SNES CaseMod Project

I've always loved the SNES, the games, the graphics, the music, even how games could include extra ram or Co-processors to help it run games

I want to do something that not many people have done before, and put a computer inside a broken SNES, I want it to be the most capable it can be and eventually use it to make my own game on as my workstation

Realistically I can probably do it on a budget of 250$ for the absolute bottom barrel celeron deal, but I'd like it be able to at least do low poly 3D rendering

but I can't really make it only my funds alone (deadend job)

so I need the help of crowdfunding, now I don't really have much to offer besides making a build log with pictures, video, specs, parts list, instructions and a big thank you

What do you think I could as a reward?

What do you think of the project?

indiegogo page
http://igg.me/at/SNESPC/x/11056906

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This is realy nice,
I can remember that i have played on the Nes and Snes allot wenn i was little.
Of course i had the Euro version of the Snes, which was totaly diffrently from the US version.

But there was an US to EU adapter, to be still able to play the US games.
It was epic.
Played allot of super mario, zelda and stuff.

so my plan is to go for a sleeper look, which means no cutout IO pannel or vents that aren't already there, I'll get a Thin ITX motherboard and use the 2 pin power connector and make a power port for the dell AC adaptor to plug in at where the SNES power port would be

I could attach a momentary power switch inside underneath the power switch

for cooling I'd probably have this as a CPU cooler and as for air flow I'll probably use 3-4 40mm fans on the rear vents that are already on the SNES for a combined airflow of 10~20CFM intake, and 10~20CFM exhaust

I was thinking a xeon since its

  • A: Cheaper
  • B: Cooler
  • C: The P4600 is a bit faster than the regular 4600

If funding goes well I could use a PCI-E extender and put a GT 730 in the cartridge since its small enough and only draws 25w

I can get a wifi/blutooth combo mini PCI-E card and route a antenna in the cartridge as well

as for storage I can use a Msata SSD

looking forward to this

my Idea for the controller and controller ports is to wire the controller ports to USB

then wire a USB micro type b cable to the male controller connector and then wire the controller up so it shows up as a standard PC controller but also Flash storage inside, and the controller could be hooked up to the micro cable and it look just like a regular controller to a SNES, I could then use that Micro cable to charge mobile devices, hook up a PS4 controller, external hard drives or anything else a USB micro cable can be used on

with the storage on the controller I could load a bunch of games/movies/manga/entertainment and take it anywhere and I'd have games and a controller to play it on

blutooth would be used for the keyboard and mouse

I'll probably need to line the inside with thin Audio foam to reduce noise of High RPM fans I think I can swing 25-30 dBa fans with the foam, I'm not a stickler for sound I might have to go smaller than 40mm fans

can anyone recommend a quality 35mm or 30mm 12v fan that does at least 5CFM under 30 dBa?
I've heard brushless are the best type but idk

keep the look of the stock port, and take the wires and splice an old controllers plug as usb
cut off the connector bit and make the wires coming out go to a usb
serrial
youll end up with an "adapter" that makes the controller one and 2 ports of the snes come out as usb
just take the wires from usb and run them through the holes of the standard snes controller plug
this pinout shows each controller port has 7 connections


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yeah that's what I was kinda planning
one end would be the SNES controller connector and the other would be a Micro USB end, and you'd plug that into the controller

and then have a micro female port on the controller and that would lead to a small 2 port hub, one port would have the storage, and the other port would have the controller hooked up to one of these
http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=44

that "should" make it a USB game pad as well as storage

I'm thinking a blower type fan would be better, but I'm not big on having more exhaust than intake
this one has pretty good CFM and dBa rating and I'm pretty sure I can make it fit

and maybe 2 of these if I can fit them, for intake
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5507/fan-280/Sunon_40x40x28mm_MagLev_Fan_GM1204PQV1-8A.html?tl=g36c15s575#blank

I might go with the 4 40mm ones but Idk if they would be better for exhaust since the vents are only 20-30mm high

i have seen a project similar to this a while ago with a Nes
i´m realy looking forward to it.

You are going to trow a pentium G3258 in there or what not?

I was actually thinking a Xeon, I've got a heatsink that can move the heat fast enough, I just have to more more air than the heatsink does
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117318
or if I use the GT730
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117315

I plan on undervolting it and maybe dropping the freq

if broadwell/skylake is released soon I could wait for that

Those are identical links?
Looks pretty neat, this.

Gah, thanks for the heads up, fixed

Xeon will be even a nicer chip indeed.
I think that the 1231-V3 or 1241-V3 with dedicated gpu would be a better choice overall.

yeah the cpu will depend on the funds I'll have, wether or not I can afford a high end one or a gpu or not

I did a project similar to this one https://instagram.com/p/w-SODtMrPU/ I used a pico psu to allow more room in the enclosure, it takes DC power and converts it, I also ended up hollowing out a broken cartridge and putting the hard drive in that for a little more space. I also recomend keeping the pcb attached to the controller ports if youre going to retro fit it to usb just so its easier to solder

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One other thing i'd suggest is wait for skylake, because the mini itx formfactor motherboards have laptop size ram and m.2/mini pcie all really great for lower power consumption and space saving because one of my BIGGEST problems and the reason why I had to scrap mine was not enough space to do everything I wanted to.
http://wccftech.com/asrock-unveils-lga-1151-socketed-motherboard-featuring-support-6th-generation-skylake-processors/

well on the these thin mini ITX mobo's they have a DC jack and a 2 pin connector incase you wanted to make your own input connector somewhere else and it can be powered by a Dell AC adaptor outside leaving more room inside, it also has flat Msata and MPcie so that takes less room than a HDD and I don't have to have power and sata cables taking up space either

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yeah DDR4 for skylake would be nice, and the L4 cache on CPUs would be nice too, as well as the heat and power consumption drop due to 14nm

Oh I see, yeah thats actually really smart, haha I'm just trying to help out where I failed so you can avoid my errors all together.

if I had more money than sense I'd go bonkers and custom make a small phase change system and put those crazy mini itx socket 2011 v3 and a 18 core xeon lololol

but I don't have tony stark money lol

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