Associate
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2011
- Posts
- 1,448
Hello folks,
I'm looking for an ITX solution for doing the following:
- Serve up to 1080p files over a wired network via HDMI out.
- No blu-Ray (have a PS3 for that if needed, it's just a bit too power-hungry and loud to run 24/7)
- No TV card (not planning to have a large storage drive in this system, so scheduling/recording of TV wouldn't be a goer)
- Run a front end for the movie/game selection
- Run emulators for the following systems as well as possible:
NES
SNES
Megadrive
MAME
N64/Dreamcast (might be getting ambitious)
I also want to wire up a SNES-pad-to-USB converter inside, and possibly a bluetooth dongle, so a couple of free USB headers on the board wouldn't hurt (can work around this though).
Now, I don't know if I can do all that with on-board graphics, but I'd love to, as ideally I want to fit it all (external power brick aside) into a UK SNES with the innards ripped out.
I've seen a few SNES PC builds on the net to know that mini-ITX (17x17) will fit in the case acceptably, with room in the front/top for a small OS drive (and in one case, a slimline DVD inside a hollowed-out game cartridge, though I won't bother with that).
The basic problem I have is that I have NO idea about relative power at this scale in the modern era. All the build logs I've seen are 1-2 years out of date, hardware-wise.
So, the recommendations I need are:
Motherboard (+ CPU and cooler if separate) - powerful enough to run stuff, not hot or power hungry.
add-in GPU if strictly necessary (cost/space/power suggest IGP would be better if at all feasible for this workload)
Small SSD (or SD card + SATA converter?) for minimal OS, front end and ROM storage (SNES ROMS are only a few MB each, so large storage not really an issue)
OS/Front-end software (free is better than paid, happy to donate to donation-funded projects if they are good)
PSU with external brick.
Please let me know what you think would be best. I promise a build log with pics if this gets off the ground!
I'm looking for an ITX solution for doing the following:
- Serve up to 1080p files over a wired network via HDMI out.
- No blu-Ray (have a PS3 for that if needed, it's just a bit too power-hungry and loud to run 24/7)
- No TV card (not planning to have a large storage drive in this system, so scheduling/recording of TV wouldn't be a goer)
- Run a front end for the movie/game selection
- Run emulators for the following systems as well as possible:
NES
SNES
Megadrive
MAME
N64/Dreamcast (might be getting ambitious)
I also want to wire up a SNES-pad-to-USB converter inside, and possibly a bluetooth dongle, so a couple of free USB headers on the board wouldn't hurt (can work around this though).
Now, I don't know if I can do all that with on-board graphics, but I'd love to, as ideally I want to fit it all (external power brick aside) into a UK SNES with the innards ripped out.
I've seen a few SNES PC builds on the net to know that mini-ITX (17x17) will fit in the case acceptably, with room in the front/top for a small OS drive (and in one case, a slimline DVD inside a hollowed-out game cartridge, though I won't bother with that).
The basic problem I have is that I have NO idea about relative power at this scale in the modern era. All the build logs I've seen are 1-2 years out of date, hardware-wise.
So, the recommendations I need are:
Motherboard (+ CPU and cooler if separate) - powerful enough to run stuff, not hot or power hungry.
add-in GPU if strictly necessary (cost/space/power suggest IGP would be better if at all feasible for this workload)
Small SSD (or SD card + SATA converter?) for minimal OS, front end and ROM storage (SNES ROMS are only a few MB each, so large storage not really an issue)
OS/Front-end software (free is better than paid, happy to donate to donation-funded projects if they are good)
PSU with external brick.
Please let me know what you think would be best. I promise a build log with pics if this gets off the ground!