Advice/thoughts/suggestions on building a CHEAP gamebox

[jinx]

I guess the thing is I can justify the $300-$500, but just not all at once. I don't want to just plunk down $300-$500. If that's the price range, then fine, but then I'd rather buy in pieces as I have spare $ and time to put into the project.

In your PM you mentioned Linux - I'm guessing Linux is no good for more obscure emulators though (3DO, CD-i, etc)?

Understandable. That's usually how my rigs are built; piece at a time.

I'm not sure about 3DO or CD-i as I've never had a reason to emulate. In-fact, I just recently started messing around with Turbografx games via emulation. I'll have to take a closer look when I get home.

Lots of people prefer Windows for emulation, but I've never had issues with the games I play. In-fact, some emulators perform better on Linux with older hardware.

[noiseredux]

ah yeah, Turbo CD was another one I really want to make sure runs well.

I'm not opposed to Linux at all - if it's going to do what I want. I've tinkered w/ Linux on and off for nearly a decade. But yeah, I'm def far more familiar with Win based emulators, so I don't even know if 3DO, CD-i, TGCD, etc are even emulated at all or how successfully on Linux. If you get a chance to look into any/all of those, certainly keep me updated.

What about Steam, GOG, DOS or early Win games on Linux? I imagine some of the Win stuff is doable via WINE? Is there a DOSbox-type deal for Linux? Does Steam have a Linux client yet? I'm pretty sure GOG is not Linux-friendly?

Also, how is Linux (and Linux emulators) w/ USB controllers? Good? Is there stuff like joy2key on Linux?

Obviously paying $0 for the OS would be a great way to go.

[jinx]

TGCD works great, and is integrated into the emulators. You just have to find the bios file and you're golden. That's how I've been playing Godzilla: Battle Legends for the past week. I use Mednafen for most emulation, but there's also HuGo for TG/TGCD.

Even if there isn't a native Linux 3DO or CD-i emulator, one might run in WINE. I know a lot of Linux users still run Project64 in WINE, but I prefer mupen64+.

Steam and GOG have Linux games, but not all games are supported. There is now a native Linux client for Steam, and they've been working really hard to get most of their library ported over. We already have all the Half-Life games and Portal games. You can take a look at their sites for the little penguin.

I'm not as big into PC gaming as I used to be, but most games I run work fine in WINE if I can't run them natively. If there is a specific game you want to play, you can search it on http://appdb.winehq.org/ and it will tell you if it works, how well it work, and what you need to do to get it to work (if anything). Take it all with a grain of salt though, as I've had games rated "Garbage" work perfectly, and vice versa.

[noiseredux]

yeah, I'm not a big PC gamer myself. Though my thinking is that if I have this dedicated gamebox hooked up to a TV with a controller and it feels like a console experience to me, well I might get a bit more motivated to try more PC games again. At least would give me more excuse to nab cheapo PC games I see at yard sales. Haha.

[fastbilly1]

Finding a mini PCIE card that outputs Component is going to be very difficult. Your best bet is going to be a scan converter. The Apex case is nice, and you can easily get one pieced out for it. If you have to buy in steps, buy the case you like as soon as you can find it. Thats the hardest part. That case comes with a PSU aswell so now you are down to:
Motherboard
Processor
RAM
HDD/SSD
GPU

[jinx]

Finding a mini PCIE card that outputs Component is going to be very difficult. Your best bet is going to be a scan converter. The Apex case is nice, and you can easily get one pieced out for it. If you have to buy in steps, buy the case you like as soon as you can find it. Thats the hardest part. That case comes with a PSU aswell so now you are down to:
Motherboard
Processor
RAM
HDD/SSD
GPU

I keep forgetting that Component was one of his requirements. >.<

[noiseredux]

Finding a mini PCIE card that outputs Component is going to be very difficult. Your best bet is going to be a scan converter.

word. It's prob less headache too eh?

The Apex case is nice, and you can easily get one pieced out for it. If you have to buy in steps, buy the case you like as soon as you can find it. Thats the hardest part.

It is nice, isn't it?

Yeah, I think that's my plan. Buy the case and then go from there.

That case comes with a PSU aswell so now you are down to:
Motherboard
Processor
RAM
HDD/SSD
GPU

I actually have a couple of HDD's around that I could use for now. I know I have a regular desktop IDE drive that had been what I used in my fat PS2 years ago, as well as a spare laptop drive (the ones that are the size that PS3 uses).

I prob have some RAM around too. Though no idea how much or what kind, so shrug if it would be compatible with the setup.

But yeah. Ball can actually start to get rolling. As I pointed out, I'm aiming for cheap. So using an HDD I already have and considering Linux... well now we're getting somewhere cheap. (My thought process being that if it goes well and I like the outcome, I can always upgrade things later).

EDIT:

With the idea in mind that I'll use my spare HDD, and will go w/ Linux it looks like this project will be in the $250 range for me just on rough estimate. I think I'm gonna grab the case listed above to start. But then as I research each piece that price could certainly go down by shopping around a bit.

@Jinx: What build of Linux do you use? I've dabbled mostly with Ubuntu in the past, though I'm thinking about checking out Mint. Looks really user-friendly, nice GUI, and apparently is really great for media stuff?

[fastbilly1]

Sounds good Noise. I can help you more after this weekend. We can get on skype and spitball it if you want.

[isiolia]

@Fast: just to confirm, the reason that you had mentioned that Dell Optiplex is because buying a smaller case (like: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811154091 ) would not have the capability of installing a GPU with component out?

That particular case only fits mini-ITX boards, which only tend to have one slot. It does have space for a card though - fit will likely be very tight, but so will anything in there. Seems fairly common that clearance for CPU cooling is an issue with it looking at the comments.

Linux Mint is basically Ubuntu tailored to the taste of folks who don't care for the direction Ubuntu has taken with the default UI.

[noiseredux]

That particular case only fits mini-ITX boards, which only tend to have one slot. It does have space for a card though - fit will likely be very tight, but so will anything in there. Seems fairly common that clearance for CPU cooling is an issue with it looking at the comments.

Yeah I'm not going to worry about putting a graphics card in with component-out, as fast pointed out it seems like more work, more $, that can be achieved for less work, less $ by going external conversion route.

I'm guessing that CPU cooling is an issue with most small form cases, no?

I also had read that this case does have room to add another small fan to it, so was planning to do that.

EDIT:

Is there a similar case w/ power supply for the same price or cheaper that you'd recommend for any reason?