First Time Emulator Console Build Questions

Rivyn

HI ^__^

I was hoping someone might be able to help answer a couple of questions I have.

I just recently decided that I wanna get a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, the case and power supply, to make a Emulator Console, primarily because I really don't have the space to have a bunch of retro consoles set up and this is a rather cheap and space saving alternative. Now, primarily I plan on using it to run NES, SNES, GB, GBC, GBA, Sega Master System, MegaDrive/Genesis and maybe Atari, however as I've seen other people do it as well, I would also like to emulate N64, PSX, Sega CD, Saturn and Dreamcast. And if this works out well for me, I wanna build one for my little cousin as a birthday or christmas present, soooooo......

What I want to know is

Are there any special hardware considerations I need to take into account. Like do I need to apply a heat sync(s) to the Pi and if so, how difficult is that to do?
How much ventilation do I need to create in the case (if any)

and

How exactly would you record game footage from an emulation console? Is there a easy/special way to do it in this case or do you just treat it like any console and plug it into something like an elgato?

Thanks in advance ^__^

Rivyn

just gonna give this a little bump.......

cyberneticwired

Never have built a console from scratch but if you overclock the pi (to play the dreamcast, saturn and n64 games) i would probably get a heatsink so it doesnt melt while trying to play those lol. Second one i have no clue, and i know it supports limelight but i think somewhere in the forums there is a discussions about recording game footage.

opensourcefan

Hello, Most of your emulators on your wishlist will run nicely. N64 requires tweaking to get some games working nicely, some games won't play at all. I've had good luck with PSX but not so good luck with Saturn. Certain Dreamcast games work okay, many don't. This is just the facts of life as some emulators aren't as efficient as others. If you go to the Wiki page (link on top right of this page) and click through all the emulators on the right side they are described very well. There are lots and lots of good links that answer many of the questions that people have, from sound to tweaks etc.

In respect to heatsinks and cooling, I really like this video. -

That being said, if you are going to overclock your Pi3 you will need heatsinks with a fan. Overclocking will help get many more N64 games and others going. I've chosen not to overclock to keep things simple, still have a case with a small fan running at low speed though. The Pi3 also requires a good power supply. The official one is good because it's 5.1 volts vs the regular 5.0 volts that you get everywhere else. If you're going to overclock and add fans etc you will benefit from a power supply that is capable of putting out 3000ma (3 amps) vs the recommended and official 2500ma (2.5 amps).

Game play recording... I have no idea, sorry.

ProxyCell

1 - Its a heat sink and generally yes, I would recommend one. They are dirt cheap but you should also get some proper thermal paste (arctic silver). As for fans, I actually am not a fan of those. (I seriously typed that without intending for the pun to be there) I do not like the idea of something taking electrical power from the RPi which generally aren't the most power-friendly devices. I also do not like the idea of NOISE of any kind really. I will test out a fan-setup some day but for now, I seem to have no trouble with just a heatsink. Before you ask: there are not going to be any major differences between heatsinks here. Just get one.

2 - Ventilation... this ties in with my fan about fans above. Your RPi3 should have decent airflow. For example: do not use a case that is totally... encases the board. Make sure it has lots of holes/gaps/vents all over, especially near the hottest components. I am currently using my RPi3 in a two-piece case, without the top piece. This is sort of my dream case, if it came with a fan as well: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:629886

3 - You generally have 2 options: a software choice (not great, especially for the Pi) that captures the screen and saves it to disk. Your only other option is a hardware video capture device. There are a lot of those out there, I can point you towards one company right now but there are probably better ones out there, I have been a customer of these guys and trust them to support their stuff well: https://www.elgato.com

opensourcefan

@ProxyCell

When you decide to test out a fan stick a couple diodes in series with the 5v wire. The voltage drop across each diode will result in about 3.3v going to the fan. It will run slower, quieter and use up less power. I have a small fan that was loud and consumed about 175ma of power. Once I added the diodes the sound decreased enough so I can't hear it from 6 feet away and the power consumption dropped to 100ma. From what I understand it's not appropriate to use the 3.3v rail on the pi due to what it's being used for.

Oh and I get about a 18 degrees C drop in temp by using the fan compared to without (inc heatsinks). The temps stay relatively stable as well with the fan, seldom move by more than 16 degrees C. Static heatsinks do very little.

ProxyCell

Thanks @opensourcefan ! I will make a note of this

Rivyn

thank you for the advice, I really appreciate it

After some consideration, I think I might leave emulating the PSX, N64, Dreamcast and Saturn on the Pi, alone as I have another project in mind to do those one that wont require the Pi. At this point I just wanna make a emulation console that can play the classic stuff (NES, SNES, SMS, SMD, ect, ect) So with that being said, will that still require a heatsink?

Asking because I wanna know what I need to buy so I can do it all at once >.>