports that way i dnt need to modify the controllers board and itl look more authentic.





an here she is in her former glory, only problem is theres no flap so im gonna try an fabricate some black plastic to fill the gap and add my usb audio etc stuff there but ill try and cross that hurdle when i get to it. 





and if you can make it out this last one scares me, this board is three years older then me


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## CDdude55 (Jun 3, 2009)

Awesome, can't wait to see it finished.


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## DreamSeller (Jun 4, 2009)

very original !! u gonna make him happy


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## richardbel (Jun 4, 2009)

i really love old school stuff.. can't wait for the final product...


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## Geofrancis (Jun 4, 2009)

what motherboard/cpu are you using? did you get the zotac board?


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## Cuzza (Jun 4, 2009)

I love this stuff. keep the updates coming my friend.


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## Disparia (Jun 4, 2009)

Good luck!

Got my NES gutted and ready for a PC mod, but after having to replace some parts in my other machines, I'm left with no project cash, and mine will have to wait.


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## ste2425 (Jun 4, 2009)

can i be very very very cheecky and ask if you would part with that front flap bit? ill pay money for it i dnt wanna give my dad this and it look not finished


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## Disparia (Jun 4, 2009)

Sorry, I'm hoping to do my own as soon as possible. Perhaps look for dead NES's on eBay? Or do a WTB here on TPU.


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## JATownes (Jun 4, 2009)

ste2425 said:


> can i be very very very cheecky and ask if you would part with that front flap bit? ill pay money for it i dnt wanna give my dad this and it look not finished



Let me check around the old storage building...I might have one.  I have to get in there this weekend...I am moving and I will see what I can find.  If I have one it is yours...as long as we all get to see the finished product when it is done 

BTW...where R U located at.  International shipping is a @#$%@.  But if you are in the US I would even cover the shipping just to see it done.  Your dad is gonna be stoked I bet.


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## JrRacinFan (Jun 4, 2009)

@JATownes

He's in UK.

@Ste

Been a while since Ive seen a project log like this one. Keep us updated. Oh and just friendly help, the power button for the NES wasn't momentary so you will need to mod that also. 

Good Luck.


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## Geofrancis (Jun 4, 2009)

i found this on ebay if it helps
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=200349002621

i was looking at it for my little atom itx board i think a nes would look really good with a slot loading dvd drive under that little flap.

edit: ive found alot of guides on how to mod the nes into a pc. hope they help you

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Nintendo-NES-PC/
http://www.lofi-gaming.org.uk/nespc/index.php
http://nintendo.joystiq.com/2007/12/02/modded-pc-in-nes-console-is-ideal-for-the-spendthrifty/
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/nespc/


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## _jM (Jun 4, 2009)

Just go to a local pawn shop and look around for another NES.. they are dirt cheap here in Florida.. and they are in every pawn shop I have ever been inside.. Good luck on the project.. one of a kind.. first one i have seen!


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## ste2425 (Jun 5, 2009)

thanks guys i the links help and ja TOWNES if you do have one i would love to have it. and jr racin fan ive noticed the power button iw as temped justto sawp them round an not have the reset plugged in a doubt he'l use it. Im purly just waiting on parts at the mo guys the mobo's next tues an hdd is from china so could bea whilke


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## JATownes (Jun 5, 2009)

I am moving this weekend, so I will be going through the storage...if I can find it, it is yours.  Give me 'til Sunday and I should have something for you.


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## ste2425 (Jun 6, 2009)

thanks that is greatly appritiated, sorry bout my last post's speeling  its hard to type hung over lol, well not much to report relly stashed up on supplies, solder new dremel bits, shrink wrap and ideas for cooling other that that im just waiting on parts


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## JrRacinFan (Jun 6, 2009)

Whats the total budget of the project? Have you though of what hardware for this yet? Might I suggest an Intel Atom build....


