Build a Nintendo NES PC

Step 10 Final form

As requested, here's a few pics of how the NES PC looks at the moment.

Comments

[nemaster203]

I built a NES PC last year, and it's fairly easy once you have everything you need. If you're going to build a new NES PC, I suggest using a Zotac IONITX-A-U motherboard, since it comes with a 90W power brick that connects to the NES like the original NES power connector. It also has a dual core Intel Atom processor, and Nvidia ION graphics, which are capable of running 1080p Bluray movies. The Silverstone TOB02 is the only slimline Bluray drive I know of. I use a tri-color LED for the Power LED, it lets me use it for power and HDD activity. I have a third color available if I ever need it.

[bagleemo]

This is great - thanks for the MB recommendation. Does that MB require a fan? Is it loud / quiet? I'm wondering if you've experienced any problems with heat in such a small case.

[nemaster203]

It comes with an optional slim fan but I didn't have room to put it on the way it was meant to go, so I used a 40mm fan to blow from the side. I'm not sure how loud the fan is by itself, but I know that I've used so many 40mm fans in it that it's really loud. I could optimise the airflow a bit more but I've kinda just left it. The atom gets to 80C under full load sometimes, but it should be fine. The ION gets to about 55C.

[ameighc]

 Great job, that looks fantastic, other than the USB ports being slightly uneven from each other (I'm a nitpicker hehe, srry).  My questions for you are:

- how did you go about connecting the tri-color LED to the motherboard
- the frontal USB ports, did you use a custom mounted board or something and if so how did you attach it to the board
- do you still have any information from this project like schematics, etc?
- how many fans did you use and what size
- did this require much more cutting etc?

Thanks in advance.  I've got most of the components already picked out... not looking to rush in until I'm sure I can do this!

[nemaster203]

Lots of hot glue to attach the USB ports, and all you need for the LEDs is to wire the single ground of the tri-color LEDs to both the grounds on the board (for the Power and HDD activity LED headers) I didn't think it through too well, I just did it. More pics at http://img198.imageshack.us/g/img2409t.jpg/ if you want to see how it looks inside. I used the fan that came with the motherboard, and 40mm fans. I should have cut some of the plastic covering the top vents off on the inside so it actually vents some air, it's pretty much an oven right now. I also used lots of hot glue for the motherboard headers. It required a fair bit of cutting, but not too much.

[ameighc]

 Wow thanks for the awesomely quick reply.  That's pretty much along the lines of what I was thinking, except i had no idea wiring in the LED was so simple, thanks!  

After looking at your imageshack photo's I have one additional question.  Where your blueray drive slides out, it appears to have two "faceplates" I guess you could call them, one white and one black.  Is this a feature of the drive or did you rig this up?  I'm considering using a regular CDR/DVDR slim drive (laptop style) for this, just curious how yours works.

 When you open the drive does it open the NES cartridge hinge automatically or do you need to pre-open it?  Not a big deal, just curious.

[nemaster203]

I used the Silverstone TOB02, which comes with both a silver and black bezel.

[zack247]

you could use some thick (or strong) wires to make the drive open the door on its own. with a normal drive you could use the guiders onthe sides to pull the door open

[frenzy]

This posting has won today's "I Made It" Challenge. For winning you will receive a 3 month pro membership!

Thanks for using instructables!

http://www.instructables.com/community/June-is-I-Made-It-Challenge-Month-Win-a-Pro-Mem/

[nemaster203]

The slimline drive I use doesn't have room for a motor in it to open it automatically, so I'd also have to add a motor. It's basically a laptop drive; you push the button and pull it open.

[zack247]

well, then i guess you got me there. i wish i had a nes to use, but i dont want to wreck my only one. (and it works)

[nemaster203]

Put the working insides of the NES in an old broken toaster or something, instead of toast going in you put a game in? :o

[zack247]

great idea, but i still probably wouldn't do it until i bought a new nes first. you should make an instructable though!

[gustavao]

You are crazy guy!!!

And we like!!!

[marquz]

Really nice project! I my self are doing almost the same thing but with a new and smaller moder board (EPIA-P820 Pico ITX). If you are interested wisit my site www.retromod.org

[luke96]

What did you ues for the power supply.

[dleite]

 I dig the Homer picture in the background!!!

Oh, and the Nintendo is nice too. The discussions on this instructable has given me idea's for the newer version of PC ie, game port on front wired to parellel port.

