Mini PC or Android Box for Emulator ConsoleBox?

[Demon-Seed]

Hey Guys
So I currently use a Wii to play PSX down, however many of my favourite games on PSX and N64 do not work or are very buggy.  I have been debating what the next step is.  I am after an all in one box to play those games down with no issues.  Also mame and dreamcast would be nice.  I am looking at things like Ouya, and other android stream boxes like the skystreamx.  I also have considered a mini pc loaded with hyper spin.  What do you guys think would work best? I want a clean, easy to use interface that I can use wired or wireless controllers....bluetooth ones would be good so I can use my ps3 ones.... also price points?

Lastly hardware wise I am not sure on specs I would need? any suggestions, links or advice...?

thanks
Jim

[Generic Eric]

Budget first.

For the purposes of this exercise, you don't need to tell us what your budget is, you just need to know it so you can make decisions based on it.

Identify the programs besides super hexagon you are going to play on your new machine.

Look at the minimum specs required.

Look at the suggested specs.

Identify the slowest of each category, make sure to get something better than the minimum.

Look at the forum for each program to see if there is a thread like this already there.

Its too bad you hadn't considered this during the Black Friday sales.

look at reddit.com/r/buildapcsales
pcpartpicker.com

[knave]

Lost me at...

...I am not looking at things like Ouya

You do know the OUYA can do all those things right. PSX, Dreamcast. Mame...Use your PS3 controllers and costs $60-$99.

Howard's not here to counter me so I will be the first to say the OUYA is not perfect but it should be on the table.
Care to share why you are not interested?

[Demon-Seed]

Yes I have looked at the Ouya...... interested but I heard that n64 sucks on it and is flaky.  I also did not know dc ran?   I have been looking at other android boxes too... so confused..

[eds1275]

I am personally going to build one using a PC. If it's not powerful enough I can always throw more ram in it.

Emulation is a picky beast. Even if you have a monster computer you won't be able to get everything - I've heard N64 in general is a little flaky to emulate. The only thing I would suggest is using a leaner front end than hyperspin. It's a bit of a hog.

[Wired203]

For the price the new Celeron boards I have used for several projects have quite a bit of horsepower.  Latest board I purchased for mame is a q1900 itx board 2.42 quad core and the ram is in the cheap zone on them.  For giggles I loaded SWTOR on it with the on board video and it ran really well lol.  You can always add a video card for about $30.  All in all easily a sub $200 PC with quite a bit of overall power.  I run n64 on my last Celeron board which was 2 ghz dual core and added a video card to it so I could have crt scan lines and it plays n64 fine.

[ark_ader]

Lost me at...

...I am not looking at things like Ouya

You do know the OUYA can do all those things right. PSX, Dreamcast. Mame...Use your PS3 controllers and costs $60-$99.

Howard's not here to counter me so I will be the first to say the OUYA is not perfect but it should be on the table.
Care to share why you are not interested?

Consider yourself countered.  Ouya is not a serious contender in this debate.

[Demon-Seed]

Guys
Sorry should have read my post, I have been looking at Ouya and other Android devices,however not sure if they will be suitable....

[knave]

Consider yourself countered.  Ouya is not a serious contender in this debate.

Meh, unless you have and use an OUYA and provide some details...its not a valid counter to anything...The OUYA hate camp is a bit misdirected and out-of-date (There have been substantial updates to the firmware)
But I will say again...it can do a lot of things...but is not perfect.

Mario64 seemed to play alright to me...as did the few other N64 games I tried...
Dreamcast emus were released about 6 months ago, or that's when I saw them. Have not tried personally.

It is going to be hard to beat a cheap PC for this though. Really a $150 PC will run most of what you want...and give you access to lots of Slightly older PC games...

[Demon-Seed]

Hey
Well I am leaning towards an old pc.. I thought about it.. and it should run what I need.. What type of PC would you guys suggest for Dreamcast to run?  Mame  say MK, street fighters down?
I am sorry been out of computers for long time..

[Generic Eric]

You can find a used OUYA with one controller on Amazon.com for $54 after shipping.  Try it.

I haven't seen other Android Consoles.  There was that 808 stick, but I don't have a link for it and I don't recall how they interfaced with controllers.

There are android DEV boards, you can find those.  There was a new one that came out.  This is a tinker project, though not an off the wall solution.   

I read about a new processor that was coming out that made use of 4 gig of ram on a phone.  We may be in between a technology change.  You may consider waiting unless this is something you need and are interested in Tinkering.

What is dreamcast down?  Is that an emulator?

[knave]

Hey
Well I am leaning towards an old pc.. I thought about it.. and it should run what I need.. What type of PC would you guys suggest for Dreamcast to run?  Mame  say MK, street fighters down?
I am sorry been out of computers for long time..

 You can pick up a core 2 Duo with 4gb ram for $50-$60 with a coupon. Get a desktop or tower and you can put a graphics card in it...should run all emulators you mentioned.

[Demon-Seed]

Where can you score one for that? with coupon so I am assuming new?

[PL1]

Where can you score one for that? with coupon so I am assuming new?

Off-lease from Arrow Direct.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,140112.0.html


Scott

[JDFan]

Where can you score one for that? with coupon so I am assuming new?

Off-lease from Arrow Direct.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,140112.0.html
Scott

Just checked and as of now "dealnews" code is working for 50% off and free shipping and\or "Dell50" code for the same on Dell products. (Not sure how much longer the codes are going to be valid as XMAS is coming up and they may stop the free shipping soon) but they usually have new codes also but the 50% off and free shipping is hard to beat so might want to order soon.

[Demon-Seed]

Looks great if you live in US. I am in Canada/...

[JDFan]

Looks great if you live in US. I am in Canada/...

