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serpantino said:
Got a bartop arcade kit coming tomorrow (just the frame+perspex) looking forward to it as an ongoing project over the next few months, buying parts as and when I can afford them. Agonising over how much it'll probably cost in total but I've always wanted to do one. Already planned out most of what I'll be using, what I need to buy and what I need to drill etc.

I'm planning on a pc build internally rather than Raspberry pi and I have an old tower to strip down that should power through most of what I throw at it.
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trying to get the image of this, building an arcade type machine with a pc tower? know which one your using?
I've built a gaming rig I was working on for the past 2 years (with upgrades anyway) and the last thing I got for it was my 1080ti. sounds like a hell of a lot of fun to build something like an arcade machine though

since this thread might move again I'm just gonna drop this here for no reason
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I'm sorry. I'll try to stop it becoming a thing, but no promises
 
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@Captaaainuniverse
It's been a while... Off the top of my head I know it's a core 2 quad possibly a q6600, 8gb DDR3 & not sure what graphics card but I have a 660gts that i'll probably put in it.

As it's only a bar top (table top) I'm going to have to strip out everything I want from the tower and put the components loose inside the frame (I think that's better anyway. I'm thinking of mounting the mobo & hard drives vertically on the inside of the rear panel, luckily the board is a mini atx anyway which helps.

Externally I'll have to make a few modifications to mount components to the frame & drill out a few slots for things such as USB ports (for plugging in game controllers etc) & an easy way of adjusting the audio.

For other connectivity I'm thinking of a Bluetooth dongle & WiFi dongle. Software wise I'll be running Windows 7 but automatically booting into launchbox's bigbox frontend, from there I'll be able to access every game I put on it with a controller friendly menu system.

Last thing I'll do is the visual customization as I'd like to do my own design to go on the sides etc with some of my favourite video game characters & maybe a red panda. Colour wise I'd like it white with chrome accenting & I also need to do the aesthetic lighting (still not decided if I want light up buttons... I'll have to decide that soon.)


Here's an example bartop in the style of one of my fave games:
images

(disclaimer: mine probably won't be this good)
 
serpantino said:
@Captaaainuniverse
It's been a while... Off the top of my head I know it's a core 2 quad possibly a q6600, 8gb DDR3 & not sure what graphics card but I have a 660gts that i'll probably put in it.

As it's only a bar top (table top) I'm going to have to strip out everything I want from the tower and put the components loose inside the frame (I think that's better anyway. I'm thinking of mounting the mobo & hard drives vertically on the inside of the rear panel, luckily the board is a mini atx anyway which helps.

Externally I'll have to make a few modifications to mount components to the frame & drill out a few slots for things such as USB ports (for plugging in game controllers etc) & an easy way of adjusting the audio.

For other connectivity I'm thinking of a Bluetooth dongle & WiFi dongle. Software wise I'll be running Windows 7 but automatically booting into launchbox's bigbox frontend, from there I'll be able to access every game I put on it with a controller friendly menu system.

Last thing I'll do is the visual customization as I'd like to do my own design to go on the sides etc with some of my favourite video game characters & maybe a red panda. Colour wise I'd like it white with chrome accenting & I also need to do the aesthetic lighting (still not decided if I want light up buttons... I'll have to decide that soon.)


Here's an example bartop in the style of one of my fave games:
images

(disclaimer: mine probably won't be this good)
Click to expand...
Yes, yes, this is all very wonderful and BLAH, BLAH, BLAH...

But where's my raspberry pi?! :p

Nah, looks cool! I know **** all about PC's and stuff, except that mine could do with twice as much HDD space to run my Adobe software...

I love the artwork on the arcade casing!
 
~AyaMachi~ said:
Yes, yes, this is all very wonderful and BLAH, BLAH, BLAH...

But where's my raspberry pi?! :p

Nah, looks cool! I know **** all about PC's and stuff, except that mine could do with twice as much HDD space to run my Adobe software...

I love the artwork on the arcade casing!
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I could always do with twice as much hdd space even when I've just bought twice as much o_O. Raspberry pi is a range of little micro computers (if you didn't know.)slightly bigger than a credit card & around as powerful as your average midrange smart phone.
 
serpantino said:
@Captaaainuniverse
It's been a while... Off the top of my head I know it's a core 2 quad possibly a q6600, 8gb DDR3 & not sure what graphics card but I have a 660gts that i'll probably put in it.

