I've been lurking for awhile here, read eskro's superb sticky, and have been running XBMC for awhile on an old clunker machine.
I've decided to take up the reins on my first big DIY custom project before I become a daddy in February.
That is, to fit a fully functional HTPC (running XBMC for Video and HyperSpin for emulation) into my old, original NES with as little noticeable modding to the NES chassis as possible. (Wes Miser's awe-inspiring work pushed me over the edge to finally go through with my own plans.)
I just wanted some more sets of eyes on my stuff to make sure I'm not way off base. So here is what I'm looking at:
My main concern here is heat. With such a tight space airflow is going to be a problem. I don't really like the idea of cutting air holes out of the bottom but realize it may be inevitable.
My current plan is to utilize the existing vents in the NES chassis to create a negative air pressure air flow, force exhausting hot air through the top vents in the NES chassis with 2-3 40mm Case Fan. This should pull cooler outside air into the case through the 3 vents on the bottom left and right sides of the NES chassis. Sounds great on paper, no? :p
With that in mind would there be much of a heat saving advantage to jump down to an A4? I noticed they had the same TDP (65W) as the A6 but recognize that actual temps can always be a little different. I noticed eskro's sticky doesn't mention them at all and some have found them to be not quite quick enough for some of the heavier skins.
I see a lot of people erroring on the side of caution and going with ION2 or e350 APUs in setups like this, so I'm not entirely sure if I'm not being a little crazy by trying to stuff something like an A4 or A6 into this thing. I'm going down the heftier CPU route because of HyperSpin - she is a pretty but cpu intensive beast.
So, what do you all think? Will it A) explode into a fireball, B) need some tweaking, or C) be good-to-go?
I've decided to take up the reins on my first big DIY custom project before I become a daddy in February.
That is, to fit a fully functional HTPC (running XBMC for Video and HyperSpin for emulation) into my old, original NES with as little noticeable modding to the NES chassis as possible. (Wes Miser's awe-inspiring work pushed me over the edge to finally go through with my own plans.)I just wanted some more sets of eyes on my stuff to make sure I'm not way off base. So here is what I'm looking at:
- CPU+iGPU: A6-3500 (Going the Win7 route so drivers shouldn't be a concern)
- Mobo: ASUS F1A75-I Deluxe
- Cooling: Scythe SCBSK-2000
- PSU: picoPSU-150-XT + 102W Adapter Power Kit
My main concern here is heat. With such a tight space airflow is going to be a problem. I don't really like the idea of cutting air holes out of the bottom but realize it may be inevitable.
My current plan is to utilize the existing vents in the NES chassis to create a negative air pressure air flow, force exhausting hot air through the top vents in the NES chassis with 2-3 40mm Case Fan. This should pull cooler outside air into the case through the 3 vents on the bottom left and right sides of the NES chassis. Sounds great on paper, no? :p
With that in mind would there be much of a heat saving advantage to jump down to an A4? I noticed they had the same TDP (65W) as the A6 but recognize that actual temps can always be a little different. I noticed eskro's sticky doesn't mention them at all and some have found them to be not quite quick enough for some of the heavier skins.
I see a lot of people erroring on the side of caution and going with ION2 or e350 APUs in setups like this, so I'm not entirely sure if I'm not being a little crazy by trying to stuff something like an A4 or A6 into this thing. I'm going down the heftier CPU route because of HyperSpin - she is a pretty but cpu intensive beast.
So, what do you all think? Will it A) explode into a fireball, B) need some tweaking, or C) be good-to-go?
