Building an Emulation Box

>>3298623
Yeah ive got a small box hooked up to a crt.
>Any tips to make this better?
Intel desktop is the only way to go.

Just use a standard (although preferably small form factor) desktop with VGA out. You'll get leagues better emulation performance than you would with something like a Pi, even if you decide to refurbish an old single-core legacy Pentium desktop.

How do I hook up a pc to a crt properly?

>>3298823
"Properly" is subjective. What do you mean?

>>3298829
I mean, without using a vga-to-composite/rca/component converter boxes.

>>3298835
if thats the case, locate a CRT with a VGA input. They are out there, but were on high end units only.

>>3298842
I already have a crt tv though.

File: download (2).jpg (5KB, 259x194px) Image search: [Google]

5KB, 259x194px

>>3298842
LoL or you could use... uhhh... a VGA CRT monitor? They should still be quite common in sizes up to 21". That's the simplest way by far.

>>3298835
Feed pic related 640x480x60hz and use a simple scanline filter, crack up the brightness on the monitor to make it bloom a bit and it's going to look close enough to legit for almost everyone

If you want to get a computer to output true 240p you've got a much bigger job ahead of you.

>>3298852
That is true, and you can pick them up dirt cheap.

But the NVIDIA Quadro FX 1700 graphics card can output Component, Composite, and S-video with out conversion so that may be an option.

>>3298874
Can I just use this pc part for its analogue output, while using my regular gpu for the video processing?

>>3298874
Most of those kind of cards still struggle with actual 240p thanks to its weird timings. They'll usually just put the even fields between the odd fields exactly the same as 480i for weird wiggly 60fps.

One good option for emulating classic consoles on regular tvs with authentic video signals is to use a Wii.

>>3298890
I don't mind going for 640x480
I just want to get the video signal to my crt, without having to use external vga-to-composite/svideo converter boxes. I'd like for my pc to output composite without having to use old graphics cards that can barely run emulators.

Aren't there pc parts that only serve the purpose of outputting composite, that can be added to an already fully assembled working pc without having to remove its gpu?

Yeah I'd like to know if getting a CRT is even worth it if I'm just using an emulation box? This is under the assumption that I can output at 240p natively.

>>3298823
The 'best' way would be something like this:

Computer [Radeon HD card (vga/DVI-A out) + crt_emudriver/soft 15khz] connecting to an extron RGB interface which would plug into a professional monitor with 4 BNC (RGBs).

If you don't have a crt with RGB and wanted to use component you'd have to get a transcoder for that but dunno too much about them.

Radeon card - $10-25 dollars
PC - core2duo or better ideally
Extron interface - $15-50

>>3302539
Also if you didn't want to use a tv/15khz you could always plug it into a computer crt, optionally with a $25 scan line generator

>>3298623
I thought about the same thing a few years back and realised the effort wasn't worth it when a hacked Wii will do the same thing but even easier up to 4th gen. It can output to crt's nice and simply as well.

Any gen above you can't do individual work arounds will be fine for me

>>3302739
If you just want early gen consoles thats fine. I like having MAME which requires a beefier cpu for later games and it's nice being able to use whatever controller you want. I also use a configurable frontend with my entire collection (both console and MAME), but on wii you're stuck with retroarch for everything.

>>3298623
I've got an i5 with a good nvidia chip in a media case and 3 laptop drives, all of which I got for free. Then I put XP black edition on it and installed hyperspin with rocket launcher on it. I bought a wireless 360 controller on ebay along with the windows adapter.

It works great. Hipsters will probably complain it's "just not the same" but it fools me even on an lcd TV. You can even get the original system controllers with a USB adapter if you like but I much prefer the wireless 360 controller, you get used to it real quick.

A small black box with a 360 controller on it looks a lot nicer than a dozen old yellowing consoles with a million wires cluttering up your living room. The only thing which sucks is DS emulation, I have an R4 for that.

>>3302739
Does the wii do 240p (without VC?)

>>3298623
>so I am counting out DC and other 6th gen systems.
You mentioned linux, and I don't know how well NullDC performs under wine, but a C2D machine from that era should be able to emulate dreamcast no problem.

Some emulators work a lot more effectively than others. N64 emulation is notoriously spotty, so don't conclude "anything newer than n64 is too powerful" from your experiments with that platform.

>>3302834
Yes. Retroarch and various other standalone emulators for Wii do 240p output.

>>3298623
C2D is more than enough for smooth emulation.
You are fucking up something