Super Cheap old school emulator box

ptsawyer

Honorable
Jul 30, 2012
12
0
10,510
Hello -

I am trying to spec out as cheap of a machine as possible to emulate old consoles and DOS games, nothing newer than Super Nintendo. I may consider emulating Nintendo 64... If it doesnt increase my cost/system requirement.

This is a pretty low power build...probably could use parts that arent even made anymore. If anyone has a suggestion on where to get older/cheap parts, I am all ears. My only modern requirement is it needs to output via HDMI to integrate into my current home theater setup.

Thanks.


Approximate Purchase Date: before Christmas
Budget Range: as cheap as possible
System Usage from Most to Least Important: old school emulation, (atari, NES, SNES, Genesis, DOS....MAYBE N64)
Parts Not Required: Monitor
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: any (used?)
Country: USA
Parts Preferences: N/A
Overclocking: no
SLI or Crossfire: no
Monitor Resolution: 1080p (tv)
Additional Comments: as small of a form factor as possible. Must output via HDMI
 
Solution
This is what I got

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A4-3400 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($47.61 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Biostar A75MG Micro ATX FM1 Motherboard ($59.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: AMD Entertainment Edition 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($34.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 350W ATX12V Power Supply ($23.17 @ NCIX US)
Total: $216.72
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when...

cutebeans

Distinguished
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: AMD Entertainment Edition 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($12.92 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($55.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Athena Power CA-GSB01DA (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($30.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $267.83
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-12 09:22 EST-0500)
 

bambinobomber

Distinguished
Apr 7, 2011
193
0
18,690
Looking at the system requirements, a Celeron would do the job fine. Even the recommended specs for Project 64 don't mention more than one core. It recommends a 1.5Ghz Pentium 3 and some 9-10 year old 256MB GPUs with 512MB RAM.

This setup would be fine and have ultra low power consumption, we are talking 20W under full load. Also would be a hell of a lot smaller and quieter than pretty much any PC out there. The only source of noise will be a single ~40-50mm fan.

ASRock E350M1 AMD E-350 APU (1.6GHz, Dual-Core)
Mushkin Enhanced 1x4GB 1066Mhz CL7
Crucial V4 64GB
Antec ISK 110 with 90W PSU

Total - $258.97 on Newegg

If you cheap out on the case and PSU you could make it closer to $200. Not something I'd usually recommend though.

 

ptsawyer

Honorable
Jul 30, 2012
12
0
10,510
Ok. Lets say I drop the N64 requirement... and I will only be emulating old DOS games (primarily pre-2000) and Super Nintendo or earlier.

Any way to drive the cost of this down? Anyone have a good source on obsolete parts? The smaller form factor I can cram this into, the better.
 
This is what I got

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A4-3400 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($47.61 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Biostar A75MG Micro ATX FM1 Motherboard ($59.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: AMD Entertainment Edition 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($34.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 350W ATX12V Power Supply ($23.17 @ NCIX US)
Total: $216.72
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-13 15:22 EST-0500)
 
Solution

twelve25

Distinguished