Spec me: A small, very quiet Mame/emulation box...

Chris [BEANS]

Chris [BEANS]

Chris [BEANS]

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30 Dec 2003
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Bigger box!
Hey,

I've built a few systems over the years but it's been a long time since I have and I'm well out of the loop on hardware...

Now I have my cushy little bachelor pad all sorted I'd like to knock up a little system to connect to the TV in the living room that will be a dedicated Mame/Emulation box.

Obviously it doesn't need to be remotely powerful nor have much in the way of a graphics card at all or much RAM.
My main criteria are that it needs to be as small and sleek as possible (only things under the TV are the Sky+ box and PS3 and I don't want a hulking great tower to go with them!!) and as near as possible to silent.

Cheaper the better obviously, but I'm willing to pay more for it to be small and sleek and for it to be quiet.

Any suggestions are gratefully received :)
 
Any use:

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Mini-ITX Motherboard £89.99
(£76.59) £89.99
(£76.59)
Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £82.24
(£69.99) £82.24
(£69.99)
Silverstone Sugo SG05B Mini-ITX Case - Black (300w PSU) £79.99
(£68.08) £79.99
(£68.08)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £58.74
(£49.99) £58.74
(£49.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.98
(£34.88) £40.98
(£34.88)
Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £36.99
(£31.48) £36.99
(£31.48)
Sony Optiarc AD-7700S 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - OEM £23.49
(£19.99) £23.49
(£19.99)
Sub Total : £351.00
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £63.48
Total : £426.23
 
way overkill, case isn't suitable for under the t.v and additional psu isn't needed.
For a mame box id find a case you like, then fill it with 2nd hand parts, as my mobile phone would be over powered for mame :p
I'd say no more than a £200 job
 
not necessarily overkill some of the newer emulated games still require vast processing power to be able to run them at 60fps. Mame emulates everything in software it doesn't run any hacks to increase performance as many of the mobile phone equivalents do.

Though for 90% of the games yes it is overkill.
 
Meant to delete the Corsair PSU as I changed the case half through the spec.

The op does not fully mention were the case will fit, that it will be for the living room tv.

Come-on were yours specs!!! :D
 
RJCs spec above looks good (as you say deleting the Corsair PSU), might be OTT but it will last and will be nice and quiet
The Sugo's a nice case, but I do like the look of the new Lian Li PC-Q09FB

Edit: Just worth noting for the OP the optical drive is a slimline version, comes under laptop drives, dont get a full size one as it wont fit
 
Last edited:
Cheers all :)
The case will sit under the tv next to the sky box or ps3.Don't think the spec needs to be particularly high at all. It's only going to be for the consoles from my youth (only up to snes and mega drive) and the most demanding mame games will only be cps3.

Having major trouble finding a case that I really like. Ideally I'd like it tolook as little like a pc as possible...

Thanks again all, appreciate the input :)
 
if you really don't like any of the cases available at all and are willing and able to have a go at modding your own case you could maybe try to find an old subwoofer and build a pc into that.

it is something i have been thinking about doing myself and just not got round to :(
 
Noah ITX case with built in 80W PSU + Atom board will do fine for that stuff. Tested mine with NES, SNES, N64 stuff and that worked fine. If you used an SSD in that setup you'd have no moving parts. :)

Admittedly there are cheaper ITX cases with PSUs, but I'm a sucker for aluminium fronts.
 
Most mame games/older console games will run on computer from 5-7 years ago. But nowadays you can emulate PS2/DC and they need a faster computer.

I've been emulating different consoles for the last 10 years now and there is always something interesting to play.
 
95thrifles said:
You dont like the Sugo or Lian Li as mentioned above?
Click to expand...

Actually, I've had another butchers at the Lian Li and I quite like it. I think that may well be the case I go for :)

Not sure I'll go for an SSD just now... I'll probably only have the games from my youth in which case it'd be fine, but if I do choose to try to get hold of the full mame ROM list I'd need loads of storage and large SSDs are expensive.

All open to change though.
 
An Acer Revo would be perfect for this, I've tested up to Sega Model 2 Emulation and Sega Rally ran nicely. Great for Mame, N64, Snes, Amiga etc. Tiny footprint uses hardly any power and can be had for around £200 depending on spec.
 
Cheers for all the input guys,

Sorry for the late reply but my broadband has been down....
Based on your combined suggestions and my OCD I have about having the thing completely silent I've come up with the spec below.
Can someone just confirm that it'll all work together, nothings missing and it'll be as close to silent as I can get?

Cheers :)


Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Mini-ITX Motherboard £89.99

OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C10 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G2000LV4GK) OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C10 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G2000LV4GK) £82.24

Lian Li PC-Q09FB Mini-ITX HTPC Chassis - Black Lian Li PC-Q09FB Mini-ITX HTPC Chassis - Black £80.99

Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £78.71

OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £67.99

Antec Kuhler Box High Performance CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) Antec Kuhler Box High Performance CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) £41.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.99

Sony Optiarc AD-7700S 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - OEM Sony Optiarc AD-7700S 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - OEM

Another question... What's the difference between a 'modular' PSU, and just a plain old PSU??
 
Chris [BEANS];18025407 said:
Cheers for all the input guys,

Sorry for the late reply but my broadband has been down....
Based on your combined suggestions and my OCD I have about having the thing completely silent I've come up with the spec below.
Can someone just confirm that it'll all work together, nothings missing and it'll be as close to silent as I can get?

Cheers :)


Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Mini-ITX Motherboard £89.99

OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C10 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G2000LV4GK) OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C10 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G2000LV4GK) £82.24

Lian Li PC-Q09FB Mini-ITX HTPC Chassis - Black Lian Li PC-Q09FB Mini-ITX HTPC Chassis - Black £80.99

Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £78.71

OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £67.99

Antec Kuhler Box High Performance CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) Antec Kuhler Box High Performance CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) £41.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.99

Sony Optiarc AD-7700S 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - OEM Sony Optiarc AD-7700S 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - OEM

Another question... What's the difference between a 'modular' PSU, and just a plain old PSU??
Click to expand...

Cheeky bump for this....

MikeHunt79 said:
An atom based machine would be good here.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and it's a great solution to my OP, only thing is, the more I look, the more I think I want the additional power of something like the above 'just in case'. Still 99% sure it will only be used as a mame/emulation 'console' without keyboard, mouse or anything, all done with a USB joystick, but if I do have any more ideas for it, it'd be nice to have the power to impliment them :)
 
It would all work yes, well not 100% sure on if that cooler would fit but I assume youve looked into this, however the RAM is not the best selection, look at this instead, great stuff at a great price
A modular PSU does not have to have all the cables plugged in, which is better particuarly with small form factor builds as you dont have to try and hide/tuck away any you dont need, you simply dont plug them in, theyre detachable, a non modular PSU all thecables are fixed into the box
However ITX builds require very little power and in fact the ITX cases come with their own built in supply, for some reason its not listed under tha Lian Li details on OcUK but if you check Lian Li's site youll seeit comes with a 150W flex PSU iirc
 
Chris [BEANS];18042909 said:
Yeah, and it's a great solution to my OP, only thing is, the more I look, the more I think I want the additional power of something like the above 'just in case'. Still 99% sure it will only be used as a mame/emulation 'console' without keyboard, mouse or anything, all done with a USB joystick, but if I do have any more ideas for it, it'd be nice to have the power to impliment them :)
Click to expand...
I see, i3 may be the way forward then. You could probably build a totally fanless low power rig if you went atom however...
 
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