Author Topic: NES PC Build (Read 5830 times)

nick09 · « **on:** October 31, 2009, 11:15:56 AM »

I know that many people have done this before but I want to join in. My goal is to build a powerful system that can play movies and some games in HD for under $600. So far I have all of the parts that I need except for some nuts, a dremel kit, I need to manufacture some mounts for the Blu-ray drive, HDD, and the power supply.

Parts to be used:
NES: $0
Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93GHz: $119.99
PNY 4GB DDR2 800 RAM: $81.99
Zotac GF9300-D-E motherboard: $139.99
LG Blu-Ray Drive - UH08LS10K: $99.99
Seagate Momentus 5400.2 60GB: $0
In Win IP-P300F1-0 300W PSU: $24.99
GELID Slim Silence 775: $21.99
Three fans, two 40mm and one 60mm: $10.97

If you add all of that up, it's a total of $499.21. So far I have dissembled the NES and installed the RAM and the CPU.

Motherboard with newly installed RAM and CPU:

I'll be updating as fast as I can but you can always check for more progress by going to my DA account(link) or by visiting the gallery(link).

Excursion · « **Reply #1 on:** November 01, 2009, 03:55:55 AM »

That is frickin sweet.

Are you squeezing all of this into a modified NES case?

nick09 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 09, 2009, 10:05:36 AM »

Yes I am. I have already almost completely finished it. I'm just waiting for a friend of mine to finish wiring a special NES controller. The controller will be able to act as the power and reset switch since I have no room inside for the regular NES switches. So the buttons on the NES will be for cosmetic looks but the led next to them will act as the HDD activity light.

I have also upgraded the HDD. It now has a 640GB WD laptop drive inside.

EDIT: New pictures.

Click the bar to view the full image or click the image to view the picture's page and you can browse my da account for more pictures.

ATiC3 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 09, 2009, 07:26:57 PM »

Now.. does this have like some sort of intercooler or something? I could only imagine with all that in there that it's going to need one heck of a fan set.

nick09 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 09, 2009, 07:44:35 PM »

The last time that I checked the gpu runs idle at 140°F degrees. That was before I cut the plastic for the PSU vent in the back. I will have to check later tonight or tomorrow for the new idle temp. Though before I organized the cables inside it was about 120~ degrees. The temp went higher because of the airflow.

I only have two fans in the PC. It's the CPU fan and the PSU fan.

ATiC3 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 09, 2009, 07:53:11 PM »

120F is definitely not good. Mine runs at about 60F.

nick09 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 09, 2009, 07:59:40 PM »

Well it's a hard task to keep cool because of the space restraints.

Worksa8 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 09, 2009, 08:18:09 PM »

This tops the Nintostah o.o;

Tha Lando ( Le CROM ) · « **Reply #8 on:** December 09, 2009, 08:50:53 PM »

what kind of monster is this darn thing! good lawd have mercy! looks good too. hope your able to get it to where you want it to be and run at optimum levels. will it be able to play MUGEN games without adding any extra mod chip types. if so...

xPreatorianx · « **Reply #9 on:** December 09, 2009, 08:54:19 PM »

Edit : actually are you talking about C or F in the temp? F that sounds decent. My computer runs at about 45 C normal, I think could be wrong let me check temps real qucik under idle.

nick09 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 09, 2009, 09:03:27 PM »

I could underclock the processor. It's an intel core 2 duo factory clocked at 2.93GHz. Then the gpu, it's an nvidia GeForce 9300. I also could underclock the memory too, it's DDR2 800 ram.

I do mean F in the temperatues.

Quote from: lando33 on December 09, 2009, 08:50:53 PM

what kind of monster is this darn thing! good lawd have mercy! looks good too. hope your able to get it to where you want it to be and run at optimum levels. will it be able to play MUGEN games without adding any extra mod chip types. if so...

I have gotten it to play PS2 games. Though at that time the case was open.

xPreatorianx · « **Reply #11 on:** December 09, 2009, 09:16:25 PM »

Quote from: nick09 on December 09, 2009, 09:03:27 PM

I could underclock the processor. It's an intel core 2 duo factory clocked at 2.93GHz. Then the gpu, it's an nvidia GeForce 9300. I also could underclock the memory too, it's DDR2 800 ram.

I do mean F in the temperatues.

You could try it, but here is my temps followed by my specs for a full desktop build. Now keep in mind I do need some new fans so this is probably not the best to base off of but my system is 100% stable at all times even under full load of games (as long as I put my GPU fans to 100%). Ill put the temps in C and F.

I'm running dual 8800GT's which are known to be hot as hell so your GPU temp could be lower.

[Temps]

Mainboard 51 C / 123.8 F

CPU 53 C / 127.4 F

HDD Temps
62 C / 143.6 F
57 C / 134 F (I have more but its' only reporting 2.)

GPU Temps
87 C / 188.6 F each but its hot in my room and this is at idle.

Again its hot in my house and I desperately need new fans but my system is stable.

My Specs :

A8n-SLI Premium
AMD Athlon XP 64 X2 4200 + (2.2 GHZ dual)
Dual Nvidia Geforce 8800 GT alpha dog edition (Factory OC'D SLI)
2 Gigs of DDR 400 (sh*t I know.)
Windows 7 Professional 64bit retail

So I would get below those temps because all of your stuff is in one tight little box. So it could potentially melt the NES case. I would also see if you could maybe construct a small metal cage to protect the plastic. under computer temps bare plastic may melt. So these temps may not be good to go by for your project.