They have a drop down box in the order form for various countries including Canada ( Not sure if the free shipping is for there also or if there would be any duties added (which Canada seems to add at the border costing more than the item itself at times)) but might be worth a look.

[Demon-Seed]

Shipping is actually surprisingly cheap!! The deal news code is not working is it only for certain products? dell50 said it worked but price not changing?

[JDFan]

Shipping is actually surprisingly cheap!! The deal news code is not working is it only for certain products? dell50 said it worked but price not changing?

Looks like that sale is over - might be some new codes after xmas. If you want to order right away the only code that seems to still be working is US20 which is 20% off or 10offany which gives $10 off. But looks like the also just placed a 45% discount off the price that is shown (used to be 5-10% discount there so overall price with the $10 or 20% discount added to the 45% shown is about the same as the sale was (though shipping was free but now is $12 flat rate again)

Just checked and the same system I got for $58 (HP elite 8000 3.0Ghz. core 2 duo system with 250GB HDD and 4GB ram the other week when they had the 60% black friday special with free shipping is now $83.50 (probably cheaper for you as I have to pay $6.50 Tax here in Texas) - so not as good of a deal but only $25 difference half of which is the shipping.

Attached a comparison of the receipt details so you can see the changes between when I ordered ($133 price vs. now discounted original price and $79.92 discount vs. 20% now but overall price remains about the same except for the shipping charge and additional tax)

[Demon-Seed]

Is there somewhere that keeps a list of up to date working coupon codes?

[JDFan]

Is there somewhere that keeps a list of up to date working coupon codes?

I use Retail me not ( http://www.retailmenot.com/view/arrowdirect.com?c=6119301 ) but they aren't really always up to date and you just have to try them to see if they are working. the Free shipping was a xmas time special for the entire site so saved a little more than usual when combined with the codes but they always seem to have fairly decent pricing.

[knave]

The 25% off of $200+ was working

RetailMeNot25

[Demon-Seed]

Intel Celeron 2955U 1.40GHz......  guys I have done some research..(some) and found out I am so far away from hardware its unreal! I can not believe how things have changed.....  anyways I was looking at these mini computers, they tend to have the chip Intel Celeron 2955U 1.40GHz or similar...    I looked up say PS2 and DC emulation, people have had success on P4. I compared the Intel Celeron chip to the P4 and it has  a FSB listed in GT? what the heck?   Although the GHZ of the chip are far less, is it more efficient? Not only is FSB measured differently other things are too...  Celeron used to be 2nd grade to P4 but this Celeron is new and P4 is like 10 years old,.. has the technolgoy changed

Is there a site to compare... actually speeds etc.. but shows me what apps/games/programs run at what speed? Intels site for example compares chips but it is not clear to me.

Also I see a similar post above mine.. can they be blended together?

[knave]

I use the passmark site, for CPU comparisons...Its just one benchmark but it does let you look at CPUs next to each other.

New Celerons are totally going to have more processing capability than a P4...Probably by at least double.

[SNAAKE]

whats a good $100 alternative to ouya?

[Demon-Seed]

 My thoughts too, they say Ouya or another android box.. thats it.  Min pc in that price range are way too low on horse power

[knave]

It is pretty cheap to try an OUYA for $60-$80.

If it were me I'd just order the Anthracite model from target...Updated wireless and controller...was on sale for $79.

 

[nitrogen_widget]

It is pretty cheap to try an OUYA for $60-$80.

If it were me I'd just order the Anthracite model from target...Updated wireless and controller...was on sale for $79.

I have OUYA and a modded gamestick.
Both run super mario 64 & smash brothers 64 without complaints from my kids.
Ouya can run the HD textures though for both games while gamestick can't.

plus ouya has nostalgia front end for emulators.

psp emulator i've only played with a little and it seems to run equally on both gamestick & ouya but i havn't used it a lot due to configuration is a pain.

have not tried reicast either.

If you want to run gamecube then PC is the only option.
same with ps2.
I have an athlon x2 sitting around I plan to try ps2 emulator on.
not sure it will have enough oomph to run games though even at native res.

[Demon-Seed]

Hey
With the OUYA can someone confirm if NFL Blitz works??? They released a new emulator update on wii and it works now but not playable as the field goes glitchy... I checked and it says on mupen64 that NFL blitz 2000 works (n64) but what about psx?

[JDFan]

I have OUYA and a modded gamestick.
Both run super mario 64 & smash brothers 64 without complaints from my kids.
Ouya can run the HD textures though for both games while gamestick can't.

plus ouya has nostalgia front end for emulators.

psp emulator i've only played with a little and it seems to run equally on both gamestick & ouya but i havn't used it a lot due to configuration is a pain.

Just picked up a Gamestick and dock from Gamestop - Gamestick was $16.97 and dock was $4.97 (had to go to 2 stores since the local one didn't have the dock but for $25 after tax, I figured it was worth trying as I've wanted an android stick to play around with and figured worse case I waste $25.)

What did you use for the modding and what version of mame and roms are you using with it ?

EDIT : Just saw your post in the other thread for Gamestick and that answered most of the question !

[nitrogen_widget]

Hey
With the OUYA can someone confirm if NFL Blitz works??? They released a new emulator update on wii and it works now but not playable as the field goes glitchy... I checked and it says on mupen64 that NFL blitz 2000 works (n64) but what about psx?

I don't think mupen on OUYA has been updated in a while but I just gave N64 NFL Blitz & NFL Blitz 2001 a quick run.
If you try to render the game natively (1080p) it does stutter once or twice when a lot is going on.
I found if I dropped the rest to 640x480 i no longer saw it.

I didn't see any screen corruption and the game seemed to play ok for the few plays I ran.

[Demon-Seed]

kool...thanks so much for trying them!