My Dream Arcade NES Mini-Computer - Part 6: Finished!

Part 1: It Begins

Part 2: Components
Part 3: Modifications to the Case
Part 4: Adding Components
Part 5: Software
Part 6: Finished!

I used Krazy Glue to glue the connectors to the port holes. Here is a coaxial video out, and a stereo audio out in the place where the original coaxial video out and mono audio out were on the original NES.

Power, S-video and SPDIF optical connector in the back. I had to widen the hole for the SPDIF connector. The idea is that I can have high-quality outputs (S-video looks great, and the SPDIF optical can do dolby surround sound), as well as simple audio and video out. At my place I'll use the high quality connections, but if I take it to someone else's house, I know I'll be able to get it to work because everyone can handle component video and audio (with a headphone to component audio cable)

The finished product. (I took the pictures outside for the extra light, I'm not an extreme outdoor gamer.)

The hidden USB ports revealed under the hinged cover.

Conclusion:
The heat sink on the board is too high to include a dvd player. There just isn't enough room, which is too bad. I have an external dvd drive that I can attach to the USB port, but I would have loved to be able to put a dvd where the game cartridge used to go. I can rip dvds to the hard drive and watch them also.

The computer runs very well. It loads up relatively quickly and performance is good for all emulators except Nintendo 64. N64 games generally run well, but every so often they lag. I can play bond goldeneye 1 player, but it can't handle 2 player. And tragically, it can't run NBA hangtime at all, I have to play the sega genesis version of it.

These performance and size issues make me think that I might have been better off with a different mainboard. There are other boards that aren't so tall, and have better graphics capabilities. However, I was told that some of the more powerful boards would have issues with overheating in a small space like the NES case. Also, I couldn't find a small board, with good graphics and the choices for a/v output.

I didn't do such a professional job mounting the components. The board itself isn't screwed into anything. It's a pretty tight fit and the cables that are all jammed in there keep the mainboard pretty immobile. I used electric tape to hold most things in place.

It gets pretty warm after about an hour's worth of use. After a few hours it's kind of hot. I'm not really sure if I should worry about that...so I won't.
Some who have checked out this blog were concerned that I didn't do anything to control heat, which apperantly can really damage a computer. I used a program called speedfan to monitor the computer's temperature, and learned that it was too hot. It was running at 52C after 1.5 hours...anything over 50C is bad. I bought a tiny little fan (aprx 2"X2"X.5") from radio shack, and put it in the only place in the case where it would fit. It's not near any main vents, but it is blowing directly on the mainboard. It made a big impact. Now the computer stays at a cool 43C-44C no matter how long I run it. Kind of amazing that such a tiny fan makes such a difference. And that without it my baby might have melted away while I casually played bubble bobble. Thanks for the tip.

I'm glad I used another NES case as a Guinea pig. It was nice to be able to practice dremeling and gluing, before working on the final thing.

Custom projects like this are pretty difficult. It was a pain to search for the right parts. When something goes wrong, there are so many different possible explanations, it's hard to figure out how to fix it. For instance I couldn't get windows to load for a period of time, it told me that a file was corrupt. I tried reinstalling windows with no luck. I formatted the hard drive. No luck. Eventually it turned out that the SATA cable that connects the hard drive to the mainboard was bent, and was no longer reliable. A pretty simple problem to fix by replacing the cable, but a beeatch to diagnose. There were a few times when I came close to giving up.

I won't make this again. It was time consuming, and I no longer have the time (because I'm playing frogger or Qbert or Echo the Dolphin or possibly working). If you want one, you gotta do it yourself.

It's pretty F-ing badass to be able to play all these awesome games, blast music, watch movies in surround sound...all on a friggin NES.

Proof that it works:
Here it is in Action!!!

Donkey Kong played with the wireless logitech game pad:

Super Mario Bothers played on an original NES controller (Check the one handed skills):

Super Mario 64 played with an original N64 controller connected to the USB adapter.

Using the wireless gamepad as a mouse to navigate around Windows XP.

Tecmo Super Bowl is a classic NES football game. It has the teams and rosters from the 1990 NFL season. I was able to find hacked versions of the game that update the rosters. There are hacks for every year's roster starting from the 60s going until the current season. Being a falcon fan, I downloaded the 1998 (the year we went to the superbowl) and the 2005 (made it to the NFC championship game) versions. Jamal Anderson is unstoppable in the 98 version, and good old Michael Vick is a bad man in the 2005 one. Here's a clip of me running Vick wild, breaking ankles and taking it to the house. Being able to play Tecmo Super Bowl on a NES machine with a Michael Vick falcons team is pretty much the epitome of the updated take on classic badassness that I set out to do with this project. The dream came true.