Your thoughts on this

[bc320]

This PC would be to watch movies/tv shows (not streamed) that range in resolution from 720 to 4K.  It is to run emulators of old games (think Apple II/DOS) up to N64/PS1.  I have no desire to run newer games with it. May upgrade all the fans to Nocuta or black silent at some point.  Have those on my 3d printer and they nice and quiet.    

I have an older HP that the HDD fried on.  It has a 300w PSU. Average case size.  Think I use the case/PSU?  It may be little on the light end.  Especially if choose in install another fan or 2.   

[bc320]

Once I add in PSU, HDD to run OS, and OS.  The price point is about $600.  

what are thoughts on something like this?

https://www.newegg.com/hp-envy-750-615rz/p/N82E16883997613

or this which has an intel chip and nvidia card

https://www.newegg.com/lenovo-legion-t530-28icb-90jl007rus/p/N82E16883998647

 

Keeping in mind what I am looking to do.  No newer games, no systems newer then PS1

Edited December 15, 2019 by bc320

[bundangdon]

21 hours ago, bc320 said:

That you for the information.  You have been the only person to answer some basic questions and I appreciate it. 

No worries. I can see that a few other folks have chimed in to help, and getting back to my previous comment, I wouldn't really recommend a NUC system unless you absolutely need the small form-factor or space is a serious issue. You can get a whole lot better for a few dollars more

I think the first choice (HP Envy) would be more than sufficient for what you need at a reasonable price

Edited December 16, 2019 by bundangdon

[Lordmonkus]

Pauls Hardware just uploaded this new video to his YouTube channel which is very nice and has a great budget to boot. Worth checking out.

 

[bc320]

Now that christmas is over I can get back to this.  I watched the video above and used it as a guide for a build I am going to do.  Below are the components of said build.  As a reminder, I want to do the following:

Use Kodi to watch movies up to 4k.  From Kodi, go into Launchbox big box and play retro games on systems up to that of the PS1, MAYBE the PS2 but doubtful.  A few systems that are important to me are Dosbox (OLD school games, like Oregon Trail), the 4 classic counsels, and N64 (Mario Kart is very important).  Not sure about Mame yet.  

Here is my hardware:

Samsung EVO 250GB SSD - Will be installing Windows 10 Pro 64bit 

16GB RAM

Asus B450M-A/CSM MotherBoard

Ryzen 5 2600

Kingston A400 240G m.2

600w PSU

 

I have the excess power because I am thinking I may pick up a Raedon RX 580 or other graphics card after taxes.

Will I be terribly disappointed?

Edited December 29, 2019 by bc320

[Lordmonkus]

That will be a solid build though I would suggest adding a large mechanical hard drive as well, some of the CD/DVD based libraries will eat up drive space and so will media. Or you can store all your media and games on a network drive.

3 hours ago, bc320 said:

I may pick up a Raedon RX 580 or other graphics card after taxes.

My advice here would be to get an Nvidia card for emulation. AMD cards are fine for normal PC gaming but because of their lack luster OpenGL drivers they aren't so good for emulation.

[bc320]

I already have One external 5 terabyte drive that I plan on using with this the hold media and large room sets.

Can you suggest an Nvidia card around the same price point as the Radeon?

[Lordmonkus]

Either a 1660 or 1660Ti, Nvidia cards are typically a little more money but worth it.

Now keep in mind I am not saying you can't emulate using an AMD card, in fact my old HTPC still has an older AMD card in it and it's never been a problem for me but you can run into issues because of OpenGL. Emulators using Direct X or Vulkan are perfectly fine.

[bc320]

Well if I end up buying one it might as well be one that works better with emulation 

[bc320]

ran into a bit of a problem with this build.  Hope someone can assist.  I messed up and bought a Ryzen 5 2600 instead of the recommended one.  I realized after install that it does not support on-board graphics.  My motherboard does not have on-board wifi or bluetooth and the m.2 slot is taken up by a HDD.   I purchased a PCIe wifi/bluetooth card.  Then I bought a graphics card.  It has been about 15 years or so since I built a PC.  Graphics cards have drastically increased in size.  I no long have access to the PCIe slot that would the wifi/bluetooth card.  

As I see it I have 2 options

1) One of these ribbon cables that moves the PCIe slot.  HOWEVER they all say "Supports high speed PCI-E 1X, 4X,8X and16X card, but work at 1X speed only"  My concern with this is that there will be lag with bluetooth game controllers.  This is bad.  

2) Buy a USB Wifi/bluetooth dongle like this. Or buy 1 wifi dongle and 1 bluetooth dongle

My major concern is the bluetooth connection.  My wifi on this will pretty much only be used for updates and like, not streaming or gaming.   I need a Bluetooth adapter recommendation that will have minimal input lag.