Cheap SFF mainboard for emulator PC?

Adeptus · 19th July 2005, 1:19 PM

OK, I have two of these babies:

They are BattleStation II's, real arcade joysticks for NES/SNES/Sega/Atari/Commodore. I'm converting one to PSX (then by adaptor to USB & whatever else I want to use it on).

Wasn't sure what I was doing with the other until I saw it sitting on top of an old tower case... it has about the same 'footprint' (roughly 180mm x 300mm) - Enough to fit a Mini-ITX or similar sized board! Clearance under the buttons & sticks may be more of a problem, but I do have some lowprofile buttons (enough to replace one side but not both).

Looking at prices, I estimate a new ITX setup costing $400+, especially if I go for the Epia-MS boards (almost no backpanel, most connectors go to pin headers, so should be nice lowprofile). The joystick case has about 8x 9-pin D's and a 25-pin D on the back, so I'd like to route all connections to the existing holes if possible.

Are there any cheaper options? I'd mostly be using it for arcade/console emulators.
A PIII laptop with a dead screen?

19th July 2005, 1:19 PM	#1
Adeptus Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Adelaide, SA Posts: 761	Cheap SFF mainboard for emulator PC? OK, I have two of these babies: They are BattleStation II's, real arcade joysticks for NES/SNES/Sega/Atari/Commodore. I'm converting one to PSX (then by adaptor to USB & whatever else I want to use it on). Wasn't sure what I was doing with the other until I saw it sitting on top of an old tower case... it has about the same 'footprint' (roughly 180mm x 300mm) - Enough to fit a Mini-ITX or similar sized board! Clearance under the buttons & sticks may be more of a problem, but I do have some lowprofile buttons (enough to replace one side but not both). Looking at prices, I estimate a new ITX setup costing $400+, especially if I go for the Epia-MS boards (almost no backpanel, most connectors go to pin headers, so should be nice lowprofile). The joystick case has about 8x 9-pin D's and a 25-pin D on the back, so I'd like to route all connections to the existing holes if possible. Are there any cheaper options? I'd mostly be using it for arcade/console emulators. A PIII laptop with a dead screen? __________________ "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943 "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." - Ken Olson, founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977 "640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981 Last edited by Adeptus; 19th July 2005 at 1:46 PM.