my 1.1Ghz NES PC (Mini-ITX)

JoeKew1

Member
Sep 22, 2000
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I recently put together a Mini-ITX NES PC, I know this has been done before, but I thought I'd post a couple links for people to check out :D
Mini write-up: http://not.hellalame.com/nes/
Picture Gallery: http://not.hellalame.com/nes/gallery.html

Quick System Specs:
[*] 1.1a Celeron
[*] Freetech P6F135 815 MoBo
[*]256MB RAM
[*]30GB Hitachi HD
[*]24x Slimline CD-ROM
[*]125 Watt 1U Power Supply

I also bought a PCI Video card (GF440mx w/64MB) with TV-Out I will be adding soon, and will most likely be making this a HTPC!
 

Jeriko

Senior member
Apr 3, 2001
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Ah - the memories. :D

Hey, how are you planning on cramming the video card in there? Gonna use a PCI ribbon riser and mount it over the MB or something?

-J
 

Antoneo

Diamond Member
May 25, 2001
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That is frikkin awesome. Wow. Excellent job, that is a piece of art. :beer:
 

bastula

Golden Member
Aug 31, 2000
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Great work! Too bad we sold our NES a while ago. That's great inspiration for me to do something artsy...
 

JoeKew1

Member
Sep 22, 2000
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Originally posted by: Jeriko
Ah - the memories. :D

Hey, how are you planning on cramming the video card in there? Gonna use a PCI ribbon riser and mount it over the MB or something?

-J


I actually bought a PCI Vid Card that fit (barely!) standing up! I actually already finished installing it tonight! I will post more pics of it tomorrow. Here are some pics of the card I bought: Text

And since the built in video is AGP, I actually now have Dual Monitor Capabilies! Or even Tri monitor with TV-Out enabled! It's even bvetter then I had thought!
 

RedRonin

Member
Feb 27, 2003
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I usually don't like these sorts of mods, but I really must applaud you on this! You have done a very good job, the result is very nice. I like that you worked so hard to maintain as much of the original appearance of the system as possible. Well done.

HUN-YA!

Red Ronin
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
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holy crap that is sooo much better than the dreamcast mod! in fact, thats probably the best mod i've ever seen!

you know what i'd do with it? use it to EMU old NES games :D
 

JoeKew1

Member
Sep 22, 2000
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Originally posted by: ElFenix
holy crap that is sooo much better than the dreamcast mod! in fact, thats probably the best mod i've ever seen!

you know what i'd do with it? use it to EMU old NES games :D

Thats the plan for now, I went and got my old NES controllers last night, and somewhere on the net (have the link somewhere) there is schematics to wire them up to your paralell port, which is what I plan on doing.

Also, got my second PCI video card last night, and it works great! The first one I got I think had power issues. So I will also be adding that into the case soon too!
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
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Hey, is that a Kentucky Fried Chicken monitor? I used to have one, LOL.
 

JoeKew1

Member
Sep 22, 2000
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Thanks for the links to the NES PC on eBay! I can't beleive that sold for $910!!! I might have to sell mine! (Or make another one to sell!)
Also, Thanks everyone for the compliments! (And yes that is a KFC monitor ;) )
And yes, a fair amount of patience was involved, and I'm still waiting for another Video Card to come in too! I finally found a Low Profile PCI Radeon 7000! So this will be the 3rd video card I have bought for my NES! The first GF4mx didn't work with my mobo, the second card, gf2mx, runs super hot, and has a rather loud fan on it, so hopefully this new Radeon will be what I wanted from the sart!

Also the rather high temps inside the case with the video card installed have forced me to install a 50mm exhaust fan on the back of the case, these are a couple prelim pics, I have a quiet fan, and grill on order!
Picture One
Picture Two
With the fan installed, system temps are down 10-15 degrees Celsius!!! And the CPU Diode temps are down about 5C!

Lastly, I am thinking of adding some LED's (HD & LAN) just below the CD-ROM and maybe put some USB / FireWire ports in there too.
 

nightowl

Golden Member
Oct 12, 2000
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Where did you buy your motherboard at? I have not seen any mini-itx boards other than the VIA models.
 

JoeKew1

Member
Sep 22, 2000
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Originally posted by: nightowl
Where did you buy your motherboard at? I have not seen any mini-itx boards other than the VIA models.

The motherboard was a little difficult to source, but I ended up going to pricewatch, and searching for "freetech". There was only 1 company that showed up as selling FreeTech components (KRI Computer I think), so I gave them a call, and asked if they could special order this board for me, turns out, they stock it! So I had one in my hand the next day since they are local to me!