I ordered new Part for my Desktop PC (Ryzen 7800X3D) thanks to a good deal a friend from england helped me get.
Link: Sorry, im not allowed to link that, Forum said No.
Now ive been thinking what to do with my old parts and i thought i could build a Linux Emulationbox for my TV!
I have:
ASUS x570 Plus Wifi
32gb DDR4 Crucial Ballistix
Ryzen 3700x
4TB 2.5" SSD
old 500W PSU
and a donated GTX 1080 from that same friend!
i need:
A CPU Cooler and a Case
Since its supposed to sit under my TV i was thinking of something smaller than my Meshify 2XL i have for my Desktop PC and id need something cost-effective.
Could people here recommend me something?
Also, since this Build is just for emulating old games, is there a way to reinstall an older BIOS without all the spectre fixes and such that slowed it down and maybe configure Linux to also not use these mitigations?
Maybe i could some of that lost performance back that way.
I think im gonna go with a Montech X3 (usb 3.0 front) with triple 140mm fan mounts in the front.
1x Arctic P12
3x Arctic P14
1x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE
1x Montech X3
All together 108€ and nothing goes in the landfill
The Lian Li looks lovely, but a bit expensive maybe for what i need.
this is just a side project for me where i want to build a quiet and small as possible with ATX emulation machine, you know?
wow, id love such a small little system. i even looked into replacing my am4 atx board for a matx one or itx or something, but used prices were not as cheap as i thought and really nice small cases werent either, so i just decided to stick with what i have and see what i can build around that, you know?
Hm. If to stick with the mobo specified in the top, you would need a case to fit it.
The upper picture is an Odroid H3+ with a case. I think people do buy them for actual retro (I think even emulator) gaming. Although I actually got a good fps out of it with NFS Underground 2 (on low settings). But if you have the parts you listed, I would still try to make it work.
You would still need something with ATX support, and have space for the GPU. I think that would be quite a hassle if to attempt SFF.
If you don’t want to overspend (which leaves out the part of buying a smaller mobo, psu, and trying to find something that will fit the gpu) hm… yeah. I think this would be a road to follow https://youtu.be/2RytD3xII-0?t=564
Well. That could be an option. As long as it will be a better experience than the 30sh usd case I bought back in late 2000s, which turned out to be aluminum or something similar (you could literally bend it with a finger).
Definitely not a high-end option ans the included fans arent great, but i was gonna replace anything these cases came with with Arctic P12 and Arctic P14 anyway and have those controlled by my motherboard.
Lots of airflow and some really good Arctic Fans and im sure itll be whisperquiet when emulating some PS2-classics ; 3 <3
If it comes to a cheap HTPC cases, you could use a small midi tower and lay it sideways (if you prefer this orientation). I use self-adhesive silicone or felt feet and stickt it on this side. I did this with a Fractal North - (although this one is expensive.
Cheap cases:
Sharkoon makes cases you can get for around 30 Euro which are decent and small-ish. Please be aware, they are made of very thin metal and bent easily. But the cases I used are decent. The parts are machined well and didn’t have to make a surprise sacrifice to the blood/PC goods.
If you can still find it, the Jonsbo G3 ATX is a true HTPC case which can take a full atx board. Its shortened in height and lengh because the drive cages are situated over the mainboard.
A case from a defektive HP Omen 25L if you can get it free / cheap. and laying it on its side. It uses somewhat ATX complient case. You might have to add electric tape on the mainboard standoffs because their mounting surface is big (and made for the HP board). The case is thinner and shorter (because of the hdd drive cages orientation). I think it can be reused for a decent HTPC.
(I repaired my friends HP 25L by installing a standard ATX board and PSU after both failed and he uses it in his living room.)
Cooler:
I would simply use a stock AMD cooler for a Ryzen 3700. In my region people are giving these away for free for AM4 and older platforms.
Bios downgrade:
I wouldn’t downgrade. If you are using Linux, you could turn of most of the mitigations as boot parameter.
The system should be plenty powerfull for nearly 98% of all emulation purposes. Where it might struggle is PS3 and Switch emulation.
The jonsbo g3 looks gorgeous, cant find any units for sale tho sadly.
Didnt gamers enxus do videos about HP omen prebuilts and wasnt the hardware burning itself alive in those things?
Probably best to stay away from those.
Dont have the stock cooler anymore, but a thermalright peerless assassin 120 se is so cheap and so powerful, im just gonna go with that.
I WAS gonna go with linux for it, until i did some googling and found out there is no good way to get that to work with a gtx 1080. All the popular couch gaming distros support cards AFTER the 1650, getting anything before then to run is a nightmare, so im gonna go with windows 10 instead
i even messaged the devs behind ChimeraOS to please add support back, but thats not gonna happen
github dot com/ChimeraOS/chimeraos/issues/759#issuecomment-3217015643
