Amazing! I love the whole setup process I know many don't but I love the whole process of building something from scratch to making it functional it's satisfying. Hope the weekend is going well for you mate.
Love your videos Russ, wish I had your gaming brain for about 3 hours! Man I would create the baddest gaming PC! Again thanks for all you do man you're very appreciative in the community!!!
I won't stop till you see this lol. If your lights are warm, set the camera's WB to 3200 and if you're lights are closer to daylight/outside light; 5600 for you WB. NO MORE AWB, YOU'RE A PROFESSIONAL RU-vidR NOW!!! Love your content as always :)
Just bought this about a year ago, it's been sitting in it's box waiting for me to finally get around to setting it up. The 2tb hd is installed and I just need to follow this guide. Thank you for making such a guide!
Thank you for this video. Really informative. And it helped with the audio issue on my batocera PC. Now to just figure out why I have no internet connection hahaha. Good work and please never stop!
I am STILL on the lookout for that storage case they use for the Super Console X mini pc they had EVERYTHING sold independently except that! Great video as always one of the BEST RU-vid channels to feature mini pcs and Batocera,etc
After your review of the Super Console X Mini PC, I seriously considered it. Then I opted instead to try putting Batocera on a 2TB external USB drive and booting into that on my Lenovo Flex 5 laptop. I had trouble getting it to even recognize my 8BitDo controller. I tried to access the main menu to see if I could map the buttons, but I had no idea how to access the menu with my keyboard (discovered later it's the spacebar). Finally I plugged it in via USB and got it recognized and mapped and finally configured it wireless. Some of the game systems didn't look good to me, so I've been tinkering with the RetroArch settings to get them to look better, with some results working better than others. I've found PS1 games in particular to look like garbage. PSP has been the best for me, because they look incredible on the screen and mostly perform much better than my Anbernic handhelds. N64 runs some games that don't even run on the Pi4 (I have one of those as well). I may do a dual comparison of the video setting in RetroArch on my Pi4 to see if I can get SNES, PS1, etc. to look better. I can't remember what I did, but Genesis looked bad until I did *something*. :) Thanks for the inspiration, and I'd love a video on getting the best settings (similar to what you did for the RG351P).
Try different cores for the ps1, I'm happy how duck station looks. Also, try running scan line filters. It can really change the picture a lot. Personally, I was surprised when I first tried this.
I like tinkering stuff so id go this route, I’ve been hooked in retro games because of watching you Etaprime and taki udon. Please Keep making these videos.
The deeper I go into retro emulation the more I realize it's the PS2 specifically that I want to play the most. Just no clue what is the "best" "affordable" "smallest" option to get PCSX2 running smoothly with some upscaling.
@@octorox_animation if you mean like an actual ps2, thats not my goal. No HDMi output and your stuck with 480i no upscaling. Looking for something that lets me run it via HDMI with 2k or 4k resolution upscaling. Similar to PPSSPP does for PSP games.
@@BrianMills198686 i think thats why Keith said the real hardware might be cheaper. Upscalers that output hdmi are not terribly expensive. Now if you mean you want a device to also render at a higher resolution (meaning not just blow up the image but also improve detail), then thats going to require a decently powerful computer. Nothing too crazy, but probably not this type of sbc stuff you see on Aliexpress either.
Yes, and some J3455 models are also using cheap and slow DDR3 RAM in them, and the vendors aren't always telling. Some models (like the one used in this video) have faster DDR4, and I assume this has a huge impact on performance, as I had one of those DDR3 J3455 and DC games weren't even playable on it, and even PS1 was "barely ok". Forget N64 or GC. Anyone considering one of these mini PCs should spend just a little more and get a J4125. I think all J4125 use DDR4 too, on top of having a better CPU/GPU. So just get a J4125 folks.
I’m happy to see you venturing into ETA Prime territory with things like this.👍 By the way Russ, thanks for showing Wave Race Blue Storm running! I’m a few days late watching this video. Did you try Sega Rally for Saturn at all?
*Thanks for your detailed video.* I'm a graphic designer (so I use computers a lot), but when it comes to computer handling and manipulations (installing a brand new OS, etc), I get overwhelmed pretty quickly and generally don't feel confident enough. I'll watch your video again and will probably try to buy a brand new PC and install Batocera on it.
