WTB: Small form factor PC for bartop cabinet

[stephenp1983]

I'm wanting a pc that will be used in my bartop cabinet from mameroom.  It needs to be small enough to fit into the space provided.  I can't give any exact measurements yet as I don't have it all together, but may be able to play it by eye.  Not looking for a super fancy computer, just enough to run most of what is in mame.

[leapinlew]

I've built a few bartops. I think you can squeeze a normal machine in there (no case of course) or a laptop.

[stephenp1983]

Im worried about the heat from the laptop and I wasn't wanting to decease a pc if I didn't have, but I might consider it.  Thanks for the input

[leapinlew]

Im worried about the heat from the laptop and I wasn't wanting to decease a pc if I didn't have, but I might consider it.  Thanks for the input

Just drop in some quiet fans, and you'll be fine. You'll need to get airflow in there regardless of which PC type you choose.

[stephenp1983]

Do you mean pc fans like 80 or 120 mm fans?  If I did this how would I power them if using a laptop since they have molex connectors.

[ChadTower]

Im worried about the heat from the laptop and I wasn't wanting to decease a pc if I didn't have, but I might consider it.  Thanks for the input

If you're not willing to decase a PC you're not going to get a reasonable bartop built.  It's pretty much mandatory.  The case is 80% empty space for no reason and is actually counterproductive inside a cabinet.

[Kaytrim]

Decasing a computer is not all that hard.  Look at my bartop thread.  I just have the components mounted to a 1/4" piece of MDF that I slid into the cab.

TTFN

[ssc arcade]

may have an idea, I have thought about trying to make a bartop with one of these for a while but don't have any time right now.  It's a Profile 3 made by Gateway,  I have one in my basement but it is missing a processor, HDD and maybe the cd rom, not sure.  I would feel bad selling it as it, not knowing if it works even or not.

I worked on these in an earlier job, they are really pretty good machines.  15" lcd, will run PIII up to 1GHz.  if you can live with these specs you might be able to pick one up pretty cheap on ebay.  It would be an easy install.  You could take the back off if you wanted to cool it better.  It does have a fan on the rear of the case. 

Just an idea.

They are up to profile 6 now I think, I worked on 4 a little, good also but not as compact.  Also the profile 3 should be relatively cheap compared to the others as it is PIII only.

Good luck

[ChadTower]

Would be easier to find one of the older Imacs.

[stephenp1983]

I may try decasing a machine, only thing I would be worried about is how to setup the on off switch.  Also that profile pc is a good idea thanks.,

[Kaytrim]

As you decase the computer watch where the switch wires go to the motherboard.  Then just wire them up to a standard game button.  That is how I did mine.  Look at the pic below, the little board in the green oval is the switch board.  There are two momentary switches one is the power button and the other is a reset button.  I just soldered two wires to the back of the board where the power button was and ran the other end to a red button on the roof of the cab.

Next I hacked the power strip like SpyStyle shows in this link.  Now when I push the red power button on the cab roof the computer comes on and the other devices come on as well.  When I press the button again Windows shuts down, the computer turns off and the rest of the devices shut down as well.  Sorry I don't have any pics of the power strip but SpyStyle's site shows plenty of pics.

TTFN

[stephenp1983]

So if you hook it to a button you would wire the ground to the com switch, and the other wire to the no switch or whatever it is just like you would a regular button?

[Kaytrim]

So if you hook it to a button you would wire the ground to the com switch, and the other wire to the no switch or whatever it is just like you would a regular button?

You got it stephen.

[stephenp1983]

alright great so you only need two wires then.  That will probably be the best route.  When I attempt this I may pm you questions lol

[SNAAKE]

use a modded xbox instead ??

[leapinlew]

alright great so you only need two wires then.  That will probably be the best route.  When I attempt this I may pm you questions lol

Stephen - Pinballjim is right. You'll need to do a bit of research and be creative. What your wanting to do has been done hundreds of times. Give it a shot, and when you run into a problem do some research, ask some questions or figure out something new. Thats half the fun.

[leapinlew]

Stephen - Pinballjim is right.

Words to live by.  Write them down.

Leapinlew - did I ever send you pics of what I did with those Combatribes guts?  They're in a Missile Command cabinet, running NFL Blitz now.  That monitor/power supply/JAMMA harness never dreamed of playing something so awesome. 

really? Cool! You must put up some pics. Perhaps you can make a project announcement? I'm glad I didn't hack up the harness too bad.

[stephenp1983]

Turns out I got a nice computer for free which I will be decasing for this project as suggested.  Thanks for the advice guys.