Gaming PC inside an old Nintendo.

d_stilgar

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 7, 2004
Messages
440
Here are pictures of my NES PC. I am going to explain a few things as I go along. The original idea for this mod was by Tim Wasson of www.junkmachine.com. I first saw a NES PC on the screensavers. The PC works great, I play UT2004 all the time. The only thing I don't have working right now is the controller ports to play my ROMs.

First, here are the specs:

1.8Ghz P4
512mb Ram
60Gb HD
ATI 9200 128mb graphics card
Zelda Cart. DVD drive

It happens to be a gaming NES PC. One of very few.
Okay, from the front you can see that when open it still looks convincingly like a normal NES. The only difference is that the cartridge isn't perfect and the case badge.
Front_NES.jpg


Okay, here is the back. You can see some of my ugly cuts from when I was debating using another graphics card. You can also see something very sneaky on the right if you happen to be looking.
Back_NES.jpg


Here is the sneaky thing I did. I cut out part of the side of the NES so that my PSU would fit more easily. I did not want to use a cheater (DC-DC) PSU, so I cheated in the case a bit. You can see the side is cracking a bit, I will fix it when I rebuild...
Power_Supply_shot.jpg


Alright, here is a really fuzzy (sorry) pic of the PC opened. You can see the that underneath the DVD drive is my Radeon 9200, beneath that is the Mobo. The HD is in the front and the processor is in the back. The processor is uncovered (unlike everything else) and the rear fan pushes out the hot air while new air gets sucked in through the top of the case. After about 3hrs of Unreal Tournament though it overheats and my computer shuts down automatically. It's okay I'm fixing the problem.
Fuzzy_NES.jpg


Lastly, is the whole setup. I have my monitor, keyboard, and gyro mouse. On the right you can see my six speaker headphones (which work surprisingly well).
Whole_setup.jpg


That's it. Tell me what you think.

Also, I wasn't sure where to put this since it SFF and a cool mod, so I put it in both.
 
I like to play Unreal Tournament 2004 on it. It is just funner to play knowing that all the work is happening in my old Nintendo.
 
Please tell me that Nintendo was no longer working before you murdered it like that. Don't get me wrong it's a sweet mod but why kill an innocent NES?
 
But he ruined Zelda!!!

Nice job btw, cool idea to have the game be the cd drive.
 
ErrOnReq said:
But he ruined Zelda!!!
I hope that was already dead too! It should be a crime to murder a great game like that!

Great mod BTW, what MB did you use?
 
Zelda also doesn't work. I think I just need to clean the leads and replace the battery. Then I will put it in another carts. case.

I used the LV-670 mobo. If I were to do this mod again though I would use the LV-671 (uses the Pentium M processor) or this one... http://www.mini-system.net/ibasemb870.html. It's cheaper and is way better than the LV-670.
 
If I were going to start over again from the begining. Here are the parts I would use.

Mobo: http://www.mini-system.net/ibasemb870.html

RAM 1Gb: http://www.ld-technology.com/one_prod.php?pid=021451

Hard Drive 80Gb: http://www.3gplaza.com/estore/contr...etails?id=25607

Cooler: http://store.yahoo.com/maxcooler/dynatron1.html

DVD-/+RW Drive: http://store.yahoo.com/elegantshopping1/paujsllidv.html
Gaming Headset: http://superstore.ubid.com/is-bin/I...58AAAD8KpOV4y4C

Mouse & Keyboard Combo: http://www.adamant.com/itemInfo.asp...&menu=PARTS

PSU: http://www.axiontech.com/prdt.php?src=FG&item=61184

CPU: http://www.computerbrain.com/cbisys...CPUs&id=188

Adapter: http://store.yahoo.com/directron/cddvdadapter.html

And Another: http://store.yahoo.com/directron/nbadapter.html

Ribbon Riser: http://www.rackmountpro.com/productpage.cfm?prodid=594

Video Card (Already Own): http://www.power-color.com/r92p-d3l.htm

It costs around $1300. I would probably sell my other one before building this one.