I would definately consider this option, the big plus side is its portability, plus if you're using it on a big tv in your livingroom, you don't want a big clunky pc taking up all the space, a mini pc you can hide.
Nice vid 👍 I was originally going to get android box but in the end went the pre owned Lenovo Tiny PC route and never looked back. Didnt want to spend a great deal either so its good value too. I just wanted a 'console' to run the systems that my PS Classic and the android boxes struggle with,namely N64,Dreamcast, PSP and so the Lenovo does that great..and these can also be upscaled and still run great. The bonus part is I now can also play Saturn as well and even a lot of gamecube, and many PS2 and some xbox and Wii even. Thats just a bonus. I specifically bought the Lenovo for this, as a retro emulation console. I did plan to have it all installed on the internal HDD but thought it handy to keep windows on it should I ever need a spare PC. (Which did come in handy once when I needed it) And so I now boot Batocera off a flash drive and have the roms on an attached portable HDD. Works very well. I know youve mentioned this in a previous vid but incase anyone missed it, checkout Batocera Nation yt channel, he has many tutorials on Batocera for PC.
You can pick up a Dell / Lenovo / HP mini business PC - slightly larger, but an i5 rather than a J chip for less than that. Admittedly it would be a used PC rather than a new one - but it would generally be better built (built for business use rather than home use), and faster as well as cheaper. i.e. I picked up a Dell 3050 micro with an i5-7500t last year for £112 (delivered) on Ebay - with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD (2.5" SATA one oddly - rather than NVMe), but if I add an old NVMe drive (I upgraded the one in my main PC), I can use one for Windows and one for Batocera - and both would be SSDs.
Yeah, those little older T model Tiny PC's are awesome little machines. Whether it be the Lenovo, HP or Dell ones. Yeah they might be used but if you are using them for retro machines with Batocera I think they are well worth it for the price. Even as a PC as long as they are in decent condition. I actually started with a Lenovo M73 i5 4570T 2.9ghz 2 cores 4 threads. For Batocera only and was. great for the price. Then I bought a HP800 G2 i7 6700T 2.8ghz 4 cores 8 threads. Again for Batocera only, nice bump in performance. Run a reg 2TB HDD with Batocera running internally off that. And I actually use the older Lenovo i5 as my main PC now, still plenty for what I use it for,I just put in a 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD, installed Windows and all good.
Also a note, some PCs have a boot menu key, when you press it it does not go to bios just shows the boot options, and you can choose different boot device for this one boot time. Next time the default one will boot again.
I just bought a mini pc a little bit more powerful than this. Can play xbox and ps2 perfectly fine. Just waiting for the delivery. I'm hoping this video will help me install batocera and everything else I need. Great video thank you.
Your videos are wonderfully informative and I'm actually thinking about buying one of these sometime in the future. Just a few questions 1.) Can you hook this up to your flash screen HD TV? 2.) If so, can you just simply plug and play with a controller or do you need to do a comprehensive setup before starting?
Super clear and helpful DIY guide! I really like the idea of building my own retro gaming station. BTW: What kind of screwdriver set are using in the video to open the cube? It looks super organized, i love it! :)
Brilliant stuff as per usual Russ, I was gonna rebuild my pc and have an emulator running through it. Decided against that and have just got a chrombook. Runs dreamcast like a dream, as well as N64 and psp. Everything else works fine so far.
I've been really enjoying your clips, and I'm just getting to the point of modding my arcade1up cabs. I like the idea of a MiniPC set up, that boots directly to the gaming OS so its pretty transparent. Do you have a follow up clip to this one where you actually hook that MiniPC up to the Arcade1up controls and such? Thats the step that confuses/worries me. Thanks again for providing so much good information, your channel is a great resource.
The BIOS on this one is wonky. Pressing F12 will show "checking media presence" a couple times and then boot into the primary partition anyway. I think there's something up with its configuration, because theoretically I should have been able to boot into the SD card or the USB drive too. Either way, this setup I showed is the only method that works with this Geek+ PC, which is a bummer.