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## ste2425 (Jun 6, 2009)

i have thought about it and that was a very stong choice, i believe you and others pointed me in the direction on an attom and i was going for it but then i came to very hard times with money the other week and needed to find a cheaper alternative which luckily i need i found this mobo with ram for 30 quid, may not be as powerful but in the end the highest emu's my dad will play is the 16bit sega mega drive so it should cope fine. 
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=120426948184
sorry if it seem'd i wasted ur guys time when i started a thread asking for mobo advice i did take it all in and was going to go for the ones you told me to but in the end it cost more then i could afford


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## JrRacinFan (Jun 6, 2009)

Actually that would work out great!!!


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## ste2425 (Jun 6, 2009)

haha cheers i mean i was lucky with that buy all i need is a mini itx spu and a hdd, which ive orderd. So is that board any powerful? i mean to run n64 emu's? as id be using this too


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## t77snapshot (Jun 6, 2009)

Sweet nice project man! your dad is going to be stoked I can't wait too see some updates.


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## ste2425 (Jun 6, 2009)

i crnt wait to do some work man lol, i got all me toold here im set up in the attic waiting lol its shceduald for next tues so work will commence then, now i think maybe i did start the thread a tad early oh well


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## Geofrancis (Jun 6, 2009)

You will be lucky if that will run nes emulators i had a 500mhz one and it couldnt even play a video or my snes emulator.


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## ste2425 (Jun 6, 2009)

yea this is 800mhz man it'l be fine for nes an snes emu's probs even sega megadrive one's


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## Geofrancis (Jun 7, 2009)

a snes emulator or a n64 emulator would look like a slide show because it only performs the same speed as a 400 pentium 2 at best. and the onboard graphics are as good as non existant.


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## ste2425 (Jun 7, 2009)

well im affraid its all i can afford at the moment my friend, all i can hope is your exagerating.


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## 3870x2 (Jun 7, 2009)

You should be looking at some very cheap mini-ITX boards with dual core atoms (atom 330), with a low-profile 4xxx series card, you could easily emulate from intellivision up to ps2 games if desired.  SNES and NES are the hotspot for me on emulation, for me anyway, while genesis is just fun (I havent been that big in genesis in the early nineties, so -_-)  Let me know if you need any help.  Im pretty good with non modular systems, and remember, newegg is your friend.
EDIT: you should be able to get USB adapters for the old controllers on ebay, or google them.


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## Bo$$ (Jun 7, 2009)

3870x2 said:


> You should be looking at some very cheap mini-ITX boards with dual core atoms (atom 330), with a low-profile 4xxx series card, you could easily emulate from intellivision up to ps2 games if desired.



i think PS2 emulation require more power than that my 9800gt and Q6600 can't run Gran Turismo 4 !!!


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## JrRacinFan (Jun 7, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> i think PS2 emulation require more power than that my 9800gt and Q6600 can't run Gran Turismo 4 !!!



Sorry to go off-topic in your thread ste;

Which emulator are you using and what settings?


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## Bo$$ (Jun 7, 2009)

pc2x latest version, games starts slowly but crashes when i get ingame


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## JrRacinFan (Jun 7, 2009)

Interesting ....

Remember its all dependent on the games that you play. As there are quite a few that are still not compatible. Here's the video settings I use ....






... Also you have to make sure your ram is at rated speeds when running the emulator because if not it could cause ALOT of crashes.


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## Bo$$ (Jun 7, 2009)

thanks i will try and use this plugin, i was using the older GS plugin, but it should work now


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## JrRacinFan (Jun 7, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> thanks i will try and use this plugin, i was using the older GS plugin, but it should work now



You are very welcome. 

If you need help configuring the emulator just PM me. I may be able to help some. Same goes to you ste, if you wish to try running PCSX2 0.9.6.


