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NES PC


sidrick

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cool. are you gonna use a seperate gfx card? any pci cards that you use will have to be low profile, or you can buy them with 90 degree connections so they lay flat against the mobo.

 

out of interest, how many pci slots have you got on that board? im guessing 1 but if youve got more then id recommend you get yourself a tv card as well.

 

 

1 PCI slot on the board.

 

I will run the onboard graphics. At the end of the day the onboard GFX is more than enough to run what I want (W7 and console emulation) and built in graphics are acceptable in comparison to 2-3 years ago. That's a good shout for the TV card though and something that I hadn't even thought of. A digital decoder in there would be great, actually, however, with the small power supply solutions I'm looking at (150w) I don't want to overload or overheat things. I guess I'll run it for a while then can add a TV card at a later date.

 

Sure you haven't done one already siddie?

 

 

My hero!!

 

Today also heralded the arrival of:

 

This VGA>Scart cable:

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/adolftitler/WSS-C04-EBAY-NW1.gif

 

And this twin pack of USB NES controls:

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/adolftitler/NESUSBx2.jpg

 

I intend to change the 2nd controller port on the front of the NES to be a dual USB connector.

Edited by sidrick
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this is the tv card ive got in my media centre. excellent piece of kit, has 2 tuners on it so you can record 1 channel and watch another at the same time. If you use mediaportal you can also pause, rewind & fast forward.

 

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_novat500.html

 

you would probably have to mod the metal retainer at the back to fit it inside your case though.

 

I guess you havent got a DVI out on your motherboard then? shame because picture quality will suffer over VGA->scart.

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this is the tv card ive got in my media centre. excellent piece of kit, has 2 tuners on it so you can record 1 channel and watch another at the same time. If you use mediaportal you can also pause, rewind & fast forward.

 

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_novat500.html

 

you would probably have to mod the metal retainer at the back to fit it inside your case though.

 

I guess you havent got a DVI out on your motherboard then? shame because picture quality will suffer over VGA->scart.

 

That card looks good, and yeah, a quick cut to the metal retainer would sort things out. I'm still wary of overloading the 150w PSU and overheating the fanless case. There's no point adding aTV card if I'll need to add a case fan, which would futher strain the small PSU. Like I said, I'll run it for a while, see what I actually use it for and how the system runs before expanding. It's something I'd be interested in.

 

Quality over VGA isn't something I've had an issue with before, and reviews of the motherboard say that they've sent 720p HD to their TVs from this board with excellent results. I'd be instested to hear otherwise. Perhaps it's the scart side that's the problem? Sadly my main TV is a CRT :(

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Quality over VGA isn't something I've had an issue with before, and reviews of the motherboard say that they've sent 720p HD to their TVs from this board with excellent results. I'd be instested to hear otherwise. Perhaps it's the scart side that's the problem? Sadly my main TV is a CRT :(

 

if the only video out on your mobo is VGA then im surprised that 720p video is any good becasue the signal would be analogue out wouldnt it?

 

before i had a flat screen i used to run my media centre the same way as youre planning (vga->scart->crt tv) and i found the picture quality very average, and the screen would always flicker for a few seconds on boot while the tv synced with the video signal from the pc.

 

have a play around though. at the end of the day you can always change your motherboard in favour of a dvi out as those micro-atx boards are a standard size with standard screw fittings, but hopefully youll be happy with the results with the setup youve got now.

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This is an awsome project Sid, I'll Bet your enjoying it? :)

 

Cheers. I'll enjoy it once it's built :D

 

Do you know what Windows you are going to Run yet? :)

 

 

That VGA to RGB Scart cable Sid? is that going to be clear enough for you, only I had a HP Pavilion running on S-Video (which is close to scart) & it was not clear, it was very blurry, but to watch films on was fine.

Edited by Escort_2f2f
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I mentioned I'd be running Windows 7 earlier. Haven't experienced it yet but everyone's raving about it and this will be a nice step to W7 before installing it on my main XP machines.

 

With regards to the display, to be honest I don't know. Some places say there might be issues but most say it's be fine. I could plug my PC or laptop into the TV just now to find out what it's like, but I'm reasonably confident there won't be any issues.

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Ah, well I have experienced running a media PC on a S-video cable, Just be wary of it, Some can be clear, some can not.

 

Fiddling with the Nvidia screen Flicker settings on my graphics card did clear it up a bit, so there maybe some settings you have that you can change, but I suppose you will cross that bridge when you come to it. :thumb:

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I mentioned I'd be running Windows 7 earlier. Haven't experienced it yet but everyone's raving about it and this will be a nice step to W7 before installing it on my main XP machines.

 

http://www.evo-host.co.uk/getimg/22297.jpg

 

I upgraded my one to win7 and boot times have tumbled. Lots of other positives as well, but youll see for yourself. For added goodness, disable any services that you wont need as part of your system, and your boot time will drop even more..

 

control panel->admin tools->services

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Just back from Maplin after deciding I couldn't be bothered waiting for delivery from their website.

 

Cheap dremel-esque multi-tool for butchering the case inards:

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/adolftitler/nespc00551.jpg

 

Mini case fan, 2 x USB 2.0 sockets to insert in the 1st controller port, assorted connections to allow the use of the USB sockets and the original power & reset buttons:

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/adolftitler/nespc0055532.jpg

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