Help me find a suitable machine to host my retroFE setup on.

[makaveeti]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some advice and recommendations please on a machine. Now that my RetroFE setup is nearing it's completion I'm excited to host it on a suitable machine. I'm looking for advice on the hardware to run my setup on. My requirements are listed below:

- Windows Based
- Small as possible (Will sit in my living room underneath TV)
- Bluetooth desirable
- Nothing too overkill

Running following games:

- Snes games
- Genesis games
- Early 90's dosbox games
- mid 90's windows games i.e GTA 1 (none of which are 3D)
- Around 10 psx1 games (Crash bandicoot, Porsche Challenge, Tekken 3)
- Arcade (mame) - mainly 2d classics like street fighter alpha etc

As you can see my games don't require very demanding hardware. I have looked at a few ideas so far:

1. Intel Compute Stick
2. Intel NUC
3. Zotac i68 (mini pc of 10x10x4 cm with core i5 and integrated graphics)
4. Kangaroo Plus Mobile Mini PC, Intel Atom x5 Z8500, 4GB LPDDR3, 64GB eMMC, Finger Print Reader, Non OS, Windows 10 compatible)
5. Sumvision Cyclone Quad Core Windows 8.1 Mini PC/Computer

What do you think of any of the above?

Can you recommend any nice micro PC's? Which CPU's should I avoid?

My first preference is the Intel Compute Stick however I'm not sure if it is powerful enough.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Pieter Hulshoff]

As long as you include PS1 in there, I fear you'll need an I3 or I5 CPU to make it run properly. That would mean either a reasonable NUC or the Zotac. You'll have to see whether you can grab a cheap copy of Windows 7 from somewhere, because the cheaper machines may not be suitable for Windows 10. I own the Zotac i68, so I know that it's powerful enough to run what you describe here (even GameCube runs pretty well on that machine).

[makaveeti]

Are these suitable machines?

https://www.zotac.com/us/product/mini_pcs/ci543-nano-1

Intel Core i5-6200U, dual core 2.3 GHz, up to 2.8 GHz
Intel HD Graphics 520
Bluetooth 4.0 / 802.11ac / 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps



https://www.zotac.com/us/product/mini_pcs/mi547-nano-plus

Intel Core i5-7200U, dual core 2.5GHz, up to 3.1 GHz
Intel HD Graphics 620
Bluetooth 4.2 / 802.11ac / 2 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

https://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/products/boards-kits/nuc/kits/nuc6i5syk.html

Intel® Core™ i5-6260U Processor (4M Cache, 1.8 Ghz up to 2.90 GHz) Processor Included
M.2 SSD Internal Drive Form Factor
Mini-DP 1.2; HDMI 1.4b Graphics Output

On a side note - if I drop the PSX 1 games from my setup, which micro PC's would handle the setup?

[Pieter Hulshoff]

It's faster than the i68, so I'd say that should work just fine. It will still  be too slow for most PS2 games, but for the rest it should work well. I'd invest in an SSD for it though; 256 GB should be enough for what you have in mind, though if you plan on adding more PS1 games (or the full CHD set including non-working games) you should consider the 512 GB version.

[makaveeti]

This is the machine I am interested in:

ZOTAC CI547 - https://www.zotac.com/us/product/mini_pcs/ci547-nano

- Intel Core i5-7200U, dual core 2.5 GHz, max 3.1 GHz
- 2 x DDR4-1866/2133 SODIMM Slot (up to 32GB)
- Intel SoC Chipset
- Intel HD Graphics 620

I'll buy an SSD and 8GB RAM to use with it. What do you think guys?

[Pieter Hulshoff]

Should be more than sufficient. You might even be able to pull a few 2D based PS2 games out of that machine.