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## Bo$$ (Jun 7, 2009)

JrRacinFan said:


> You are very welcome.
> 
> If you need help configuring the emulator just PM me. I may be able to help some. Same goes to you ste, if you wish to try running PCSX2 0.9.6.



will do in the near future after my exams


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## ste2425 (Jun 7, 2009)

alright cheers guys i wont be bothering with ps2 emu's he has the console  but for n64 i use project 64 but im aware that this may be a bit too much for the board but the max is going to sega megadrive, purly for cannon fodder


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## Bo$$ (Jun 7, 2009)

kool


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## ste2425 (Jun 7, 2009)

well i crnt test any emus out or start building till tues it came through last friday but i missed it and the only day ill be in for re-delivery will be tues


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## JrRacinFan (Jun 7, 2009)

ste2425 said:


> alright cheers guys i wont be bothering with ps2 emu's he has the console  but for n64 i use project 64 but im aware that this may be a bit too much for the board but the max is going to sega megadrive, purly for cannon fodder



You wouldnt have any problems running N64, I ran N64 on an ATi 9500 64MB and socket A Sempron @ 2Ghz.


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## Bo$$ (Jun 7, 2009)

lol.


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## ste2425 (Jun 7, 2009)

i dnt think the board i linked quite matches that spec though

an whats the 'lol' at? i hate it when people do that explain what the hell ur on bout


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## Geofrancis (Jun 7, 2009)

You are going to struggle run any emulators with the 800mhz via like i said before i tried the snes emulator on a 533 via and it was like a slide show and that was with a micro version of xp that was only 180mb. Your cpu is only 166mhz faster i doubt that will be enough to make a difference. You might just get away with nes and master system emulators as they were only 8bit consols compared to the snes and megadrive that were 16bit. N64's were 64bit so you have no chance of it being playable.


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## ste2425 (Jun 7, 2009)

right ok cheers, well i feel a little like i shot ma self in the foot u no a little gutted but oh well i purchased the thing already an i thought it was a good deal as 30 quid is all i payed for it, im very short on cash and the other stuff you advised was a little expensive this i got the mobo and ram with the other ideas i needed to buy ram and some a cpu so i gues i went for this coz it was cheaper and i suppose i should ave saved up for the expensive one oh well ill have to make do with what i got thanks anyway guys


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## Bo$$ (Jun 8, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> lol.



sorry I was refering to the term cannon fodder used


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## ste2425 (Jun 8, 2009)

lol ok sorry google it its a great game


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## MilkyWay (Jun 8, 2009)

who dosnt know what cannon fodder is you must be a young person

just to let you know snes is more powerfull than mega drive, you may be able to run ps1 or n64
only thing i can say is try it and find out

looks like a killer idea i want a NES they are fun old machines


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## Bo$$ (Jun 8, 2009)

MilkyWay said:


> who dosnt know what cannon fodder is you must be a young person



i have i just dont hear/use it very often


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## ste2425 (Jun 9, 2009)

well id be very happy and so would my father coz in the end its for him with a megadrive emu, but he went on about the commandor and a game called manic minor never heard of it tho


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## ste2425 (Jun 9, 2009)

goodies guys!!! mobo and hdd finally here but ive forgot one major freaking thing.... stand-offs for my mobo!! arrrrrg plus i made a booboo with my hdd its sata and my mobo dnt have sata so im waiting on an adapter  and come accross one major problem. I bought a psu only too find the warenty sticker on it had been torn and the grill on the back bent so im hopeing for a refund on that and save extra to get the small ones with external powerbrick.
heres photo's


mobo in place





and hdd under





so i think ill start work trying to mod the power button and getting that ready


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## ste2425 (Jun 15, 2009)

right updates guys, sorry its been a while finishing college so u can imagine all the work i should have done last year im doing in a week 

first off i modded the power switch which was a bit of a ball ach as there wasn't much despcription on how to do it all i had was a guy saying he removed a metal bit which really didnt help. So ill explain how thats done to save anyone else the hassle i went through. Now sadly i didnt think of a before photo but i have an after.




the power button is on the left, the smaller one, now on the top you would find a metal piece that every one refers too, remove it and under neath you will find a little metal pin, that the latch that keeps it held in remove that too and you have done it. easy 

Next problem i came to was i cut of the screw holes to mount the bloody switches, so i dug out some old stand-offs the buttons are a little low but it looks fine and there held in place quite well.