This is soooo cool. Just wow. It was always in my peripheral that I could do something like this, but your videos explain so well, it just blows peoples minds what is really available nowadays. I have a Teclast F5 that would be perfect for this kind of tinkering around. Love your videos. Also...please consider following up your usb game drive, mini pc game setup idea with a super cheap Chinese ultraportable laptop. Having a portable screen and battery with this idea, seems like the next level of 'holy sh*t that's cool'. Again not regular laptop, something very light and cheap, maaaaybe as heavy as a Teclast F7, both of them around 260 USD. Edit - Crap. Doesn't work. Teclast budget ultraportables don't allow USB boot from the bios. It could have been sweet :(
Thanks for the video! I have a Steam Link box in my desk drawer and was wondering if Batocera could be installed onto that? I understand that the Steam Link is running a modified Linux.
With passive cooling, it might be better to use ssd drive to reduce heat. This is pretty much what I did recently, I bought a usff PC on ebay used for about $30 and upgraded ram and cpu from parts I had laying around and loaded up batocera. Works great and it can play just about everything I want to play on it, including ps2 and Dreamcast. Fantastic little machine and now I can pack away majority of my consoles.
My Samsung T5 SSD is actually hotter than my other portable HDDs, not sure is it because Samsung uses the external metal casing for heat dissipation. So, yeah, SSDs may not be cooler than HDDs, it all depends on the manufacturers' designs..
ALoha ! Howz it! I love your channel and all your cook books!!! I have a quick question about the mini pc bundle.... there has been so issues in trying to upgrade batocera on the MINI PC bundle . When trying to upgrade BATOCERA it gives me the error "boot drive is full" Ive tried to read and search on the topic there is a video in french but honestly you are the best at explaining how to fix things. IT would be wonderful if you could walk me through it or make a video on this issue hence it seems is a new issue with batocera 31. Im here in oahu and wish you best with the rest of your uploads. Hope you can help those of us who needs help with this issue. MAHALO!
Great video as always. I however would prefer a portable USB option as it's easier to manage the windows side and just plug in the usb when opting to game My rig is pretty beefy so I'm sure it can manage all the way up to PS3
I've been a fan of your channel for a while now and have even started my retro gaming adventure because of your channel. I've been looking for a way to play games on PC and after seeing this video, I have my hopes up! Just wondering though, if I use a mini PC, am I able to 1. Still play Steam games other than retro games through Batocera and 2. Still use it as a PC, using programs and apps such as Adobe, Docs, and such? Thanks!
If you're comfortable setting it up yourself, I would grab the HK1 box for about $50. It'll play those systems with plenty of headroom for other stuff too. I have a video on it! If you're looking for a pre-loaded setup, then the Super Console X Cube might be a good choice (I also have a video on that one!).
PS1 and Sega CD runs well on a 4k firestick. Most likely you have one and can use it until you buy your real retro device. I successfully ran marvel vs Capcom 2 on a firestick. Didn't think it was possible but it is. A bit of tweaking playing with RetroArch settings to get the full 60fps. PS1 and Sega CD is no problem with 60fps on a firestick. Emulation up to Dreamcast is the limit on a firestick. The core I use to play mvc2 in RetroArch is Flycast emulator.
Awesome video, thanks for that ! Do you know what would be the PS2 / Gamecube games performance using the same emulation process on an Batocera Mini PC ? Would that be good/playable ?
hey man, good vid! Taking this chance to ask something a bit offtopic: been considering getting the Razer Kishi for emulators on my phone as well as some Android games. I saw you got one and said you were gonna make a review of it but you didn't post one yet. Could you recommend it? I don't mind the size of it personally, but would like an opinion from another retro gamer, thanks!
Hi, so I ended up not doing a review because I really didn't care for it, and I don't like doing negative reviews like that. So I ended up focusing on the controllers I liked (like the GameSir) and then I gave the Kishi away in my last big giveaway. I think a lot of people like it, and if you don't mind the bulk I think it should be fine!
@@RetroGameCorps amazing, thanks for the heads up! Ended up getting it after reading some other reviews and will be here soon. One last thing, did you have any issues using it on emulators like ReDream, PPSSPP, M64 or Dolphin? Read some users had issues with the DPAD but a firmware update fixed it, so just making sure. Need to speedrun SA2 on the go, lmao
Great video! I’m interested in taking apart the tape cassette looking hard drive and installing it into this PC. At the 4 min 30 sec mark you say “and you can hook it up with this connector.” Could you provide a link to what kind of connector that is? Thanks!
if your having trouble booting from the batocera installation usb, make sure UEFI boot option is enabled in BIOS (mine was in advanced tab). I made this mistake myself!