As it's only a bar top (table top) I'm going to have to strip out everything I want from the tower and put the components loose inside the frame (I think that's better anyway. I'm thinking of mounting the mobo & hard drives vertically on the inside of the rear panel, luckily the board is a mini atx anyway which helps.

Externally I'll have to make a few modifications to mount components to the frame & drill out a few slots for things such as USB ports (for plugging in game controllers etc) & an easy way of adjusting the audio.

For other connectivity I'm thinking of a Bluetooth dongle & WiFi dongle. Software wise I'll be running Windows 7 but automatically booting into launchbox's bigbox frontend, from there I'll be able to access every game I put on it with a controller friendly menu system.

Last thing I'll do is the visual customization as I'd like to do my own design to go on the sides etc with some of my favourite video game characters & maybe a red panda. Colour wise I'd like it white with chrome accenting & I also need to do the aesthetic lighting (still not decided if I want light up buttons... I'll have to decide that soon.)


Here's an example bartop in the style of one of my fave games:
images

(disclaimer: mine probably won't be this good)
Click to expand...
Ah thanks for that much better idea of what your going for now. Sounds like a bit of work but a fun job nonetheless. Light ups can look abit garish on the control side of things, but are like a very good advertisement anywhere else. What's going to be on your box? I assume you'd be doing it for a lot of your favourites
 
@Captaaainuniverse yeah I think I agree with the lighting thing, I'll probably end up doing the neo geo colour scheme for 4 buttons and the other 2 just black or white so they stand out less (they won't be used for much.)

Box? The graphics design or the games themselves? :)
 
serpantino said:
I could always do with twice as much hdd space even when I've just bought twice as much o_O. Raspberry pi is a range of little micro computers (if you didn't know.)slightly bigger than a credit card & around as powerful as your average midrange smart phone.
Click to expand...
Oh...now...now I don't want any raspberry pi *cries* Micro computers? Really? Why are things getting smaller and smaller these days? I can barely hold my smart phone!

Haha, I know right? It's cool that you can build them from scratch though. My ex did that kind of stuff; he was all about it looking impressive and everything inside had to light up! I'd think, "but...it's just a PC, surely it doesn't matter how it looks?" XD

But hey, what do I know? It sounds like you enjoy it, which is the main thing dude, go for it! *thumbs up* ^^

And let me know when you get ACTUAL raspberry pie! :p
 
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@~AyaMachi~ my other half would sympathise, she goes blank when I start enthusing about pc stuff.

It's crazy to me too how phones have gone from bricks to these tiny devices, way more powerful than my first pc which I got in 1999.
 
serpantino said:
@~AyaMachi~ my other half would sympathise, she goes blank when I start enthusing about pc stuff.

It's crazy to me too how phones have gone from bricks to these tiny devices, way more powerful than my first pc which I got in 1999.
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Haha, I bet! I hope you have loads of fun with your project though ^^

Oh totally! I still remember our first family PC back in about 1998, and it was the big rectangular tower that you put your big clunky-backed monitor on top off, and they were all like an off-white colour...GOOD TIMES!

As for phones, they seem to get thinner and thinner, and smaller and smaller. I have a basic smartphone with touchscreen, and I struggle to type on the b****y thing! I much prefer actual keys!
 
serpantino said:
Box? The graphics design or the games themselves? :)
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The games. Obviously the design will have some of those games I imagine
~AyaMachi~ said:
, "but...it's just a PC, surely it doesn't matter how it looks?" XD
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You are one of the people who make me sad!
Well, to some people it does. I have a sexy red case ^^ I'm waiting for the quadstellar to come out though, it looks like some alien hood ornament
 
Captaaainuniverse said:
The games. Obviously the design will have some of those games I imagine

You are one of the people who make me sad!
Well, to some people it does. I have a sexy red case ^^ I'm waiting for the quadstellar to come out though, it looks like some alien hood ornament
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Haha, sorry dude, I'm the same with cars. I don't give a **** how it looks, so long as it all works! XD
 
Captaaainuniverse said:
The games. Obviously the design will have some of those games I imagine
Click to expand...

I have a huge collection of *cough* backups, of which I totally own every single one legally including the arcade machines which I keep in aircraft hangers on the airstrip of the private island I own....... I'm planning on emulating arcade machines & consoles mostly up to playstation 1/N64 though I am tempted to see if it can run a few dreamcast (my favourite console) and a couple of gamecube wii games. I'll probably have a few portables on there too but I'm unlikely to really bother with them as I prefer them on portable hardware.