Next job was soldering on the mobo headers really i should have invested in some shrink wrap but a littler cannot spare the two pound so i just soldered them together to add some strength and will use insulationtape, itl be fine 





and lastly i need to mount the hdd, for this i used a lappy hdd because A: of it size meaning itl take less space and weigh less, B: The mini ITX psu i hope to get cannot power a full size hdd. Originally i was gonna mount it flat on its back but then id have to fuck around making Lbrackets to secure it and couldnt be arsed so i used my soldering ion to put it in sideways using the holes already there , plus this way itl run cooler. It wont get damaged running like this though will it?








well that it for the mo waiting on my sata to IDE converter so i can hook the lappy up and im still in need of a mini itx psu guys please help me out on this, oh and JA townes any luck with finding that spare lid bit?


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## Geofrancis (Jun 15, 2009)

the cheapest small psu i have found is this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=250430342598

and an ac adapter like this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-12V-8A-Ad...s=65:15|66:2|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50


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## ste2425 (Jun 16, 2009)

thanks mate well ill go for tht then i doubt ill find any cheaper lol,  ill im waiting on is my sata to ide hdd converter and to cut the hole in the back of the case for the i/o shield then i can mount the mobo, practicly halfway there really


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## Geofrancis (Jun 16, 2009)

have you thought of using a couple of 8gb compact flash cards for booting and loading games? you can get the cf card to ide adapterfor a couple of quid.


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## ste2425 (Jun 16, 2009)

no not really but i got the lappy hdd for a real goood price, will i get more performance out of your idea? considering what you said bout the mobo? coz i may have to go for what you say if the answer is yes, depeding on price of cause


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## Geofrancis (Jun 16, 2009)

never mind i just relised you motherboard has a fan on it. when i had my via board it was totaly passive so i used compact flash cards for booting so it had no moving parts. it was wierd when it switched on because it didnt make a sound.

compact flash cards can be fast but you have to get the industrial grade high speed ones. the rest are slow as shit.

what operating system are you planning on running?


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## ste2425 (Jun 16, 2009)

well any that get me the best performance out of it errrm i have an xp pro disk and vista disk but i no vista is a no show, wat bout win2k ive hear  others have used that, or a linux idea maybe?


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## JrRacinFan (Jun 16, 2009)

Why not Windows 98? You shouldn't have a hard time finding the required drivers for it as its from that era. Other than that Win XP SP3 would work good also.


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## ste2425 (Jun 16, 2009)

is win 98 any fast? i remember it but i was too young to give a shit then haha


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## JrRacinFan (Jun 16, 2009)

Actually ram usage would be a little less but then you have to worry about apps with memory leaks more than XP. Win 2k SP4 would work out good as well.


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## Geofrancis (Jun 16, 2009)

Look on torrent sites for a micro xp its xp thats been nlited and all the crap took out so it only uses 60mb ram and 200mb hard drive and its legal aslong as you have a key for it.
I use it for old laptops with hardly any ram because i found that xp runs faster on old pcs than 2k


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## ste2425 (Jul 31, 2009)

sorry for such a long update, ive had money isses personal isses been ill been on holiday an just been lazy a little of the time but ive revisited this and got some great results. Well ive perchased all hardware and installed windows prof(full version not the small one) and it run supprisingly quick. I played a bit of supper mario 64 an got really good fps min 30 and max 60. Only problem is it jumped between the to quite rapidly meaning the gameplay was playable but not good and the sound kept jumping to keep in line with the fps. Now if i had a way of capping all fps at 30 then things would be dandy as i game at 30 constantly with my rig so its fine. I got hold of a coppy of windows home the slimed now thing for netbooks im gonna try that and see if i get any better performance if i do all great and i put it the case, if not ill try to find a fps capper. But the good news is if i get such acceptable performance the the hardest games the all the other will run better, or at least thats my thinkings, so im now installing the new os, gonna test it out and get back


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## Geofrancis (Jul 31, 2009)

im surprised you got the n64 emulator to work with it ok. via boards arent known for there 3d performance.