I spent $1200 on mine. I started building it about 10 months ago and finished just before school got out. I used different parts (the ones listed weren't out yet) including a $350 motherboard that isn't even close to as good as the one in the link.

I would probably use a peltier along with the heatsinc. I would have a warning system in case the peltier went out and set up my system to shut down at a certain temp.
 
Thanks!
I asked because I have an old Apple case sitting next to me that I just gutted. I found out that one of my M-atx boards is just alittle too big (Keyboard/mouse ports would get covered) so I was looking for something alttle smaller. I found some flex boards that you might be interested in:
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/mv43vn.html
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/s2098agn.html

I think I might use the first one. I wonder if I could shoehorn it into an NES case too.
 
I don't know. I know the second one will fit but I didn't see dimensions on the first one. Here are the dimensions of a Nintendo.

On the bottom, about 7.75 x 9 inches. On the top, about 7.75 x 10. It is about 3.5 inches high.
On the bottom, about 19.685 x 22.86 CM. On the top, about 19.685 x 25.4 CM. It is about 8.89 CM high.

Here is what one guy did to solve that problem though, http://www.junkmachine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1111&start=0.
 
I wonder if I could shoehorn it into an NES case too

NES's are really small, not gonna be able to fit a flex-ATX board in there. Basically you'll need a mini-ITX board or an EBX or smaller SBC motherboard to be able to fit it.
 
I know the thread is a little old, but I wanted to say nice job! I like the creative way you got more room for PSU by mounting it a little outside the box..
Do you have any more pics of the internals?

At some point in time I am going to rebuild my NES PC ( http://hellalame.com/nes/ ).
I have actually started, but not done allot other than start cutting and re-working the next NES shell I am going to use. In the end it will be 10x better then what I have got now.
Anyways, nice job on packing so much power inside the NES!
 
CrimandEvil said:
Thanks!
I asked because I have an old Apple case sitting next to me that I just gutted. I found out that one of my M-atx boards is just alittle too big (Keyboard/mouse ports would get covered) so I was looking for something alttle smaller. I found some flex boards that you might be interested in:
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/mv43vn.html
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/s2098agn.html

I think I might use the first one. I wonder if I could shoehorn it into an NES case too.
WOW, thanks for that find... i think i m ready to do a mod with my p4

but for now, i prefer going with amd chips for cheaper prices

thanks
 
DREW10 said:
doesnt that run real hot :confused: :confused:

DREW
as a matter of fact, these kinda mods run REAL hot...

i did a mod inside a vcr just like what they did above with the Biostar M7VKQ Pro and AthlonXP 1800+... when its on for about 3 hours, the top metal cover becomes hot almost burning to the touch... i m still working on fixing it up because the harddrive recently broke and i just got an RMA replacement and i also need to do something about the heat problem and also get a new slim cd drive because for the cddrive, i just stripped down a regular cd drive and tied the parts together with electrical tape and altho it was a lil bit flatter, it was still too big and barely any room in it for air so now if i switch to slim drives, i may fit one or two blowholes on the top
 
Here are some pics from when I was at the beginning stages of the project. As you can see, I still had a monster cooler on my mobo.

Here is that pic with the case open,
DSCN0686.jpg


DSCN0685.jpg


DSCN0684.jpg


f68bf301.jpg


746939af.jpg


0013907f.jpg
 
d_stilgar, I know how you made that but it still sends a shiver down my back to see an NES and a Zelda game like that, lol. Very cool job none the less. :cool:
 
d_stilgar, is that a radeon 7000 i see?

