Upgrading a Toaster

[Guest]

Yea it would maybe even in a 900D so i can add more if i wanted without a crap ton of modification 

Oh yeah that would be perfect. That case is so big, why not just put an Atari 2600, NES, SNES, and N64 all in there? Maybe even a Gameboy just for good measure. If you do any of this, please post a build log. Bonus points if you make it a video!

[Rodneyg87]

Oh yeah that would be perfect. That case is so big, why not just put an Atari 2600, NES, SNES, and N64 all in there? Maybe even a Gameboy just for good measure. If you do any of this, please post a build log. Bonus points if you make it a video!

I would do the sega, atari and maybe the snes since i dont use the others. And if i did something that epic i definitely would because im sure there would be people that would want to buy one off of me lol

[Guest]

I would do the sega, atari and maybe the snes since i dont use the others. And if i did something that epic i definitely would because im sure there would be people that would want to buy one off of me lol

Yeah you could probably find a buyer. If not here, then on a retro gaming forum for sure. 

[Rodneyg87]

Yeah you could probably find a buyer. If not here, then on a retro gaming forum for sure. 

Most definitely even if it costs $1,400+ for only around $950 in parts. They would pay just because of the amount of time/skill it took to pull it off

[Guest]

Most definitely even if it costs $1,400+ for only around $850 in parts. They would pay just because of the amount of time/skill it took to pull it off

Yeah it would take a lot of time. There is a really big community of system modders out there that would be all over something like this. I'm actually thinking of having my top loading NES sent out to have an HDMI port installed. It's a $250 mod (or $150 to just get a kit) and I haven't decided if it is worth it yet. People will pay a lot for these sorts of custom things.

[Rodneyg87]

Yeah it would take a lot of time. There is a really big community of system modders out there that would be all over something like this. I'm actually thinking of having my top loading NES sent out to have an HDMI port installed. It's a $250 mod (or $150 to just get a kit) and I haven't decided if it is worth it yet. People will pay a lot for these sorts of custom things.

Yea after i typed that i started thinking parts with a mid range system would actually be around $1,200 because i forgot about how expensive a 900D is hell its almost $300 lol so the cost of a mid range system with this kind of mod would realistically be around $2,000 

 

And i dont even know how much the retro systems run neither. But thats just a rough guess.

[Guest]

Yea after i typed that i started thinking parts with a mid range system would actually be around $1,200 because i forgot about how expensive a 900D is hell its almost $300 lol so the cost of a mid range system with this kind of mod would realistically be around $2,000 

 

And i dont even know how much the retro systems run neither. But thats just a rough guess.

You can find them all for around $50 a pop. You could also go with clone systems, but I would avoid them. They tend to have compatibility issues.

[Rodneyg87]

You can find them all for around $50 a pop. You could also go with clone systems, but I would avoid them. They tend to have compatibility issues.

Thats not bad then basically i could do it for $2,000 for a mid range system with 2 vintage systems included and do like an extra $150 for each additional.

[Guest]

Thats not bad then basically i could do it for $2,000 for a mid range system with 2 vintage systems included and do like an extra $150 for each additional.

Yeah something like that. Sounds reasonable. Depending on how you hook these things up, it could get pricey. My original idea of ROM dumping would be a lot harder with the Geni I think, but I'm not too sure. NES is my big system. The cheap option would be to just run all the AV cables out the back of the system, but if you did that, there doesn't seem like much of a point to doing it at all. The other option would be to try to have the systems input into your computer, and have all three (computer, and two systems) be on one HDMI or DisplayPort cable, which means you will need to either get analog to digital adapters, or mod the systems. I know this sort of thing can be done, because my buddy Nic used to have an Apple TV input into his computer. Just swap the Apple TV out for the systems.

[Rodneyg87]

Yeah something like that. Sounds reasonable. Depending on how you hook these things up, it could get pricey. My original idea of ROM dumping would be a lot harder with the Geni I think, but I'm not too sure. NES is my big system. The cheap option would be to just run all the AV cables out the back of the system, but if you did that, there doesn't seem like much of a point to doing it at all. The other option would be to try to have the systems input into your computer, and have all three (computer, and two systems) be on one HDMI or DisplayPort cable, which means you will need to either get analog to digital adapters, or mod the systems. I know this sort of thing can be done, because my buddy Nic used to have an Apple TV input into his computer. Just swap the Apple TV out for the systems.

If i were to do it I would put them on a switch and run them to a secondary set of inputs in the back of the system so you would have 1 input(your gpu) for your computer and 1 input for your vintage systems. Like put the switch into a 5 1/4 drive bay and for the systems that have the capability do ROM dumping but just for general setup that would be it. Because combining the old analog inputs into digital inputs would be extremely expensive.

[Guest]

If i were to do it I would put them on a switch and run them to a secondary set of inputs in the back of the system so you would have 1 input(your gpu) for your computer and 1 input for your vintage systems. Like put the switch into a 5 1/4 drive bay and for the systems that have the capability do ROM dumping but just for general setup that would be it. Because combining the old analog inputs into digital inputs would be extremely expensive.