[sapc]

i tried building it. it works perfectly

[gobblez]

Do you have any details on wiring the controller plugs to the parallel port so the original NES controllers can be used? I found a few diagrams on the internet, but they draw the shape more like the SNES than the NES, which made me unsure of what pin is what. And I cant tell if their sketch of the parallel port (and numbering) is from the side facing the mother board or the side with the holes that you would plug stuff into. I gave it a shot on my NES PC but couldn't get it working. I was using Ubuntu, which might have been an obstacle as well. Also, how do you get out of the emulator and back to the game select screen? I was thinking of wiring my NES Reset button to act like a keypress to do that. You mentioned making your own front end. Any details?

[thegenius2009]

go here and look around and it will tell you how to wire up a adapter for nes and snes and more things like playstation 1 and the Sega Genesis too.

[thegenius2009]

and look here too.

[Taotaoba]

That's cool!

[Vozzie]

haha now all you need to do is set up the nes controler with a usb or something similar and you'll be set :P

[Derin]

there is instructions for that on 'ibles search snes to parallel port

[Grey_Wolfe]

Yeah, if you could figure out this conversion for NES, you could do the parallel changeover inside the case and keep the outside ports vintage, it should still work.

[Derin]

I think so

[Grey_Wolfe]

I would be cool to not have to add new ports, and to be able to plug in your controllers in the classic fashion. I wonder how one would go about setting up the system to be two-player compatable, and capable of recognizing the two controllers.

[Derin]

me thinks the same

[El Flavio]

Hi! i made the NES PC (with same brand mother board) and I don't know what cable to get to hook the NES to the TV. The back of my motherboard looks just like yours. could you give me a link to where you got cable????

[u_r_teh_svck]

just go down to the Shack (radio shack)and get a a/v component cable ok

[peacockharris]

I am looking into setting up a similar system. But I have some questions. I'd be very grateful for any advise you can give me. Regarding your problems running certain N64 games, would this be cured with the addition of a 128mb pci graphics card? I have also read on other forums that the via motherboards sold on the site have a lot of trouble running any kind of n64 games. This was back in 2005 though, so would you advise buying one or not? I have no idea how the onboard graphics on the latest via boards compare to the one you've got. Thankyou.

[hatsuli]

It depends on the graphics card, but from what I've heard, just about any PCI card will be far superior to the onboard chip. GeForce 2/3 cards are cheap if you can find one. Will the N64 problems be cured? If you get a better graphics cards, performance will obviously increase, but it's a fact that some games just don't run well on the current N64 emulators. Project64 (and other N64 emulators) are constantly being worked on, so things are getting better, but at the moment e.g. GoldenEye will have glitches no matter what setup you try. If better Nintendo 64 support isn't absolutely vital for you, I'd probably stick with the onboard graphics just to make things easier. Like I said, many N64 games, such as Mario 64, run perfectly with the onboard chip, and the tiny glitches in some games really don't take away that much from the playing experience, at least in my opinion :) If you decide to get a PCI card, I'm afraid you might have trouble fitting it all into the NES case and making sure nothing overheats. If you get the exact same board as I did, you know roughly what to expect by reading the N64 playtesting results I've provided. Good luck with the project!

[peacockharris]

Thankyou very much. That's exactly what I needed to know.

[spacemky]

I didn't see anywhere in the article what front end you were using to control the whole thing. Care to share? Also, what emulators do you find work best for this project? Sweet mod!

[hatsuli]

I do mention it briefly. The frontend is GameEx. I'm in the process of writing my own frontend to better suit my needs. Without checking, these are the emulators I remember: Nestopia - NES ZSNES - SNES Kega Fusion - Sega Genesis, Master System, Game Gear Visual Boy Advance - Game boy color / advance MAME32 - Arcade Stella - Atari 2600

[no_fear]

Very cool. How much did this cost all together? I just bought pretty much all new hardware for my computer and it was around $500 so I was wondering if there was a chance for me to do this, or should I be saving up?

[hatsuli]

As I mentioned elsewhere, I had most of the parts ready so no idea of the cost. The tiny motherboard I used is available on mini-itx.com. Why not check their prices?

[Ogrecycle]

Wow That is a terific Idea but how do you get the games into the emulator? Do you have to download themfrom the internet again or is there a way to scan them into the hard drive? Thanks

[hatsuli]

I'm not sure if I understood you correctly. I have all my roms on DVD-R's. I just copied them to the hard drive to a directory and told the emulator frontend where to find the roms.