i have a VERY similar card... the heatsinks the same, memorys placed the same, input output the same.... but its a blue card

also, is that a laptop cd drive inside the zelda game?... can u give us more info on that drive and how you made it?.. im about to order a laptop cd drive soon for a mod of mine and i need to know how you did it and if when you open, does the tray slide out all the way on its own or pops out and you pull the rest out... i seriously need to know about using laptop drives because i never used them and im about to... if you can, please contact me on aim at bladderoverclock if you can... thanks

thanks
 
d_stilgar said:
It's a radeon 9200. The card was pretty cheap, but it was PCI. To make the DVD drive I cut open the BROKEN Zelda game and shaved off all the useless plastic bits on the inside of the cartridge. I then superglued it to a really old dvd drive (4x playback) That I had stolen from an old laptop. Here is a link to a really good DVD drive. http://store.yahoo.com/elegantshopping1/paujsllidv.html REad page one for lots of info. http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=774570&page=1&pp=20
ahh, cool

the drive in the first link is REALLY expensive... im looking for one under 20 to 30$ so i plan to get it off ebay... do the regular drives (not slot ones) pop out all the way or just halfway nd the rest is pulled out manually?

yea, i did read it but im looking for indept info on the laptop drive so yea...

thanks
 
Something that I would definitely do once I have some spare money...GJ on your mod!
 
The tray pops out about an inch. Then I pull it out. That's why I like the idea of the slot loader.
 
d_stilgar said:
The tray pops out about an inch. Then I pull it out. That's why I like the idea of the slot loader.
ahhh... finally you tell me :p

thanks, that really helps

i decided against the slot loader because it costs a LOT more and i only spent about $217 on this computer that im using it for so i dont wanna add a 50% jump just by the cd drive... i ll go with regular laptop cd drives then

thanks
 
JoeKewl said:
If you don't need the ability to write DVD's, you can get a DVD Reader / CDR/W model for half the price allot of places.... (newegg I think has em) I also have seen em here:
http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/products_id/39
i dont care what it can do :p ... i just want a slim drive (hopefully slot load, or not..doesnt matter) that is cheap and can read at least cd's

edit- actually, i cant have a slot load... i need a regular slim laptop cd drive that uses a tray... this is because of the way my mod is like.. its inside a vcr but if its slot load, i can push the flap open inwards to put the cd in but when it pops back out, the flap cant open the other way outwards.. kinda confusing.... but regular ones are also cheaper

so im gonna forget slot load... sticking with regular slim tray drives
 
wayne said:
i dont care what it can do :p ... i just want a slim drive (hopefully slot load, or not..doesnt matter) that is cheap and can read at least cd's

edit- actually, i cant have a slot load... i need a regular slim laptop cd drive that uses a tray... this is because of the way my mod is like.. its inside a vcr but if its slot load, i can push the flap open inwards to put the cd in but when it pops back out, the flap cant open the other way outwards.. kinda confusing.... but regular ones are also cheaper

so im gonna forget slot load... sticking with regular slim tray drives
if you think about it, the flap will get nailed by the tray, too. How are you going to get around that? ;P

(easy answer, take off the flap, and instead of mounting it so it pushes inwards, push it outwards with a hinge)
(you can find plastic hinges at tapplastics.com)
(yes, they have springloaded ones)
 
diredesire said:
if you think about it, the flap will get nailed by the tray, too. How are you going to get around that? ;P

(easy answer, take off the flap, and instead of mounting it so it pushes inwards, push it outwards with a hinge)
(you can find plastic hinges at tapplastics.com)
(yes, they have springloaded ones)
well, i already took it off to use a regular sized modded cd drive and mounted it on the tray so it slides out sorta... but since im switching to slim drives, i ll do the same thing but a whole lot better... in other words, the flap is gonna be glued onto the tray with a spacer kinda thing in between

good suggestions, i ll check out tapplastics.com... thanks, i probably wont use it but if an idea shows up, i think i might
thanks
 
ok, i just looked at it and found the hinges... thanks... but if the flap is gonna be moving in and out, i wanna make sure theres so crevices on the drive tray for it to fall into and jam the movement... so i ll wait to get the drive first then consider hinges

btw, i already bidded $15.50 for a dell 24x tray load slim drive

thanks
 
d_stilgar

i just want to thank you for helping me with the laptop slim drive thing... from what you told me, i learned more about it and now i have ebayed for a Teac 24X slim drive that has already arrived and an IDE adapter that may come in tomorow or so

thanks
 
Awesome project. I was planning something similar for a friend's dead NES.

I just had a question:

Do you think a microATX motherboard will fit?
 
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