Building a console-specific PC? (project idea)

[shponglefan]

Having looked at the mini bare-bones style computers, I've been thinking about putting together a console emulation PC.  I previously had done this years ago with an old HTPC.  However, it was large, clunky, and the interface technology wasn't so hot back then.  With newer mini computers, building something small and portable would be pretty easy.

Looking at the newer Intel DC3217IYE 'NUC', it seems like it might be ideal for such a purpose.  I figure with a  SATA drive (~120 gigs or so) and 4 gigs of RAM, I'd be looking at ~$550 or so after tax.

My main questions are:

1) Will this be powerful enough for emulation ranging from 8-bit NES through to PSX or PS2?
2) My goal would be strict ease-of-use; I'm not sure what front-ends would be most ideal for this.
3) Which OS to use.  I have a multi-license version of XP (32-bit) I could install; alternatively I could buy Windows 7 (64-bit).  Or maybe Linux, although I've never done emulated gaming on Linux before so I'm not sure of the headaches I could run into.
4) Interface-wise, I'd want to use mostly old controllers w/ USB adapters (I already own such for NES, SNES and Genesis).  Ideally I'd also like something simple for doing things like save states.  I wonder if a remote would work for that?  Or something else?
5) Would a laptop be better?  Laptops aren't that much more and I wonder if they could do the exact same job, plus the benefits of being a laptop.  Only caveat with a laptop having them come w/ Windows 8... do not want.

[ChadTower]

Your challenges are going to be with the quality of the emulators themselves more with the horsepower available to run them. 

[shponglefan]

Well I have a collection of emulators (NES through PSX) that work well on XP.  I know some of them don't work on Windows 7, but haven't looked at replacements for everything.  I'm not overly current on emulation on the PC, but in the past haven't run into any show-stopping bugs.

[Howard_Casto]

N64 emulation is notoriously bad, even today.  It's a mess of plugins and while you can get the games playable and looking more or less how they used to, the accuracy is pretty far off.  You are going to run into this problem with any of the 3d systems basically. 

Also while you can emulate anything up to a n64/psx with a modest pc, PS2/Xbox/NGC emulation takes a rather beastly pc, so if you are going with a micro footprint, you can pretty much scratch those off the list. 

Ok a few cents worth of advice:

If you are going to attempt some of the higher end systems you need to put a 64bit os on there.  Most of your 3d console emulators have a 64bit version and you'll get better performance by as much as 40% on some of them. 

There aren't any front-ends that I know of that are very console-specific.  Also the emulators will fight you on that as well.  Ideally you'd want to be able to do everything from the gamepad, but the emulators fight you on that.  It's something I wanted to tackle myself, but it's in the queue behind 14 other projects. 

Laptop or Micro PC you are going to run into the same issues if you choose to use the 3d emulators....  you need a really fast processor and a really powerful video card.  Neither form factor is really known for these things, with the exception of maybe one of those crazy expensive gaming laptops. 

There are remote control programs that allow you to use a remote to simulate key presses in windows.  Simulated key presses won't work on anything that uses raw input though (mame, mess, some of the more oddball emulators, ect) so keep that in mind.     

[ark_ader]

I would take a peek at Puppy Arcade 10.

You might get a little bit more power from a Linux platform than Windoze.

At the end of the day, you have to draw a line in the quantity of available games.

I have pretty much of everything but that doesn't mean I have to run all of it on a PC.

I might have 20 games I play on and they run on a stock Xbox1. 

Most of my N64 titles play just nicely on the N64.

Go find yourself a cheap (or free) Dell and save your pennies for some external drives to backup your collection.

[shponglefan]

N64 emulation is notoriously bad, even today.  It's a mess of plugins and while you can get the games playable and looking more or less how they used to, the accuracy is pretty far off.  You are going to run into this problem with any of the 3d systems basically. 

Really?  I'd previously emulated the N64 for a couple games back on my XP system w/o any issues... although I never played a whole lot of original N64 games to really know the difference.

Also while you can emulate anything up to a n64/psx with a modest pc, PS2/Xbox/NGC emulation takes a rather beastly pc, so if you are going with a micro footprint, you can pretty much scratch those off the list. 

PS2 would be a "nice to have" but as I still have a working PS2 console, I can happily scratch that one.  PSX I would want as my original PSX is dead 'n buried.

If you are going to attempt some of the higher end systems you need to put a 64bit os on there.  Most of your 3d console emulators have a 64bit version and you'll get better performance by as much as 40% on some of them. 

I'll look into this for sure.  My main PC is 64 bit Win 7, so I can easily test out any emulators before commiting to an OS for the console box.

There are remote control programs that allow you to use a remote to simulate key presses in windows.  Simulated key presses won't work on anything that uses raw input though (mame, mess, some of the more oddball emulators, ect) so keep that in mind.

Ya, I figure I'll have to play around with different options to figure out what would work.  Maybe even just a small form factor wireless keyboard...

[shponglefan]

Go find yourself a cheap (or free) Dell and save your pennies for some external drives to backup your collection.

I do already a couple spare old PCs that I could use if I wanted.  But I'd like something compact and portable since I have a couple different TV locations for potential gaming.  Which is why the Intel NUC's are appealing.