Lightgun games are a big thing for me too & I do have an Aimtrack which is a lightgun that works kinda like the wiimotes & later arcade shooters (so it basically emulates a mouse with an infra red sensor bar), I'd rather use a traditional lightgun but I'm not going to try fitting my 19" crt into the bartop :p.

I have some old pc games that I'll be running on it too (mostly arcade ports or adaptations) and some pinball games (which I love), the good thing about launchbox is I can just add whatever games I want into it and download some screenshots, information etc.

Here's a small selection of my favourite Arcade Boards:
Blazing Star, Alien Vs Predator, Bubble Bobble, Bust a Move 2 (Puzzle Bobble 2), Columns, Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows Over Mystara, Elevator Action Returns, Forgotten Worlds, Giga Wing, Soul Edge, Dead or Alive 2, Metal Slug, Shock Troopers.

I'll mostly be having shorter gaming sessions on it I think but as it's a bar top I'll be able to use it with a chair as well (I hope) if I want to sit and knuckle into something a bit longer.
 
serpantino said:
I have a huge collection of *cough* backups, of which I totally own every single one legally including the arcade machines which I keep in aircraft hangers on the airstrip of the private island I own....... I'm planning on emulating arcade machines & consoles mostly up to playstation 1/N64 though I am tempted to see if it can run a few dreamcast (my favourite console) and a couple of gamecube wii games. I'll probably have a few portables on there too but I'm unlikely to really bother with them as I prefer them on portable hardware.

Lightgun games are a big thing for me too & I do have an Aimtrack which is a lightgun that works kinda like the wiimotes & later arcade shooters (so it basically emulates a mouse with an infra red sensor bar), I'd rather use a traditional lightgun but I'm not going to try fitting my 19" crt into the bartop :p.

I have some old pc games that I'll be running on it too (mostly arcade ports or adaptations) and some pinball games (which I love), the good thing about launchbox is I can just add whatever games I want into it and download some screenshots, information etc.

Here's a small selection of my favourite Arcade Boards:
Blazing Star, Alien Vs Predator, Bubble Bobble, Bust a Move 2 (Puzzle Bobble 2), Columns, Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows Over Mystara, Elevator Action Returns, Forgotten Worlds, Giga Wing, Soul Edge, Dead or Alive 2, Metal Slug, Shock Troopers.

I'll mostly be having shorter gaming sessions on it I think but as it's a bar top I'll be able to use it with a chair as well (I hope) if I want to sit and knuckle into something a bit longer.
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Some of those arcade boards I can't remember, probably because I'm an 89 kid and half of them were great ones from earlier 80's, but some proper ones there I can tell. You could get GameCube stuff running I bet, Wii, I don't know, maybe you don't have to? Could help with lightgun games though. You've got to get dreamcast on there thoigh!
 
Captaaainuniverse said:
Some of those arcade boards I can't remember, probably because I'm an 89 kid and half of them were great ones from earlier 80's, but some proper ones there I can tell. You could get GameCube stuff running I bet, Wii, I don't know, maybe you don't have to? Could help with lightgun games though. You've got to get dreamcast on there thoigh!
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Sure any recommendations just shoot *titters* me a PM with them, I know quite a few but there's always going to be ones I don't know. I need to look into whether or not any Pllaystation 2 ones can be emulated as there was a couple of goodies on there.

I'm 1985 myself but went on a lot of camping holidays when I was little & campsites were great for arcade machines as were the coastal arcades, plus being a sega kid, a lot of their marketing was focused on arcade ports & so I had a lot of those too. At secondary school we also had a full size neo geo arcade machine with a couple of carts (which was probably worth a fortune by then). I remember buying one of the keys to unlock the coin box on a (then) fledgling ebay and I kept nicking a couple of pounds out of it at a time so I could play again (never stole more than that, teachers didn't check the coin counter but they weren't that stupid).

Definitely have to get Dreamcast on it :) but the emulation is still pretty poor for a lot of titles, I might be better off just hooking up my DC to my tv but last I checked the vga cable for it was a fortune and I don't really want to run it 480i. Wii & Gamecube use the same emulator, I'm guessing hardware wise they're pretty close or the wii was focused on first (Wii runs gamecube after all). I own a wii though so I'm not overly bothered about it, the only difference is I could scale the graphics up to HD (same with gamecube.)
 
Making my way through space dandy. The zombie episode was hilarious. Also extra points scored for boobies & booties. Can I recruit dandy into my cult?
 
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