Another idea would be to get the systems on HDMI and have the systems and computer run into a splitter, then you have the switch go three ways, one for computer, one for Geni, one for Atari 2600. Or if you were willing to use the computer with VGA, you could just get an analogue splitter and not worry about getting the systems to HDMI.

[Rodneyg87]

Another idea would be to get the systems on HDMI and have the systems and computer run into a splitter, then you have the switch go three ways, one for computer, one for Geni, one for Atari 2600. Or if you were willing to use the computer with VGA, you could just get an analogue splitter and not worry about getting the systems to HDMI.

Only problem with doing that is you would have to go with onboard video rather than a video card for the main system. If i was to do something this outrageous I would make sure to at least have an R9 280 or bigger figured in. Another reason would be if they wanted to do any upgrading on their own to this system it would allow for expandability rather than having to let it rot and not be able to swap out GPU's. Because these wouldnt be G3258 rigs these would be i5 rigs for the purpose of AAA gaming at a minimum of 1080p at 60+ frames. Or even higher end AMD chips I would cheap no one out on these things if i were to charge that kind of premium. My personal version would probably only have an i3 but thats because it literally would be just a steam box.

[Guest]

Only problem with doing that is you would have to go with onboard video rather than a video card for the main system. If i was to do something this outrageous I would make sure to at least have an R9 280 or bigger figured in. 

You could still do a video card, you would just need to output VGA. Even the EVGA GTX 980 Classified comes with a DVI to VGA adapter. The downside is how fuzzy VGA looks at 1080p compared to a digital connection.

[Rodneyg87]

You could still do a video card, you would just need to output VGA. Even the EVGA GTX 980 Classified comes with a DVI to VGA adapter. The downside is how fuzzy VGA looks at 1080p compared to a digital connection.

Thats true but i revised my post above after you read it for another reason as to why i would do it that way is to allow upgrades. Because if i did it with an all in one configuration it would make upgrading the rig really hard. And if its something I built i wouldnt want it to be something that they cant upgrade easily without having to come back to me or buy a whole new rig. That was why i was thinking about making the pc part completely separate from the vintage systems beyond just running the cables to allow for ROM dumping. Because I would build these things for full on 1080p 60+ frames or higher. Depending on how much they wanted to spend.

[Guest]

Thats true but i revised my post above after you read it for another reason as to why i would do it that way is to allow upgrades. Because if i did it with an all in one configuration it would make upgrading the rig really hard. And if its something I built i wouldnt want it to be something that they cant upgrade easily without having to come back to me or buy a whole new rig. That was why i was thinking about making the pc part completely separate from the vintage systems beyond just running the cables to allow for ROM dumping. Because I would build these things for full on 1080p 60+ frames or higher. Depending on how much they wanted to spend.

Ah I see what you are saying. Well this sounds like an awesome project. You said you are building you frankenstein rig and then this monster? If you do this, when do you think you might start?

[Rodneyg87]

Ah I see what you are saying. Well this sounds like an awesome project. You said you are building you frankenstein rig and then this monster? If you do this, when do you think you might start?

This rig maybe as early as late april early may just depends how much i get from selling my macbook pro after i build my personal rig(frankenstein)

[Guest]

This rig maybe as early as late april early may just depends how much i get from selling my macbook pro after i build my personal rig(frankenstein)

Well I'm excited to see this thing! Best of luck!

[Rodneyg87]

Ah I see what you are saying. Well this sounds like an awesome project. You said you are building you frankenstein rig and then this monster? If you do this, when do you think you might start?

I have to do my personal frankenstein rig first because the college i just transfered into is trying to force me to buy a Dell because their programs and online portal doesnt support Macs and the dell they are telling me that has the minimum specs for my degree is $975 and my frankenstein at its bare cost not including the water cooling or modding is only $1,000 to build so im doing it first since I only have until April to have the new computer.

[Rodneyg87]

Well I'm excited to see this thing! Best of luck!

When I build it youll see it posted on here because my first one will be for sale from the start so i can afford to keep building them and ill sneak one in for myself in between with the profits from the first 3-4 i build.

[Guest]

When I build it youll see it posted on here because my first one will be for sale from the start so i can afford to keep building them and ill sneak one in for myself in between with the profits from the first 3-4 i build.

Sounds like a plan to me! I would make sure you have buyers ready before you build them. It would suck to finish it and have no one interested.

[Rodneyg87]

Sounds like a plan to me! I would make sure you have buyers ready before you build them. It would suck to finish it and have no one interested.

The first one would be do that for me. And if for some reason it doesnt all well i already planned to make myself one anyways. Hopefully the first one would catch enough interest to get people to put in orders for more.

[Guest]

The first one would be do that for me. And if for some reason it doesnt all well i already planned to make myself one anyways. Hopefully the first one would catch enough interest to get people to put in orders for more.

Yeah hopefully. Like I said before, I would post it on some retro gaming communities as well. Although I could be wrong, I'd imagine it would be easier to find a buyer there.

[Rodneyg87]

Yeah hopefully. Like I said before, I would post it on some retro gaming communities as well. Although I could be wrong, I'd imagine it would be easier to find a buyer there.

Most definitely but i would post here first 

[Guest]

Most definitely but i would post here first 

Can't wait to see it! Good luck! And good luck at your new school!