Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

First off this build wasn't meant to be used for the dolphin emulator.  But figured I'd post my setup.

This is my first ever custom build (into a non-pc case) and I'm pretty pleased with how its turned out:

           

The machine inside the GameCube case is a Gigabyte Brix A8-8890, I considered a Pico board but they were either too low spec or too expensive.  I managed to get the Brix pretty cheap and as this was only meant to be a little project for me I didn't want to spend too much money.

I managed to get a broken GameCube with a memory card and with a modded lid off of ebay cheap.

The specs of the system are:

CPU: AMD A8 5557M
GPU: Radeon R9 M275X
RAM: 8GB DDR3
SSD: 250GB Crucial mSATA

Also inside the case is a 4 port USB hub (which is connected to 1 USB port inside the case)

Connected to the 4 port hub are:

Official GameCube Controller USB adaptor (connect to 2 ports)
A Bluetooth USB (for keyboard and mouse)

The controller ports have all be tested and all work.

The build isn't quite finished yet.

As the case is modded, I should be able to fit a DVD drive at the top and I'm also planning on converting the right memory card slot to work as a USB drive (also mod the memory card to contain USB storage).

The only thing that I'm a little disappointed about is that I have had to remove the back plate of the GameCube.  I did cut a new plate to fit all the ports, but the Brix gets so hot.  With the back plate off all is fine, but I'd be interested in seeing how the i5 and i7 Brix' compare to the AMD one I have heat wise, as I know AMD's tend to run hot.

The build is currently being used as a media PC as well as for some light gaming (mostly 2D games and Rocket League).

I have tested the Dolphin Emulator on it with a couple of games, and while I'd say the games are playable (low quality, and still a little choppy) I wouldn't recommend this build for use with the emulator.

I'm happy with how this is turning out to say it's my first project.

Man this is cool. I love the concept.

good concept except of a bad CPU you are using.
How long did you need to build this kind of Pc?

Quote:The only thing that I'm a little disappointed about is that I have had to remove the back plate of the GameCube.  I did cut a new plate to fit all the ports, but the Brix gets so hot.  With the back plate off all is fine, but I'd be interested in seeing how the i5 and i7 Brix' compare to the AMD one I have heat wise, as I know AMD's tend to run hot.

This is cool!  If my GC was busted, I would try the same thing, I think.  As someone else already mentioned, the CPU isn't ideal for Dolphin, but the idea is pretty awesome.  Other than Dolphin, it probably runs SNES/NES/Genesis/most MAME/and maybe PSX emulators pretty well, right?

(03-16-2016, 12:30 AM)smirkogm Wrote: [ -> ]good concept except of a bad CPU you are using.
How long did you need to build this kind of Pc?

Sorry for the delay in replying.  

If i was building this to be a Dolphin machine I would have opted for another CPU, I know that gigabyte also do an i5 Brix with an nvidia gpu which will be a lot better than the AMD A8 version.

As for build time, it didnt take too long and wasnt that difficult.  Once the gamecube innards were removed, i had to do a little bit of dremeling so the motherboard could sit low and flat.  

Getting the gamecube ports in was the biggest pain.  I had to move the motherboard up slightly, as the gamecube controller board will now fit between the Brix's CPU and GPU boards.

I am still working on it though.  I had to shelve it for a while but should be back onto it in the next couple of weeks.  I still have a DVD drive to fit and im trying to sort out a better way of turning the machine on, as it turns on from the plug at the moment.

I wanted to turn the memory card ports into USB ports, however I had to sacrifice the left port so that the controller ports stay in a fixed position and ill have to use the right port as the power on/off switch.

(03-17-2016, 03:06 AM)sulblazer Wrote: [ -> ]This is cool!  If my GC was busted, I would try the same thing, I think.  As someone else already mentioned, the CPU isn't ideal for Dolphin, but the idea is pretty awesome.  Other than Dolphin, it probably runs SNES/NES/Genesis/most MAME/and maybe PSX emulators pretty well, right?

I've not tried any other emulator on this, but I've had Rocket League, FIFA and Diablo 3 running on it (On Med to High settings).

Like I've said above, the build is pretty easy and this is coming from someone who has never done this sort of thing before.  If you're planning on running dolphin on it, i5 (and even i7) options are available which will be much better.

I just managed to get my hands on a pretty cheap A8 board and figured this would be a fun project

Nice project. The hardest one will be to find a drive which fits into this case, and is able to read GC discs

(04-20-2016, 12:03 AM)degasus Wrote: [ -> ]Nice project. The hardest one will be to find a drive which fits into this case, and is able to read GC discs

And even then you still have to dump them

I've already bought a DVD drive for it. Not sure if its able to read GC discs or not, but it did take me ages to find.

Its an old lite-on top loading DVD drive (its USB, but i could also have used a sata drive). It was the only top loaded DVD player I could find and has (so far) been the most difficult part to find for this build.

Like I've said above, the CPU in this rig isn't very good for dolphin. Further down the line i may make another rig that is and use what I've learnt building this to make it better (I may even try a bit of soldering).

If you're somehow able to set CPU speed = 3.0GHz and use Direct3d12 backend , some light-weight games will run very well
Most of the time , AMD turbo core doesn't work with Dolphin though