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## animal007uk (Jul 31, 2009)

hmm what n64 emulator are you using? its been a while since i messed with any of them but if i remeber right project64 lets you limit the frame rate to what ever you want. ill see if i can find out my old cd and give it bash and post back with results.

also there are some services you can disable in xp to free up a little more ram.

printer spooler is not needed inless using a printer, i always turn this of as i dont use a printer myself, as im the only user i also turn of fast user switching/secondry logon.


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## ste2425 (Jul 31, 2009)

animal007uk said:


> hmm what n64 emulator are you using? its been a while since i messed with any of them but if i remeber right project64 lets you limit the frame rate to what ever you want. ill see if i can find out my old cd and give it bash and post back with results.
> 
> also there are some services you can disable in xp to free up a little more ram.
> 
> printer spooler is not needed inless using a printer, i always turn this of as i dont use a printer myself, as im the only user i also turn of fast user switching/secondry logon.



if you could share any info on freein up ram or making xp run quicker an use less recources i would be very greatful but as for emu info could you im me as i dnt want this thread blocked

and i am very supprised n64 games ran so well to and it wasn't just marrio i tried some other titles with same results.

right updates, ive had a problem installing the slim os, it loads up fine and creates a new partion fine and installs the first few files again fine but it get upto one called cd audio i think then the whole thing just turns of the cpu fan stops briefly then comes back on but nothing else happens an the screen says nothings connected. I think it may be a hdd problem as im using an sata to ide adapter and had the read disk error when i had the full xp installed pop up a few times, well allot actually on boot. So ive bought a cheap ide hdd to get rid of the adapter and ill try that. (its cheap coz its very small but i dnt need much hdd space for what this is going to do)


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## ste2425 (Aug 4, 2009)

ive got a problem, i [urhased a new hdd due to the fact my other one kept giving me the disk read error. But now the new one wont spin up its like its got no power, but my supply is 120W. Ive hooked it up to my desk top supply and it spins up so wat going on?


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## animal007uk (Aug 4, 2009)

sounds like the PSU might have died


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## ste2425 (Aug 4, 2009)

but the board runs fine a put my dvd drive in instead of hdd and that turns on. Its one of those mini psu with the external power block. I read somewhere that if thats at a lower watage then the internal bit then itl only run at what ever wat thats at could this be the problem? Only thing is theres no sticker on the power brick so i crnt tell wat watage its at


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## Solaris17 (Aug 4, 2009)

its the psu not giving enough power to the big hdd


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## ste2425 (Aug 4, 2009)

so theres no way around this?


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## Solaris17 (Aug 4, 2009)

the easiest thing to do is buy the right laptop HDD its the only way unless you buy a heaftier psu.


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## ste2425 (Aug 4, 2009)

fuck fuck fuck..... looks like im gonna have to call this quit's  ill check out prices but i dnt see anything being in my price range. The mobo its just a normal ide i no the laptop sata is the same as desktop but is the laptop version of ide?


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## Solaris17 (Aug 4, 2009)

ste2425 said:


> fuck fuck fuck..... looks like im gonna have to call this quit's  ill check out prices but i dnt see anything being in my price range. The mobo its just a normal ide i no the laptop sata is the same as desktop but is the laptop version of ide?



you could maybe find a mad low profile pci-sata adapter? it might work better than that ide-sata adapter contraption on the hdd? and cheaper than a new hdd or psu.


