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Check out my new "gaming" rig [message #206733]

Wed, 05 July 2006 22:03

C4miner
Messages: 352
Registered: February 2003

Karma: 1

Commander

I have spent the past couple months building this dream machine, and I thought some of you might be interested:

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1074247917

What is it, might you ask? Well, simply put, it is (obviously) a fully sized arcade cabinet, old school style. It has a full two player control panel, complete with trackball and spinner. It also has four gamepads that are just like PS2 controllers (Well, there are two gamepads in the pictures, but I have two more on order).

I built this machine from the ground up. Why? I wanted a big project to occupy my summer break (I'm 19 in college) when I’m not working full time. I could think of nothing cooler to build than an arcade machine. I bought a few sheets of 4’ by 8’ particle board at the Home Depot. I drew up measurements, cut up the wood, and assembled it into a cabinet. I found some plans and dimensions for this cabinet online, so that helped to guide me through the process a lot.

After the cabinet’s frame was complete, I added some wheels to the rig (it is very heavy, 500+ lbs with all the equipment in it). Then I primed it before slopping on 3 coats of high-gloss black paint. I put on the artwork, installed the equipment, and wired up the electronics.

I named the cabinet "Zeta Psi Arcade" because I am moving it to that fraternity when I go back to school.

Here are some more pictures of the project:

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1083698208

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1298414639

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1355101652

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1381457650

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1326990441

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1372628744

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1024675714

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1067046033

So how does this thing work?

Well, basically, this cabinet simply houses a computer that is hooked up to the 27" TV. There are two speakers in the top behind the marquee and a subwoofer at the bottom of the cabinet.

Then there is the control panel with authentic arcade buttons and joysticks. These parts have all been wired up to a circuit board which plugs into the computer. This circuit board makes the computer think that the buttons and joysticks are actually keyboard buttons, which is what allows the system to work.

The cabinet itself plays thousands of old and newer arcade games and console games by using emulators and roms.

Which games, exactly? Here is a basic rundown of what games this machine has:

-C&C Renegade, of course
-Thousands of genuine arcade games from the '70s, '80s, and '90s (2903 titles)
-Every NES game (863 titles)
-Every SNES game (1007 titles)
-Every Sega Genesis game (948 titles)
-Many GameBoy/GameBoy Color games (238 titles)
-Many GameBoy Advance games (60 titles)
-Several PlayStation 1 games (33 discs)
-*EVERY N64 GAME* (323 titles)
-Of course, this machine also plays PC games. (The computer has 1 gigabyte of RAM, 120 gigabyte hard drive, AMD Sempron 3200 Processor, and Radeon 9600 video card, so it can play current PC games decently).

If you ever want to build one of these monuments for yourself, you can find all the resources you could possibly need at BYOAC (Build Your Own Arcade Controls):

http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/

Here is my project thread for this cabinet at their forums:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=54650.0

P.S. If you are curious, this project cost about $1500 for all the parts, plus the hundreds of hours of labor involved. And it was damn well worth it.

-fin-