Firstly, HI - I'm new here. If this isn't the place for this post, I apologize and please feel free to move it to its correct spot. Secondly, I'm needing help with a question. I want to start an Emulation Station as the title states but I'm not sure which way I should go about doing it. It seems the Raspberry PI is an extremely popular solution. However, I have a PC with Windows XP that is collecting dust, literally, and I want to put it to use. I'm wondering if anyone here has created such a station and what their solutions was. I'm open to all opinions/solutions. In case it makes a difference, I would only want to go up to N64 Emulation.
An Orginial Xbox console can be set as a ultimate emulation Station as well from N64 > Saturn > PSX & X68000, etc..
An older system with a dual core Atom and GT550 GPU should work fine. Could put it into a console case to fit in better with a gaming center. An NES or original Xbox case would be perfect and allow use of a DVD or Blu Ray drive even. These boards are fairly cheap now and would allow for making a cheap system that can go beyond N64 allowing for Dreamcast and even Gamecube emulation to run as well. I think even PS2 but definitely not Xbox. (I looked into that and the guy doing it is still working on game compatibility for his emulator. Funny how the Xbox is closer to a PC than the other consoles of the time but it's the hardest to make run on a PC...) The reason I say go with a PC over the Pi is because Saturn emulation takes some CPU muscle and the Pi doesn't have enough to do it. A newer board with the 2.13 Ghz 2 core Intel Atom CPU and Nvidia GT 550 GPU should handle the Saturn no problem as long as there aren't a lot of things running in the background. Windows 7 can be stripped of unneeded stuff so only the bare essentials are needed to run if the system is going to be used for only emulation gaming.
On Saturn Emulation, Don't It's not even remotely close or as awesome as the real thing. Emulate everything else, Get a real Saturn.
I was optimistically hoping to not get conflicting opinions. The PI is an attractive solution to me for its compactness, the draw of course being its processing power. I like that using a PC will allow for expansion in the future, although I'm really only interested in NES/SNES/N64, but still - the option IS there. If it makes any difference I also want to point out that I'm really interested in the retro feel and so I intend to buy/use USB modded controllers that look like OEM. @sonicdude10 - Can you recommend any websites that sell console cases? How much modding is typically required to get a PC into one of these?