Thank you for your video. It is helpful. So now my question will be when it comes to buying a mini pc to run batocera, how powerful does it need to be to run emulators? I guess that anything can run 16-bit systems. But what if someone wishes to run flawlessly PS1, Saturn, N64? What if someone wishes to run Naomi, Dreamcast, GameCube and PS2? Could you recommend some specs for each console?
Hi @Retro Game Corps, I need a device/min pc to emulate Wii with upscaling 1080p (HDMI) at full speed using dolphin bar & real wiimote. Plus PS2 & Dreamcast is a nice-to-have. Which one do you recommend? (ignoring prices)
I will say this about the Virtua Fighter on the Saturn. If you want to play VF on Saturn, you really have to play VF Remix or VF 2 because the original Virtua Fighter game on Saturn is extremely glitchy and buggy on even actual hardware.
You can get better hardware, if you don't mind going used. I just bought a Lenovo M73 mini pc for $200. You can usually get one with R5 2400ge 8gb ram, and 256gb ssd for $200-$275. Runs gamecube games at 1080p without much issue. In my experience Batocera/Lakka is hit or miss, setting up gamecube or non-standard controllers is not always easy. You also seem to have less settings overall. Dolphin on PC/Linux has more features. At some point, I realized I'd rather set up my own emulators and make sure everything works.
I am brand new to batocera you mentioned fzero playing bad on the PC you were using.. I have an Intel i7 with a 1070 video card is this enough to play all of the emulators?
Very nice, thinking of building a mini console but waiting for a RDNA 2 APU so you can do PS3 no probs, till then my 351V and big PC is more than enough.
Russ, I have an old raspberry pi I got about 7 years ago. I tried to install Batocera into it, and it works, but there are a few hiccups. Maybe you can look into making a guide on installing these standalone frontend emulators into the weakest machine you can find? Just for the kicks.
YEAH, this will take literally probably 6-8hrs to set up and get the settings right, unless you're providing the RetroArch settings files too. And that $400 option, while not great, has a lot of hard to find games on rom sites, in it and semi-formatted to work. While also coming with the mini-PC setup for you. Edit: $200 for the PC, and about $100 for the peripherals and Hard Drive, especially if you go SSD (though why you wouldn't just go with a 512MB microSD card, who knows). SO, $300-ish, and lots and lots of labor. OR $400
Totally agree, there is a lot of cost (and time) savings to be had in getting a pre-loaded system. But sometimes the labor part can be a little fun too :)
Hi Russ, do you have NAS? if yes, can you guide us on how to setup the connection between device and NAS in batocera? i just cant get it work, i am using Synology NAS DSM, if this can be set up, i can just get my rom and saves file using any device with batocera system within my wifi coverage area.
@@RetroGameCorps Yeah, the audio is from Audio Jungle, a famous audio seller like Stockphotos, and when you don't purchase it, every 8 seconds sounds "Audio Jungle" because is the sample preview haha
If you have an older gen Intel CPU such as a 4th gen one like myself, and you also have a dedicated NVIDIA graphics card, then make sure you go in the root of your BATOCERA storage device (after having installed BATOCERA on it) and open "batocera-boot.conf" in Notepad or Notepad++, and make sure to uncomment "nvidia-driver=true", because if you don't, then your games won't run well. Uncommenting this line will make sure that the nvidia drivers for linux are enabled (BATOCERA is a linux distribution). If you're on a laptop, and your laptop has an older gen Intel CPU and also a dedicated NVIDIA graphics card, then make sure to also uncomment "nvidia-prime=true" in the "batocera-boot.conf". Dedicated AMD GPUs have their drivers installed and activated automatically, so no tinkering needed inside the "batocera-boot.conf" file. :)
I personally like having stuff on windows, I find myself gaming more when it's just a few clicks away from what I'm already doing, I can keep podcasts running etc., but the presentation is awesome here, and easily beats my messy windows folders. I wonder, is there maybe a compromise? For one, I could make a folder with just shortcuts so there's no layers of folders to go through or save files cluttering the games folder, but before I do that, there might be something even better. It's okay for now as I'm busy with just a handful of GBA games, I right-click the emulator taskbar icon and the drop-down shows my games, but this won't hold up. (Cheap power-efficient laptop for low reqs, bulky tower otherwise)
Next step, Russ buys a barebones kit and builds his own MiniPC to put Batocera on it. Yeah, I'm one of the DIY crazies that have already done that XD You might have better GameCube performance with the standalone version of Dolphin on the Windows side, some of these cheap APUs aren't that well supported over Linux, which combined with standalone emulators often being updated more often than libretro cores can make it worth to play some system only on the Windows side...
