Nes Pc!

[gggelo]

I think it will surpass your laptop in almost all categories. If, however, you want something faster, you can dump the NES PC idea and go in another direction. For about $500-750 you can build a pretty nice gaming computer.

that`s the thing, i dont think i`ll be gaming heavily on the nes pc (emulators will dominate most likely) i just don`t want this pc to be similar to my laptop in terms of everything =/ although i'm more then sure that my laptop would die from call of duty modern warfare...

[gggelo]

hey stilgar how much heat would i be dealing with if i choose to go with a non atom mobo in comparison with the ion one? common sense tells me that the quad core'll be alot hotter than the dual but as to how much exactly i'm unsure...

the geforce9300 just allows for possible upgrades later on in it's life when quad cores and etc are alot cheaper then they are now.

[d_stilgar]

Well the thermal output on the Atom is 14W. The other processors I linked to are 65W and 73W. That's a lot more!

The first NES PC I built used a 1.8Ghz P4. The thermal design on that CPU was 50W. I also had an ATI Radeon 9200. I could play computer games for about an hour and a half before the computer overheated and shut down. The airflow was very poor, and it was my first ever build. I could do a lot better now, but if I wanted a decent gaming PC I would have to liquid cool and make custom blocks. It would be difficult for me and probably even harder for you to do a first build like this.

I would highly highly recommend going with the atom for your first build. It is a very powerful processor, and the Nvidia Ion is really great. I think you will love it.

If you need something to do more than emulation, I would say to do a build in a standard case, even a small form factor one.

Good luck!

[gggelo]

WOW. that sounds like alot! i thought that if i was gonna go with the 9300 i'll just have to add a fan or two and problem fixed

sorry but i'm driven to make this nes computer! it was just that the 9300's upgrade ability was so enticing and i thought that if i throw a dual in there then when the quads go cheaper i could put that there too with a 8gb ram = badabing badaboom! future ready.

but if i was to go with the atom one i've read that you can safely overclock it to 2.0 ghz would that make the thermal output soar? or would it just slightly raise?

also the ionitx-f-e has a pci-express which i've only seen people put a graphics card into it, but if i was to add a graphics card wouldn't it be a waste since it'll just get bogged down by the processor?

thanks alot for the responses btw

[gggelo]

just a quick update, i've been researching like a madman on the possiblities as to what can go in the nes pc.

Mobo:

Zotac ION - HIGHLY recommended, will have no space and heat problems and best value, drawback is performance (intel dual atom running at 1.6ghz)

Zotac 9300 -GREAT in terms of upgrade ability (can run core 2 duo/quad, celeron and etc.) problems come in at heat (creates x4 or x5 more thermal energy than atom) and price (board + processor = $$$)

the main thing derailing me from going with the 9300 is the amount of heat it'll produce, the only way i was told that i can cure that is either to cut and mount fans or water cooling (which seems really complicated) also planning to overclock the atom to 2.0 (supposedly highest ghz while maintaining stability) so it somewhat makes up for the drawback in power but still nothing compared to 9300.

Hard Drive:

HDD: Best value

SSD: Expensive but faster, doesn't crash when shaken (very very hard), but $/per gb is insane (100 gb = $200-$300?)

what i thought of doing was getting an ssd large enough to fit windows 7 in and have it set so everything i save'll go into the hdd like my pictures, videos or etc.

RAM:

Regular or Dual channel?

There's been a report that someone was able to overclock the ion itx at 2.2 but as to how, only the parts they used was posted.

http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news...vidia-ion.aspx

CD/DVD/Bluray Drive:

Not sure what i'm gonna do about this one quite yet, it seems to be a waste to have something hd capable and not put a bluray player/burner but i don't wanna shell out the extra cash so maybe a cd/dvd burner for now till i either make more money or blurays have a price drop.

also having a hard time finding a slim dvd drive, i'll need sata but most slims are ide (made for laptops) so maybe i'll just get the adapter for it or somehow make an external slim into an internal one? this one's still up in the air.

thoughts/inputs/feelings?

[d_stilgar]

Most new slim drives will be SATA.

I had heat issues with my 50W P4, but I also had a 300W AC-DC PSU and a video card in that machine. You will be able to go with a DC-DC PSU and the on board 9400M video, both of which will save on space and heat output. I had almost no air flow in that machine.

The top vent is 40mm wide, and 40mm fans are available. You could easily build a channel to pipe air in the top vent, over the heat sink and out the back. Check out the rear shot of my first NES PC. A fan fits in the back and looks like its meant to be there.

From what it sounds like you want from this machine, the Atom should do whatever you need it to. Here is a list of what I would do if I were building this machine.

Mobo -$180

Ram - $85

640Gb Slim HDD - $90

A google search for a slim slot load blu ray drive found some $300 drives. That's way too much. You can go with something half that much. There's this at newegg and you could strip that and I'm almost positive it will be SATA on the inside.

So, there you have it. For $500 (and I maxed that thing out) you have a top notch home theater, web surfing, emulation machine. Now, you could easily downgrade the ram, HDD, and disk drive and do it for ~300. In any case, if you want to do an NES PC, and this is your first build, go with that motherboard with the integrated Wi-Fi and power.

[gggelo]

thanks d! a great help like always. i think i may just go for the atom one and maybe later on i'll sell it and start again from square one! by then maybe technology'll change so i can have a nes as my main computer xD. (without ruining the shell)

due to not living in america, the 640gb hdd isn't 90 =/ it's 129 at newegg.ca which is quite a difference.

so you think i should go for bluray on this one eh? i guess that'll help resell ability later on,

EDIT: scratch that, that slim bluray isn't available in canada -.-

[d_stilgar]

Really, I recommend that you get what you need to do what you want to do with the machine. If you won't be gaming, you don't need power for it. If you aren't going to be connecting it to an HDTV, you don't need blu-ray.

I would say to do this one for as cheap as possible, the only splurge being that you get the motherboard I linked to, since it should be able to do web browsing and HD movie watching for five years at least no problem. If later, you want to do it again or build a more powerful machine, you will have the low cost experience of this build behind you.

[gggelo]

Really, I recommend that you get what you need to do what you want to do with the machine. If you won't be gaming, you don't need power for it. If you aren't going to be connecting it to an HDTV, you don't need blu-ray.

I would say to do this one for as cheap as possible, the only splurge being that you get the motherboard I linked to, since it should be able to do web browsing and HD movie watching for five years at least no problem. If later, you want to do it again or build a more powerful machine, you will have the low cost experience of this build behind you.

i agree, i'm just thinking on whether or not to get the blu ray and as to how much space i'll be needing for the hdd,

[nevermind1534]

In my opinion, flash drives/portable hard drives are more practical than Blu-Ray as a means of storage.