Rhoades Family: Nintendo

Quite some time ago I saw some pictures on the internet of someone using the original Nintendo to build a computer. I have wanted to build one ever since. That plan has finally come to fruition.

The Nintendo Entertainment System (abbreviated to NES or Nintendo) is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America in 1985. Over 61 million Nintendo's were sold. My brother Joe and I received one for Christmas in the late 1980s. Super Mario, Punch-Out, RC Pro Am, Dragon Warrior, Tecmo Bowl, so many great games and good memories. Sometime I need to see if I can get my Mom to send me a picture from that Christmas we got our Nintendo. We were at our Grandparents house in Idaho as I recall.

It took me quite a while to rationalize building a computer. The best purpose for a computer inside a Nintendo box would be to serve as a Home Theater PC. Problem is for the past 6 years I haven't owned a television. In fact I really don't like television much at all. However things change when you get married and Sandi wanted a television. So after some research and debate I finally acquiesced to her request and we bought a new TV. We got a 40" Sony Bravia EX 1080p television and a rather expensive TV stand. As you can see Sandi was quite thrilled to fill her living room. We had to make sure the stand matched the color of her recently purchase Target end tables.

Anyhow as many of you know I am an engineer (in training to be a doctor) who formerly worked for Intel. I debated on buying the new Intel Westmere Core i5 and corresponding mini-itx DH57JG board to build my Nintendo with. But because they are my former employer I no longer get my hefty discount. Doh! Westmere in fact was one of the products that I spent 2004-2009 working on at Intel. I was a cpu design engineer working in the front end in translating CISC to RISC instructions and then issuing them for execution. Working with a close knit group of engineers on things like Verilog RTL, timing, power, DRCs, LVS, schematics, global bit lines, pull ups, pull downs, resistance, shielding, oh the fun memories.

Due to budget constraints, I decided to use an Atom based board. This way I could purchase the board and processor all for under $100 dollars. I settled on the D945GSEJT board which sports a Intel Atom N270 processor, built in graphics, DDR2, DVI & VGA output, integrated DC-DC power supply, and 6 usb ports.

My construction was to first use my dremel to gut the innards of a Nintendo, cut out a place for the back plate, do a little soldering to make sure the original power and reset buttons and led still work. I threw in a DVD player so Sandi and I could watch movies together.