Author Topic: My Retro Emulation build - C64 inspired mini-ITX case with Box Jades :)  (Read 9062 times)

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Offline ddrfraser1

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Now for something different.

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This is the fantastic My64 Mini ITX case by Sean at My Retro Computer. As soon at I saw this case I knew I had to have it.

Link to his site - https://myretrocomputer.com/

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Picked up this ASRock Industrial Mobo IMB-190 (Socket 1151) from eBay for $144 with cooler included. Not bad compared to what a lot of Mini ITX mobos go for.

My goal was to keep it somewhat low budget as I already have a powerful gaming PC. So this didn't need some Powerful APU. GPU not possible for, as you can see, there is no I/O slot

Swapped in an i7 7700T from the Mini PC I was using in my garage cause the i7 overkill for that. Popped a 256GB SSD into the mini-SATA slot and a 2.5 128GB SSD mounted under the CD

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Keyboard is mechanical and comes with very high quality doubleshot SA keycaps from signature plastics. Came with Cherry MX Blues but I swapped them out for Kailh Box Jades.

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These Intel Graphics can run up to Wii U no problem! Not bad for no GPU!

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But it didn't look great on my HD monitor of course. Luckily, this mobo had a VGA header.

So I cut a hole in my (aftermarket, full height) I/O shield and mounted a VGA Port so I can connect it to a CRT Monitor :)

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Finally, Here it is dual booting Win10... (not sure why it wouldn't go full resolution here)

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...and Manjaro Linux (resolution works fine here)

Thanks for checking it out!

« Last Edit: Tue, 11 October 2022, 21:04:50 by ddrfraser1 »

Offline tp4tissue

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Re: My Retro Emulation build - C64 inspired mini-ITX case with Box Jades :)
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 11 October 2022, 21:10:34 »
Very clean build fraser..

you might want to consider the XG2431, it supports 60hz strobe for low persistence 60fps game emulation.

Offline ddrfraser1

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Re: My Retro Emulation build - C64 inspired mini-ITX case with Box Jades :)
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 12 October 2022, 18:24:33 »
Thanks!

Interesting. Never looked into that monitor. Looks awesome. I may use that for another project as I’ll be connecting this machine to a CRT

Offline tp4tissue

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Re: My Retro Emulation build - C64 inspired mini-ITX case with Box Jades :)
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 12 October 2022, 18:37:04 »
that's what that monitor is for, it can get pretty close to CRT motion clarity at 60hz, but it is actually imho faster than CRT overall because it can do 120hz low persistence. CRT only go up to ~100hz at that resolution.

Offline TheWonderBubble

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Re: My Retro Emulation build - C64 inspired mini-ITX case with Box Jades :)
« Reply #4 on: Wed, 12 October 2022, 21:39:20 »
I never knew something like this existed, that's an awesome unit! I'd seen a case similar to that style that I wanted to build a board with but I lost the link and never managed to find it again (I could swear it was Cherry, but modern production) , having a full computer inside sounds even more awesome! I'm definitely going to be keeping track of this and may have to build one for myself someday.
Shhhhh...my wallet doesn't know I'm here.


Offline ddrfraser1

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Re: My Retro Emulation build - C64 inspired mini-ITX case with Box Jades :)
« Reply #5 on: Thu, 13 October 2022, 09:08:50 »
Yeah, it’s a really neat project with so many neat possibilities and combines so many of my hobbies. He’s got some really stunning color variations on his kickstarter, particularly the transparent version!

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