N64 emu box hardware help

[dertchuka]

Hey guys/gals, I'm putting together a box just for n64 and down, could I please get clarification on these few things?
I'm planning to use one of these with 4gb ram
my questions are: would this unit h with the celeron processor run N64 at hi res at an acceptable level? if not, do you have any recommendations?
when it comes to hard drives what size would be acceptable for everything n64 and below, and are there major differences between the 7,200 5,400 ssd
which OS would be best?
front end recommendations? is it possible to also have old pc games in frontend game list?

 

[Toasty]

I suspect that CPU/GPU is adequate, but I'd wait for someone else to chime in with a second opinion.

As for hard drives, choose one that has enough space to store the games you want to store on it, in addition to the OS. I doubt HD rotation speed will have any real impact on anything N64 or older, maybe a few extra milliseconds when starting a game. Reasons to go for an SSD would be if you want more reliability or less heat/noise. Price per GB is not as favorable for SSDs, but with the exception of PSX games you could probably fit an archive of just about every N64 and earlier game on a 32GB or so drive.

OS and front end are going to depend on your usage and preferences. Do you want the machine to serve other purposes? How are you controlling this box? (Exclusively with a game controller? Does it have a mouse/keyboard?) How adventurous are you with non-Windows OSs?

 

[dertchuka]

thanks for the quick reply. aiming to use a game controller with a mouse and keyboard on hand just in case. I'm willing to try any OS to get the job done but have never worked outside of windows. I would also like to bundle in some old pc games so OS would hopefully handle those also. The box is firstly for gaming, we stream movies to a smart tv so media streaming isn't required, saying that any extra features after gaming would be a bonus not a necessity.
thanks again

 

[Fanatic 64]

From my experience if you want to play N64 games and old games you may in fact want to get Windows Vista (it has less compatibility annoyances than newer versions), though it hasn't been sold for quite a while, so you may want to get Windows 7, which works well. I don't recommend Windows 8, for a variety of reasons.

And do you plan to put any graphics card on that?

 

[AIO]

It depends what your standards are. For OS, I'd either get Win XP or Win7.

I looked at those specs, if you want to use high end n64 video plugins, you'll have trouble getting 60 fps. If I understand correctly, the hardware you linked uses an integrated graphics card. Not good for N64 and PS1. 2.4ghz would be enough if you weren't using an integrated graphics card though. The bottom line is don't expect high performance with integrated graphics.

Idk what your main focus is, but you won't have to worry about performance for any system below ps1 & n64, unless you want to use a cycle accurate emulator.

For harddrive size, it depends on what systems you're playing. If none of them are disc based, you won't have to worry too much about size. An n64 game is typically 8-32mb depending on the game. Snes is anywhere from like 500kb to a few MB per game.

 

[Fanatic 64]

Don't get Windows XP unless you don't plan to connect that machine to the internet.

I asked about graphics card because the Intel GMA in the Celeron processor will glitch out N64 emulators.

 

[dertchuka]

Do I have any room to move with integrated graphics? this was the part I was unsure of when shopping. As far as I can find with these barebones units the graphics are onboard.
As far as internet goes, after setup the machine may only be on the home network to update libraries or stream a movie if need be from the desktop.
Thanks for the feedback, it's very helpful.
not trying to be cheap but I'm hoping for the smallest unit that will give me quality n64/ps1 without paying for an unnecessary overpowered unit. thanks again

 

[Clements]

I personally would be inclined to find a nettop with an AMD APU or low-end GeForce. Perhaps something with similar specs to a Eee Box EB1037 if you can afford it?

 

[AIO]

The reason I suggested possibly getting XP is because some things work better for it. DirectSound and DirectDraw are good examples. But ya, I'd say Win7 is a safer choice.

Do I have any room to move with integrated graphics? this was the part I was unsure of when shopping. As far as I can find with these barebones units the graphics are onboard.
As far as internet goes, after setup the machine may only be on the home network to update libraries or stream a movie if need be from the desktop.
Thanks for the feedback, it's very helpful.
not trying to be cheap but I'm hoping for the smallest unit that will give me quality n64/ps1 without paying for an unnecessary overpowered unit. thanks again

You can manage with integrated graphics, you will have to be extra picky. For example, I have a 2.67ghz quad core I5, but integrated graphics card. I can run most games for n64 fine. If you pick the right plugins and emulator, you won't have to worry about performance nearly as much. A fast emulator + fast video plugin gives me an insane fps. Basically if graphics are a big concern to you, then integrated gfx is bad. Otherwise it doesn't really matter if you'd rather cheap out and use less performance intensive programs (not a bad idea tbh). If you have access to a decent computer right now, try testing out n64 emulators, games, and plugins to see what you want/ need.

 

[dertchuka]

Yeah I'm thinking I may have to go a mini-itx build and throw a dedicated card at graphics, although during my novice searches I come across people praising AMD's later integrated graphics. I really thought this was going to be simple haha.
and yes windows 7 seems to be the goods, particularly as I'm hoping this machine will be portable enough to take away with me on holiday from time to time when your accommodation cheaps out cable tv!

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Vista still has compatibility issues, any version with UAC does...

So XP is better, as long as you know how to not have ports wide open and not browsing the internet with an administrator account.

And for folks that hate XP 2002, there's XP x64 and Windows Server 2003.

Server 2003 is still supported. And it has no UAC annoyances...

 

[Fanatic 64]

Or you could disable UAC in Vista/7/8 and still receive updates.