Dedicated Emulator PC 2013 Build Thread!

The CPU fan is connected to the 4-Pin motherboard header, the Pump is connected to the 3-Pin Case fan header.

Yes there are 2 settings, one for the CPU fan one for the case fan, both are set to 'Full On' but changing those options to Auto or custom makes absolutely no difference. The fan is a 4-Pin CPU fan so should be able to be controlled by the motherboard header. One thing I'm not sure that I tried was completely cycling the power after saving the changes, so that's all I can do. If that doesn't work, I'll test with another 4-Pin fan before contacting Corsair for a replacement...

 

also check for motherboard bios updates just in case

 

Already done, first thing i tried. I'm hoping i just need to power off and on again after making the change. Will try it after work.

 

Let it get into windows too. My graphics cards are 100% fan speed until they get into the OS.

 

All quiet now! Just needed a reboot. Can barely hear it and keeping very cool. Ran OCCT for an hour, CPU reached a Max temp of 38c. Very pleased!

 

Nice project, even though I would have chosen a different form factor personally.
Also, as others already noted, the specs seem a bit overkill for most systems.
I'd probably have invested only half the money and wiped PS2 and possibly GC from that list.

 

Fair enough. I have been playing around with PS2 emulation and it's running really well now. Most games running at full speed. With the form factor i have chosen, i could add an extra drive whenever i want and store more game images - so it does have it's advantages. I have built smaller, less powerfull systems in the past (costing half the money) but they are limited, this is just progression...

 

Here is a demo of what the PC is capable of. No frontend yet, I have just been playing with settings…
PS2, GameCube and Dreamcast, with a little Taito Type X2 at the end!
Check out that boot time :encouragement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jS1Nh488CM
And another
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKST07-VtaM

 

Sweet, can you post any video with yakuza, vf4 for ps2?

 

Awesome. Might attempt to do this myself one day soon.

Very strange to see someone playing Ikaruga horizontally but I guess it could work

 

i've done that, with other shmups too its good for when you'd lazy and want to lye down and play, also handy if you have a widescreen

 

Quick HyperSpin (Frontend) Demo now up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptl4QRbmamU

 

I bought a case a while back for doing the same thing . Too bad I don't have the cash at the moment to do that.

 

I never even realised such a thing like Hyperspin existed. I think tomorrows plan is to ditch OpenEmu, dual boot Windows and get it running. Looks incredible.

 

Damn thats a nice frontend! blows QMC2 away...

I been keeping an eye to those android stick PCs, there are already some with exynos quads which can run anything up to the N64 without any problems.

And at >$100 is a great option for a dedicated emulator PC

 

I noticed that there was a version of Dolphin for Android on EmuCR yesterday, not sure of how well it runs....

 

so how much money have you invested for this project ? Is it possible to build something like this with an even smaller case ? Are you still happy with it ?

 

Hi!
About time I updated this really, but progress has been kind of slow due to work and planning my wedding!

Anyway, I have invested about £450 in total and I’m very pleased with it. I recently increased the storage by adding another 2TB SATA drive so there is a total of 4TB Storage and 60GB SSD space for the OS.

I have spotted another system that would be good for this kind of thing and it's a bit cheaper: http://www.ebuyer.com/452098-acer-aspire-xc600-desktop-dt-sljek-016
unfortunately, it wouldn't have enough storage space for me and the Emulators (Except PCSX2) wouldn't take advantage of the extra CPU cores.

I have spent the last few weeks getting to grips with Hyperspin and building full 'mint' ROM sets for the final build. By 'mint' I mean every ROM has a Video and Wheel art (Logo)/Box Art/Cartridge Image (When possible). This means I had to create my own artwork for some games... it's been a bit tedious, but will be worth it when it's finished.

It's an impressive setup. It seems that anything I want to do with it is possible and the creators of Hyperspin have included a great amount of useful features to really make the launching of games seamless.

I will get some videos up soon; hopefully explain in great detail what I have done to it...

 

Seems pretty expensive. You can emulate alot of the classic stuff with cheaper hardware. For the newer stuff like PS2, and even older like Saturn I think you're better off not emulating. Just my opinion. Though I understand the appeal of an all-in-one setup.

 

do you think the graphiccard is good enough in the acer xc600 ? Good enough for Dreamcast/PS2 ?