Gaming Looking to build basic, light, semi-portable PC with an Atom d525

[jceggbert5]

I'm looking at building a pseudo-portable mini PC that I can do slideshows and things when I'm out at events and stuff, and I'm looking at using the Atom d525 as my CPU.

I also want to be able to play some older games via emulator, like NES, SNES, GB/GBC/GBA, and maybe N64. Is that CPU good enough?
(looking at this CPU/MoBo combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121442 with 4GB RAM and a random decent HDD I have laying around)

Can anyone give any insight into this for me?

If the build performs well enough, I might even stuff it inside a NES case... Just a thought...

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Should be able to play up to N64 and maybe some light PS1 games.

 

[jceggbert5]

Should be able to play up to N64 and maybe some light PS1 games.

Any heat issues I should be worried about when doing that to the atom? I'll have two small (40mm?) fans in the case. Will I need any more? Airflow will be very minimal though...

Also, will this be an adequate PSU? http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817129006 (mainly concerned about wattage)

Will only be the mentioned MoBo, a couple USB controllers, an SD reader, a slimline DVD drive, and a laptop HDD at max at one time.

 

[marcus134]

did you take a look at the e350?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130567

it's as powerful as a d525 but it has a gpu that can actually run game
(you can find an atom d510 (1.66 ghz) in the graph, it should be slightly slower than a d525(1.8ghz))
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx/8 (application benchmark)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx/5 (gaming benchmark)

You ask questions about ventilation and psu, but in what enclosure will you fit your system?

 

[jceggbert5]

did you take a look at the e350?
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813130567

it's as powerful as a d525 but it has a gpu that can actually run game
(you can find an atom d510 (1.66 ghz) in the graph, it should be slightly slower than a d525(1.8ghz))
http://www.anandtech...n-for-miniitx/8 (application benchmark)
http://www.anandtech...n-for-miniitx/5 (gaming benchmark)

You ask questions about ventilation and psu, but in what enclosure will you fit your system?

At first, some random Micro ATX case from my basement, but after that, possibly inside an old broken NES (see first post).

Also, I'm weary of AMD CPUs because they generally release more heat than Intel CPUs, but I guess they're both netbook processors, so neither should generate much heat at all.

Also, I like the fact that that motherboard has HDMI.


Will that one perform as well with emulation as the one I linked to? Also, will it be able to do basic 2D PC gaming? I'll probably be using ArchLinux, so the OS taking all the resources shouldn't be a problem.

edit: Dang! That combo is more powerful than my 3-year-old laptop!

 

[marcus134]

At first, some random Micro ATX case from my basement, but after that, possibly inside an old broken NES (see first post).

most micro-atx can't fit a mini itx mobo without some serious modification and if you buy a mini-itx case, it may already come with a psu.
btw, if you are ready to spend 30$ on a psu, for an extra 15$ you can get a case and psu.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007583%20600006318&IsNodeId=1&name=Mini-ITX%20Tower

Also, I'm weary of AMD CPUs because they generally release more heat than Intel CPUs

The atom d525 is rated 16W for the cpu only( gpu is on the chipset) while the e-350 is rated 18W for the cpu+gpu.
as a whole, the e-350 consume less power (and dissipate less heat) than than d525.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx/7

Will that one perform as well with emulation as the one I linked to?

on computation, they're on par, but the e-350 has a capable gpu and on some emulator it's possible to use post processing and other eye candy that takes advantage of a gpu.

Also, will it be able to do basic 2D PC gaming?

in the gaming benchmark link I posted, you can see it running cod:mw2. This thing is capable of doing things way beyond 2d gaming.

 

[jceggbert5]

At first, some random Micro ATX case from my basement, but after that, possibly inside an old broken NES (see first post).

most micro-atx can't fit a mini itx mobo without some serious modification and if you buy a mini-itx case, it may already come with a psu.
btw, if you are ready to spend 30$ on a psu, for an extra 15$ you can get a case and psu.
http://www.newegg.co...ini-ITX%20Tower

If you look at the first post, and a few posts later, I say that I'm going to be putting it inside a NES case. There is no room for a PSU in there so I'm going to use an external one (the one I linked).