Shift Posted May 7, 2016 Posted May 7, 2016 Just finished my GameCube PC and thought I'd share. First a bit of back-story. I used to shy away from projects like this as I have zero ability, but figured what the hell and just went for it. I'm sure I could have done things, but I am pretty happy with the way its turned out. No soldering, board trimming, wire cutting etc. has taken place on this build, the only thing that has been modified is the inside of the GameCube case (I had to saw off and file some plastic to make room for the motherboard). Also, no GameCube was harmed during the building of this PC. I couldnt bring myself to dismantle my GameCube, so I found a broken one on ebay that also had a moded lid that would accept full sized DVDs (I'm guessing this is was a failed mod?) The specs are as follow: CPU: A8-5557M GPU: AMD Radeon R9 M275X RAM: 8GB SSD: 120GB (M.2) The above is the innards of a Gigabyte Brix A8 (8890). The NUC size boards are the only ones that will fit into the GameCube casing. The other parts used are as follow: Official Nintendo GameCube to USB adapter 4 port USB Hub 2 40mm fans (these came with the Brix and are positioned next the the ) 2 USB ports are used by the GCN controller adapter and the other two have wifi and bluetooth adapters in them. I wanted to seat the motherboard lower then I have it, but i could due to the GCN controller board. It currently sits between the CPU board and the GPU board (which is stacked on top of the CPU board). I was also planning on fitting a DVD drive, but due to how high I've had to position the motherboards this isn't do-able unfortunately. It may be possible if I take a dremel and cut off a lot of plastic surrounding the underside of the DVD bay on the case, but I cant see me doing this. Air flow is good, I've installed and played a few games on this to test how far I can push it; Axiom Verge, Diablo 3 and Rocket League all ran fine, albeit on low to mid settings but very playable none the less. I tried playing GTA V on this and while it did run, it wasnt playable to be honest, I was getting very low FPS. Overall I'm happy with the outcome. I'm really pleased that I have all 4 controller ports working and that they lined up with the GameCube case ports in the first place (I took a gamble with that). I'm thinking about giving it a paint job, just need to make my mind up on the colours. This will now replace my aging HTPC and will also look much better.
Ashley Posted May 7, 2016 Posted May 7, 2016 I don't have much to say other than "this is pretty cool" but it is! What inspired it?
Shift Posted May 7, 2016 Author Posted May 7, 2016 I saw NES, SNES and N64 PC builds and while they are all cool, they can all fit proper sized PC parts and have space to space (especially if they use the powered ITX-Thin motherboards). I wanted to do something to challenge myself and I'm glad I did, this build wasn't hard at all and that makes me want to try something else. I'm currently looking into building a PC inside a GameBoy in a similar way to how I've built this one and by that I mean no soldering, cutting boards to size, re-wiring, crafting new parts etc. Now obviously you cant put a motherboard inside a gameboy, but I reckon an Intel Compute stick (or similar) would. Power it and a screen via a USB power bank. The only thing I'm struggling to work out how to do is the buttons. But I'm sure I'll work something out.
Ashley Posted May 7, 2016 Posted May 7, 2016 That sounds like an interesting project. Keep us updated!
Goafer Posted May 8, 2016 Posted May 8, 2016 Now obviously you cant put a motherboard inside a gameboy, but I reckon an Intel Compute stick (or similar) would. What about a Raspberry Pi? That would fit nicely I reckon. You can even buy screens for them that are about the same size as a Game Boy one.
Shift Posted May 8, 2016 Author Posted May 8, 2016 I did think of this as it would be easier, especially if I used a Pi model A or Zero. I may end up going down that route, but I'm going to see if there are any alternatives first, I think having a full windows experience on a gameboy would add an extra wow-factor.
Goafer Posted May 8, 2016 Posted May 8, 2016 True. I've set up my Pi as a multi emulator system using RetroPie and I've wanted to put it into a fancy case ever since. Just haven't had the time really.
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