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## ste2425 (Aug 4, 2009)

right ok coz i had a ide to sata adapter and when using it to boot my comp said disk read error but i had it in my desktop direct and it run fine

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VIA-ATA-3-SATA-1-IDE-Port-PCI-Card-VT6421A-2-CABLE_W0QQitemZ320396043623QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_ComputerComponents_InterfaceCards?hash=item4a9917a567&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

would this do the job?


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## Solaris17 (Aug 4, 2009)

ste2425 said:


> right ok coz i had a ide to sata adapter and when using it to boot my comp said disk read error but i had it in my desktop direct and it run fine



you could put the nes hdd in your desktop and run a regiment of tests make sure cylender redundency smart data etc is all good at which point it might just be a driver problem with XP and you might need an update you could also try changing drive bios options if their are any availible....i can also help you tweak your XP on your nes and have it run really fast....and i know quite a bit about project 64 so if you want help with thaqt lmk i need to know what graphics you are using and i know its onboard ill need more than this like the chip name etc so i can look up specs as well as the audio driver...remember to run an update get all your drivers for that mobo it will make things really easy. ill help


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## Solaris17 (Aug 4, 2009)

ste2425 said:


> right ok coz i had a ide to sata adapter and when using it to boot my comp said disk read error but i had it in my desktop direct and it run fine
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VIA-ATA-3-SATA-1-IDE-Port-PCI-Card-VT6421A-2-CABLE_W0QQitemZ320396043623QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_ComputerComponents_InterfaceCards?hash=item4a9917a567&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
> 
> would this do the job?



that should do it.


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## ste2425 (Aug 4, 2009)

that would be great, problem is it would boot up perfect the first couple of times then every now and again it said disk read error i restarted it and its fine now it does it every time. I would be willing for any and all help you can offer. How do i go about testing the hdd? coz i gues it would be best to find out if it is the hdd thats faulty or the adapter before i buy anything else. then when we get it to boot up i can provide all the other info you require.


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## Solaris17 (Aug 4, 2009)

ste2425 said:


> that would be great, problem is it would boot up perfect the first couple of times then every now and again it said disk read error i restarted it and its fine now it does it every time. I would be willing for any and all help you can offer. How do i go about testing the hdd? coz i gues it would be best to find out if it is the hdd thats faulty or the adapter before i buy anything else. then when we get it to boot up i can provide all the other info you require.



well its sata so go ahead and throw it in your primary system...then get HDtune and check smart data etc run a long bench and make sure the hdd doesnt fail during it id also try running mutiple benches one right after another keep it running stress it out.


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## ste2425 (Aug 5, 2009)

ok will do how long would you say is long enough? never used this utility before


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## Solaris17 (Aug 5, 2009)

ste2425 said:


> ok will do how long would you say is long enough? never used this utility before



idk run it through for about 15-20min make sure to read the SMART data if it has any and make sure nothing is failing


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## ste2425 (Aug 5, 2009)

riht doin itnow


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## ste2425 (Aug 5, 2009)

its running now but i dnt see anywhere that says SMART Data does then come up when i click stop?

edit:





well this is what hd tune says


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## Solaris17 (Aug 5, 2009)

kk now click the health tab that will read the SMART data


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## ste2425 (Aug 5, 2009)

here you go, i added the last one on as its a scroll bar and could get them all to show at once


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## Solaris17 (Aug 6, 2009)

its doing fine. its the adapter.


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## ste2425 (Aug 6, 2009)

right well thats a relief ill be purchasing a new adapter then. Is a pci to sata more reliable then one that plugs directly into the ide socket? like the one i have


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## ste2425 (Aug 22, 2009)

now that im waiting for the new pci adapter to come in ive thought about how im going to hook up some joysticks to it. Now i will be wanting to use the sega megadrive 16bit and original nes controllers but can anyone helpd be to hook these up as ive searched the net and its all a little confusing


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