Ferrari Pc 80
The Nintendo PC
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I first read about the mini-ITX form factor in ET's State of the Motherboard report back in May. When Nintendo came out with the retro Game Boy Advance SP, the commercials inspired me to dig out my Nintendo Entertainment System and give my old friend a facelift. Thus was born: the NESPC.
After doing some research I settled on the VIA EPIA MII1000 series of motherboards because of its unique inclusion of a PCMCIA slot and CF card reader in the back panel. It sports a 1GHz VIA C3 processor, which I paired with 512MB of PC2100 RAM. Because of the tight space the single PCI slot on the mobo would be unusable, so the PCMCIA slot provided an alternative method to add Wi-Fi to my system. The board also includes a SPDIF audio connector, S-Video out, Firewire, and integrated graphics, all of which amounts to a great HTPC package for streaming audio and playing DivX movies.
I began the project by dismantling my NES. I removed all the internal components and, after a moment of silent reflection, eighty-sixed all but the plastic shell, power buttons, and rear output connectors. Grinding down the mounting posts cleared the interior space and allowed me to use some ultra-low tech cardboard cutouts to work out the interior arrangement. I chose a Panasonic slot-loading 24x12x24x16x combo drive to minimize visual impact. This left room for a 2.5-inch HDD on the right side of the box. A Samsung 40GB 5400RPM drive proved a good compromise of price and performance, since I planned on streaming my MP3 collection and only storing some compressed video content on the drive. Power came courtesy of a Morex 80W PSU, which uses an external brick to send power to a tiny DC/DC converter card inside the box. The round nature of the power connector allowed me to install it in the same place as the NES' original power connector had been. Coupled with the power brick, this gives the unit a much more authentic console feel.
NewEgg.com supplied the more mundane parts with its usual complimentary three-day shipping service, and LOGIC Supply came through with the more specialized Mini-ITX-specific components with a respectable four-day turnaround. By the end of the week, I had a glorious pile of computer goodies ready to be stuffed into the hulking carcass of my NES. Attaching these components to the case required a completely original system that I had to create from a 1mm plastic plate. After cutting a hole for the rear panel I created four box-shaped mounting posts for the mobo and glued them to the bottom half of the case.
Two more mounting posts were created for the DC/DC power card to sit slightly below the mobo on the right side. On the top half, I created a snap-in mounting bracket for the HDD and optical drive. The slot-loading combo drive was mounted so that the slot extended just below the lip of the cartridge bay, and I created a mask to cover the rest and hide the interior components.
With the interior taken care of, it was time to give some attention to the system's accoutrements. To keep the exterior looking as authentic as possible, I cut the old RCA jacks off of the original I/O cluster and glued them to the case in their original position. The power supply connector fit perfectly in the hole the original had occupied, and only the Channel Select switch couldn't be returned to its original position. I had toyed with the idea of rewiring the controller ports as USB ports, but I was unsure of the feasibility of doing so. Fear of shorting out my $175 mobo ultimately dissuaded me from trying it.
Instead, I created a front I/O cluster from an expansion bracket salvaged from an old case. I removed the metal bracket, cut the plastic unit in half, and glued the pieces together to form a single block with two USB 2.0 and two Firewire ports. Lo and behold, this block fits perfectly in the space behind the black bezel to the right of the game-loading slot. To hide the I/O cluster I removed the bezel and carved the holes in the beige plastic behind it. I cut the bezel at the seam on top and created a hinge with a sprue from an old model kit and a pin. The result is barely distinguishable from the original, as the hinge is very low profile, but flips up to reveal a functional outlet for connecting to the front of the unit: especially handy for connecting a controller for emulator play.
I wanted to wire the LED and Power and Reset buttons to perform their original functions, so I cut the leads and rewired them to connectors harvested from another case. The LED shared a connector with the Reset button so I had to clip in from its PCB and wire it directly. Unfortunately, the NES power switch (when connected) would cause the system to power on briefly and then power off again, so the Reset switch became the power switch.
With all the components installed and cables connected, the box was extremely crowded and took some finesse to get closed. Windows installed without any problem and the system was up and running in no time. The only fan is the one on the processor heat sink, so the system is very quite. But, with practically no ventilation and the insulating properties of plastic, the unit gets quite hot. Luckily, the VIA C3 processor produces very little heat and the PSU and HDD are in an area where the heat can easily exit the box. Temperatures never reach the point where the system becomes unstable. With a Wi-Fi adapter, it streams music, surfs the Web, downloads movies, and runs NESticle like a champ. It won't, however, run iTunes visualizer in full-screen mode. Overall, the NESPC makes a great HTPC that doesn't looks anything like one and makes a unique addition to my home theatre stack.
Source: https://www.extremetech.com/computing/56940-the-nintendo-pc
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