Sega Saturn Plus (console build)

[Dance Commander]

So I've built 70% of a cabinet twice only to have to disassemble it because of reasons/space  I've still got the building bug (it doesn't ever seem to go away) so I've tackled a smaller project. My original Sega Saturn has been sitting, broken, for years and years. Now it shall be resurrected.  I also figured I'd try to stuff a whole PC inside because a Pi would just be too easy   Here's the internals list:

ECS Elitegroup Mini ITX H81H3-I Motherboard
Intel G3240
Silverstone Tek Super Slim Cooler
FSP Group Mini ITX 220W PSU
4GB DDR3
2TB Seagate 2.5" HDD

I wanted to make the system as stealth as possible so there are absolutely no modifications to the exterior. No extra holes for ports or vents of any kind. The only hint that it's not a stock Saturn is, of course, the USB ports at the front. The plate is a small piece of Kydex that I mounted with kwikweld. The USB goes right to the motherboard header.





All of the rear ports are concealed behind the battery door. The power cable hangs out of the back of the unit a bit when in use but since I can't see it, it doesn't bother me.




The 2.5" HDD is mounted under the CD door with a little bit of 3M mounting putty. I found this stuff extremely useful for other parts of the build as well. It hold surprisingly well for cheap removable stuff.



The inside is cramped. The power supply and the motherboard are wedged together so tightly that they don't shift at all. When I took a dremel to the interior clips and posts to make room, I also routed a small channel at the edge of where the motherboard sits against the sidewall. Once the PSU is in place it's basically locked down, no screws required!



The fit was so tight, I needed to remove the small plastic clip that locks video cards to the PCIe slot. The PSU sits flush up against the slot. The power cord is routed underneath the PSU and snakes it's way to the battery door. The LEDs and Power and Reset switches are held in place with bit of craft wire and more mounting putty.





Power and HDD access LEDs look snazzy. Unfortunately the CD Open button currently does nothing. I'm thinking of wiring that up as an exit game switch or something.



For a more authentic experience, I do have most of my original controllers and some USB converters that work well, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't mostly just use an Xbox360 controller (especially since it can exit games in the frontend). But 4 player GoldenEye is never not fun. 




I'm currently using Hyperspin because I had already had it setup for my failed cabinet projects. It's possibly not the best for couch browsing of games but it's very usable so I don't currently have plans to change it.




Currently I'm working to hide windows completely from boot. I've got my boot animation changed to a static Sega logo at the moment and blacked out the Welcome loading screen but I still need to get rid of the startup sound and not have xpadder jump onto the screen at the desktop before Hyperspin loads.

I'm super happy with this so far. It gets way more use than I thought it would, and it's perfect to pick up and bring to a party.

[firedance]

Nice work indeed

any problems with over heating at all ?

[Dance Commander]

Nice work indeed

any problems with over heating at all ?

It runs warm, but nothing wildly out of spec for the CPU. It idles around 42C and hits 60C under load.

Edit: Also, Thanks!

[reptileink]

I can never get enough of console hacks, and this one is a beauty!

My only gripe is all those systems on it (if that's the case). I would be better to me if it were purely Saturn games (maybe some Sega32 or Genesis), but still amazing! Nice clean work! 

[Dance Commander]

I can never get enough of console hacks, and this one is a beauty!

My only gripe is all those systems on it (if that's the case). I would be better to me if it were purely Saturn games (maybe some Sega32 or Genesis), but still amazing! Nice clean work! 

Thanks. I was originally going to make it strictly a Saturn which would have been keen since I could have just stuck with the original controller ports (which I can still revert to in the future if I want), but I've opted for a selection of the consoles I grew up with. Just had to fill up that hard drive.

[Memorex]

Very cool build! First Saturn cased pc I've come across.

[darthpaul]

And I thought I had it tough stuffing a Pi in a Game Cube, nice job, very well done.

[DaOld Man]

Nice job.
I would be worried about the heat, but looks like thats already been addressed.

[Malenko]

Great little build, if I try thing the one major thing I'd change would be to move the power supply outside of the case. Just gut an old X360 power brick and fabricate some connectors.

Amazing job though, thanks for posting and for taking so many pictures!

[pbj]

Damn, is Saturn finally emulated?  What's the performance like?

[reptileink]

Damn, is Saturn finally emulated?  What's the performance like?

That's what I was wondering........

[Locke141]

Nice job.
What Emulator are you using in there?

Yabause works pride well. I think it's the best one still under active development. Although I can't get the latest mac version to save.

[Dance Commander]

Great little build, if I try thing the one major thing I'd change would be to move the power supply outside of the case. Just gut an old X360 power brick and fabricate some connectors.

Amazing job though, thanks for posting and for taking so many pictures!

Ah, but I worked so hard to fit it in there! I hated the idea of the system having a tail.

Damn, is Saturn finally emulated?  What's the performance like?

SSF is excellent for 95% of the Saturn games out there (with a little tweaking of course). I have Hyperlaunch open Daemon Tools and mount the appropriate .cue file so it will launch properly out of Hyperspin.

Nice job.
What Emulator are you using in there?

Yabause works pride well. I think it's the best one still under active development. Although I can't get the latest mac version to save.

SSF for the Saturn. Fusion for Genesis, SegaCD, Master System, etc. Null DC for Dreamcast, ePSXe for Playstation, and the Nintendo stuff on Nestopia, Snes9x, Project64, VisualBoyAdvance, Playguy, Mednafen. Oh and an AES on MAME and Turbografix on MagicEngine.

Essentially the consoles that I owned or desired during my childhood.