hawkguy Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 (edited) Got about a $300ish budget ($200 USD) to buy a mini PC / PC capable of doing everything from like... N64/PS1 back. I have a powerful gaming PC if I want to do PS2, so I don't need that on my main TV box. Anyone have any ideas? I know I can grab the nVidia Shield for that price, and it's an awesome piece of hardware - but it's not really capable of running Launchbox (or is it?). PS. If the Shield CAN run Launchbox (streaming is fine), then that's okay too. Edited March 13, 2017 by hawkguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 You can stream your PC to the Shield, which can include LaunchBox. For $200-300 though, you're going to be very very limited. After doing a quick search for some i5 Intel NUC's, it's still much more than $200 USD. An i5 would be the lowest I would go. An alternative would also be a Steam Link, stream your PC to that as well, unless you want an android device for other things as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 The question I would ask is if you plan on being able to use shaders or not ? If you don't want to use shaders at all then you can get away with $200. But if you plan on using shaders you will most likely need a semi respectable GPU to run them. A GPU with 1 gig of gddr5 vram is what you would need. If you take some time to either shop around for an older PC and GPU you can do pretty good on a budget. My couch gaming PC is a 10 year old Acer with a 2.4 GHz CPU and I threw in an old 1 gig gddr5 Radeon video card with HDMI and it handles everything up to Playstation perfectly fine with shaders. I have no idea if it will handle N64 though since I have not tried but I know it wouldn't handle Saturn at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkguy Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 3 hours ago, SentaiBrad said: You can stream your PC to the Shield, which can include LaunchBox. For $200-300 though, you're going to be very very limited. After doing a quick search for some i5 Intel NUC's, it's still much more than $200 USD. An i5 would be the lowest I would go. An alternative would also be a Steam Link, stream your PC to that as well, unless you want an android device for other things as well. I have the Steam Link and there's too many little issues with it. I want a more portable mini PC I guess. Maybe I should just find an old gaming PC someone is selling for like $500. I just wanted something small like an Android box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 You could do the GPD Win, it's something that I want to look in to, but money. Just remember to keep your expectations in check with stuff like this, it's a portable windows machine, no gimp in terms of the OS. It is full windows, but the size, power, price. http://www.gpdwin.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malhavoc Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 (edited) Issues with Steam Link? I have it, and I'm perfectly streaming my PC to my TV, including BigBox, which launches MAME, and all my 4 controllers work too. Just be sure to edit MAME's config file and switch the controller flag from "Auto" to "XInput". However, I'm running on ethernet, so if your issue is the low wifi signal, steam link surely isn't your best choice, but otherwise.. Edited March 14, 2017 by Malhavoc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 1 hour ago, Malhavoc said: Issues with Steam Link? I have it, and I'm perfectly streaming my PC to my TV, including BigBox, which launches MAME, and all my 4 controllers work too. Just be sure the edit MAME's config file and switch the controller flag from "Auto" to "XInput". However, I'm running on ethernet, so if your issue is the low wifi signal, steam link surely isn't your best choice, but otherwise.. Yea, I didn't push the Steam Link any farther because I haven't used it myself, but I have seen plenty of others using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkguy Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 13 hours ago, Malhavoc said: Issues with Steam Link? I have it, and I'm perfectly streaming my PC to my TV, including BigBox, which launches MAME, and all my 4 controllers work too. Just be sure to edit MAME's config file and switch the controller flag from "Auto" to "XInput". However, I'm running on ethernet, so if your issue is the low wifi signal, steam link surely isn't your best choice, but otherwise.. Are you using Retroarch? It may be issues with that. What controllers are you using? I was using PS4 controllers wirelessly. Sometimes the inputs would work, sometimes they won't. It was very strange. No issue with latency - the streams ran perfect. It was all with controls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkguy Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 17 hours ago, SentaiBrad said: You could do the GPD Win, it's something that I want to look in to, but money. Just remember to keep your expectations in check with stuff like this, it's a portable windows machine, no gimp in terms of the OS. It is full windows, but the size, power, price. http://www.gpdwin.com/ Thank you, I'll check it out! I only really care about emulation up to N64. Maybe PS1, but not a big deal if not. So it's not like I need something crazy powerful. I also have purchased Mayflash adapters for SNES and N64, so I can use Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 controllers on a Windows PC (they also work on Rasberry Pi). EDIT: I just looked it up - the adapters work on the Nvidia Shield. So I think I'll go with that. Stream Launchbox from home, and get Gamesome for my favourite games for on the go! Thanks for the help everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malhavoc Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 I'm using MAME (but tried Retroarch at first, and had no issue with neither the Steam Controller or the Xbox One S). Later on, I bought a PS4 and a generic controller too, and they worked with MAME too. All of them with Bluetooth. Remember in the controller configuration section in Steam Menu to enable the specific configuration for you controller (there is one for Xbox, and one for PS4). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumb Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 (edited) On 3/13/2017 at 8:48 PM, hawkguy said: Thumb PC transforms any HDMI display into a fully functioning mini computer connect to the device via the HDMI port to the HDMI port of your TV or monitor. The main adaptable features of Thumb PC are small, reliable high-speed performance without overheating.If you want more information please our site.http://thumbpc.in Edited December 5, 2017 by thumb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dov_EL Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 I love mini PC with Apollo Lake Cpu like Beelink AP34 . Work amazing , Mame , retroarch , etc. And work amazing Windows game like Cuphead and many many best Windows game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gachmuret Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 @dovella Can you or anyone with a N4200 processor driven system share your experience with Dolphin Wii emulator? Thx! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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