Just want to say that apparently, all J3455 mini PCs aren't created equal. I had one for a brief time (ACEPC brand - that I had to return) and with the latest Batocera image, most DC games ran like utter cr4p (like, non-playable), N64 was very much hit or miss (more miss), and just forget about GC or DS, those ran like molasse. Even basic PS1 games were hit and miss, having to often play with emulator options (or try different emulator depending on the game) to get a good result. I think it was a defective unit, as I noticed that it was probably throttling the CPU (the fan wasn't working & temps were insane), and I've noticed that it had slower DDR3 RAM too, contrary to other models (like that Geekplus mini PC) that have DDR4, which surely have an impact on speed and GPU performance. So to anyone buying one of those J3455-based mini-PC, please verify that the model you're buying is using DDR4 RAM (not all companies selling those tell you - they only say "6GB" or "8Gb"). Also, I've noticed that ACEPC seems to have a lot of complains about the fan never kicking in, which is what I experienced as well. Personally, I'd go with a J4125 model, which is probably what I'll be ending up buying soon.
I'm doing this exact process with a brand new mini PC (Intel, J4125) and an internal 320GB SATA 2.5 that I flashed Batocera too. When I load up, I get audio out of the mini PC's audio connection, but no video after the splash screen. Almost seems like it's defaulting to something other than HDMI or VGA video outs, which are the only things the MINI PC has....
When looking for a Mini PC, what do you look for to see if you are able to change the boot device from the bios? I am looking at doing this, but dont know if i should buy a 2.5 internal drive or external hard drive(I would prefer external if possible)
@@acejon2162 or to cut their cost, a heat sink with thermal paste at the very least. 90degrees is simply too high to work with. On another hand it's not meant for gaming so...
I have tried setting up Batocera on my MSi Cubi 5 via. USB hard drive, but it keeps failing to boot up the OS, as I get an error message every single time when booting directly, or a blank screen after doing it manually. Is this possibly because of an issue with my 5TB external hard drive I'm trying to install it on?
You would need to spend a lot more to get one with a powerful CPU. this is a good guy to keep an eye on... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2ifBjG6x9Dk.html
I think i'm going to just buy one of these straight up in a few months and just use it for watching digital movies/emulating retro games in the home entertainment center and just stick with the included windows 10. Already got a wireless keyboard & controllers so all i'd really need to buy is another bluetooth dongle and i'd be good to go. Tempting... 🤔
Thanks for the video iv been looking to do this for a long time quick question which mini pc would you recommend for doing ps2 and wii? games iv got a pc just looking for something small many thanks
Hi, I would look at some of the mini PCs in the Minis Forum catalog, they are probably some of the best for your money right now. The price range will be relatively high, about $400 for solid PS2 gameplay.
$400 to $600 for miniPCs that can run many PS2 games comfortably. Specific models include Minisforum UM700, Beelink GTR or GMK BuxBox 2 etc. A cheaper alternative would be those used super compact SFF Lenovo/HP office PCs. that are
UM700 uses the Ryzen 3750 which is quite old, for PS3 better to get those high end models running Ryzen 5700G or higher. ETA reviewed quite a handful of models with 5700G, 5800, 5900 etc, go check out his videos to see the performance.
Hi I have a question if you can please answer, if i only want to use the mini as a dedicated batocera console and I dont care about using or having windows, what would be the best way to set it up? I would like for it to just always boot on to batocera and again dont care about windows. I would have the games on an SD card saved so i could transfer them over but can you please explain the process
Not super familiar with Batocera yet, but would this process work with an sd card on the Super Console X King? I really want to make mine a better experience. The stock stuff is trash
Hello how are you,it been 2 weeks now I'm trying to flash batocera on sd card but no success,I have tried on 4 different PCs 1 desktop 3 laptop but no success Everytime balenaEtcher says failed any help,I have with 32gb,64gb,128, and 256 gb but nothing
I wanna try the usb/hard drive thing but my laptop can't even play dress up games without screaming at me and running hot. So I'm scared to try it on there.
