NES PC Build Complete

[Rinaun]

[Front](http://rinaun.com/images/nes/1.jpg)
[Back](http://rinaun.com/images/nes/3.jpg)
[Bottom](http://rinaun.com/images/nes/5.jpg)
[Ports](http://rinaun.com/images/nes/4.jpg)

Sorry for the poo pics, I'll get better ones tomorrow outside.

I just finished my own NES PC two days ago; figured I'd post it here to inspire others since I see different ways of doing them. I decided to have my board facing downwards and to dremel out the channels below for extra cooling room. I used a Pico ATX 150W and a Xbox360 PSU brick to keep heat outside the box. Specs are I3 2100, 128gb ssd, 4gb ddr3 RAM and a h67 gigabyte ITX. Heatsink is stock intel heatsink with the fan either removed forcefully or just popped off and a 120mm 60cfm corsair 12v fan modded to 7v. I forget if I had to mod the heatsink to remove the original fan since it was done a while ago but for the plate design you need a 120mm fan.

The plate I designed bolts to chassis and fan, while the fan gets ziptied to motherboard and all of the pieces stay super tight and squeak free. I left all the default ports alone but wired the front for usb (waiting on male NES ports to make NES MALE to USB FEMALE adapter). Everything works and the leads to the original ports still work, meaning I can add a modern micro-NES system back into the unit to make it completely stealth.
Before anyone asks: there's no grill because this is a prototype build which I've been testing different things on (material thickness, which plastic standoffs to leave, fan height, etc). You can easily get a screen mesh that fits over the fan and takes up zero height. The fan speed is quiet but I want to ramp it down a bit more since load temps are under 45c load with 50ish CFM right onto the entire board. I'm also making some extra plates in which anyone can bolt an ITX board into a NES with a few modifications to the NES like cutting off some standoffs and filing them down. You can do all the modifications I mention with a cheap dremel from harbor freight (under 20$) and just use the aluminum plate that's pre-cut to mount your ITX board onto it and slap 'er in. I'll be posting more details soon on my website (finishing a bartop arcade and another console mod among other webworking projects).

P.S. I'll post a few pics of the cabinet if enough people bug me to take them. I'm not a photo person if you can't tell already .

 

[nitromullet]

This is really neat. I'm curious about how you modded the Xbox 360 brick to work with the Pico ATX PSU.

I'm not really a pic person myself so I totally understand, but we all love it when people post more pics!

 

[Rinaun]

I took the Xbox 360 PSU and wired it straight to the picopsu (http://www.mini-box.com/M3-ATX-DC-DC-ATX-Automotive-Computer-car-PC-Power-Supply?sc=8&category=981). From there, you also have to bridge two wires (the red and blue wires IIRC but please double check) to enable the PSU. The issue I'm now facing if I want to make more of these units/do it 110% retail quality is that the 360 PSU when plugged in is always "enabled", meaning it's spinning a fan inside the power brick.

I'm not too worried since this unit is for home use, but I'm tempted to remedy the issue by adding a switch. I can't figure out an easy solution however to make it so the PSU realizes the PC is off to turn the brick's fan off without tying in another switch which is annoying to do. I don't feel like adding another button internally up front and while I could mod the channel 3-4 switch to on/off the PSU it'd just be a hassle for users.

In hindsight using a normal DC power brick and not a xbox 360 brick would have solved this dilemma. I'll take more pics tomorrow and pics of the bartop arcade cabinet project. We've decided to not use a template and go for a 1950's jukebox diamond pleated vinyl and oak veneer look.

 

[thilanliyan]

Cool, good work.

 

[Faljukin]

I like that.
More pics please!

 

[cytoSiN]

This is full of win, although I shed a tear for that NES.