All in all tho if you can get it to run stable even under load without melting the NES case it will be one awesome little project. Hell even if it does kinda eat the case its still a nice experiment. I just don't wanna see your project become a quick way to eat through a good couple hundred dollars of computer parts because the parts melt each other and the case itself.

I'm sure tho you have all this in mind to begin with. Let me know how it works out tho. Its a really nice concept!

Post Merge: December 09, 2009, 09:21:26 PM

Quote from: lando33 on December 09, 2009, 08:50:53 PM

what kind of monster is this darn thing! good lawd have mercy! looks good too. hope your able to get it to where you want it to be and run at optimum levels. will it be able to play MUGEN games without adding any extra mod chip types. if so...

lando you do know he is building a computer inside of a NES case right? he does not need "mod chips" to run mugen. Its just a case mod basically. But a damn good one!

nick09 · « **Reply #12 on:** December 09, 2009, 10:12:33 PM »

I just checked my temps tonight and it said that the gpu is at 100-110F and CPU is at 95F. Looks like that extra vent really did help. I can't check my HDD temp because speedfan can't find it.

ATiC3 · « **Reply #13 on:** December 09, 2009, 10:19:34 PM »

Hmm... is there a way you can make an external fan... like how the 360 has an intercooler... or would that not work at all?

xPreatorianx · « **Reply #14 on:** December 10, 2009, 11:07:45 AM »

Quote from: ATICE on December 09, 2009, 10:19:34 PM

Hmm... is there a way you can make an external fan... like how the 360 has an intercooler... or would that not work at all?

His temps should be fine now. My system runs hot as you see above. But he does have a 10X smaller case and it's plastic.

@nick, looks good dude. Were those temps when the whole case was on? Nothing exposed?

If so looks good, I would keep it on running a benchmark for like 6 hours to see if you start to smell it burning. If after 6 hours it does not do that, then it should be perfect.

I am using everest to monitor my temps. I'm gonna look for a different program today. HDD temps don't really matter unless you have some really high performance ones. My HDD's get hot (by my temps) and I don't notice any performance loss. They are old HDD's as well. So yours will probably run cooler because they are better designed (newer.)

nick09 · « **Reply #15 on:** December 10, 2009, 04:35:52 PM »

Yeah those temps were taken while the case was closed. I'm running it right now and after 25 minutes the gpu runs at 122F and the CPU runs a very consistent 95F. I was web browsing during that time. I have learned that the nes plastic is made of Polypropylene and I have read that it can take up to 338F degrees so it's not a problem.

ATiC3 · « **Reply #16 on:** December 10, 2009, 05:04:37 PM »

Can you get something else to cover it? Like is there another case that would be better for it?

nick09 · « **Reply #17 on:** December 10, 2009, 06:09:05 PM »

No this case should be fine and besides I spent too much time to not use the case. I'm gonna play some Left 4 Dead and check the temps after a short time.

xPreatorianx · « **Reply #18 on:** December 10, 2009, 06:37:16 PM »

Quote from: ATICE on December 10, 2009, 05:04:37 PM

Can you get something else to cover it? Like is there another case that would be better for it?

It should be fine m8, temps seem pretty decent for the case. If he can run a PC game under load and stay stable (no crashing, or stuttering.) then its fine. That's really all you want is a stable PC. If your PC can run stable at hot temps and run at consistent frame rates then its fine. Only the enthusiasts have to get sub 50 C temps through the whole case. High performance rigs can only get that with water cooling. That's while under full load to.

Water cooling is expensive so unless you really wanna invest a couple of grand for a whole rig based around water cooling to actually take advantage of it. Its useless to even worry about those low temps.

I'm sure Nick knows what he is doing so if he's satisfied that's all that matters.

nick09 · « **Reply #19 on:** December 10, 2009, 09:01:34 PM »

Well I ran a PCMark Vantage and I got 3984 for the score. I don't know how good that is but it sounds promising. Here's the link to the score: http://service.futuremark.com/resultAnalyzer.action?resultId=253576&resultType=18

xPreatorianx · « **Reply #20 on:** December 11, 2009, 10:25:29 AM »

I have no idea what the scores actually mean and what is considered "good". I never really paid attention to those benchmarking scores. It was just something for the people with 5-6 grand in a computer to gloat about on forums and sites.

ATiC3 · « **Reply #21 on:** December 11, 2009, 12:19:57 PM »

You should see about getting Windows 7 on your pc. I hear it uses less CPU and all that good stuff.

nick09 · « **Reply #22 on:** December 11, 2009, 06:49:39 PM »

Windows Vista will work fine and besides the temperatures are fine. Even though the temperatures are a bit high I don't see a problem with the temperatures when watching movies and playing video games.

The highest temps I have seen is 159F on the gpu after trying to play some ps2 games. Personally I'm happy that even though the case is so small, it works so well even though the amount of airflow inside the case is very little.

ATiC3 · « **Reply #23 on:** December 11, 2009, 10:59:23 PM »

I'm sure it will, I just noticed that 7 runs a lot faster because it takes less CPU.

nick09 · « **Reply #24 on:** December 12, 2009, 06:20:11 AM »

Yeah I knew for a long time that Windows 7 takes less than Vista. You could just compare the specs anyways.

Edit: Well I have just played Crysis today with some settings in high. The GPU went up to 154F and the cpu was at 130F. I'm amazed at what the onboard GeForce 9300 can do.

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Author Topic: NES PC Build (Read 5830 times)

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