fordrivingtheLEDs,andan
UltimarcI-PAC32interface for
convertingthebuttonstrokes
intokeyboardpressesfor the
emulators.Therearealso two
wirelessXboxOnecontrollers
formoremoderngames.Constructingthecabinet
Thecabinetitselfismade from
18mmplywood.Thecurved
topsectionismadebykerf-
cutting,leavingonlythetop
layeruncut.Eachsidepiece is
identical,andthey’rejoined in
themiddle.Then,oncebent, the
gapsarefilledwithresin and the
woodisbacktofullstrength.
ThePerspexwasengraved in
a localsignshop,andthe front
piecewasbentwitha hot wire
bender– it’slitalongitsedgeSYSTEMSPECS
CPUIntelCorei5-2500K
overclockedto4GHz
GraphicscardNvidiaGeForceGTX
780 Ti
Storage4 x 4TBWDharddrives,
500GBSamsung 850 EvoSSD
Memory8GBDDR3
MotherboardAsusP8Z68-VPro
Gamingperipheralsand
controllers2 x RGBball-top
Ultimarcjoysticks,2 x PacLED64
LEDcontrollers,UltimarcI-PAC32
controllerinterface,JBLspeakers
PSUCorsairCX750M
Cooling2 x Noctuafansandlow-
profileCPUcoolerMODDING / READERS’ DRIVES
along the edge was necessary
to hide the joint between the
two sides of the wrapping.
It wasn’t all easy. I ran into
some issues with bad interference
through the speakers. I was first
concerned that the close proximity
of all the components in the top
section, and the mass of wires I
was hiding in there, was the cause,
but it turned out to be the cheap
amplifier I was using. I also wasted
many hours making a custom
mirrored Perspex motherboard
tray with eight red LEDs embedded
into it. The idea was that the
underside of the motherboard
would reflect back onto the mirror,
but you can’t even see the tray
when it’s inside the cabinet.
RetroCade is running Windows
7, mainly for compatibility issues
with some of the older emulators;
it runs the front-end Hyperspin
and uses Rocket Launcher to
launch the games. Every game
I could want, from Spacewar
(1962) to current-gen titles are
on there, using up all 16TB of
hard drive space. Pressing the
game info key will also pause the
game and bring up the original
manuals, box art, maps, cheats
and so on for each game.using 5mm LEDs embedded in
the grooved slot in which the
Perspex sits. This gives the effect
of only the engraving lighting
up. In total there are 128 RGB
channels in use, 22 of which are
used for the engraving and the
rest for the buttons and joysticks.
Meanwhile, cooling comes
from two Noctua fans – one on
each side. The left fan draws
in cold air over the CPU and
graphics card, and the hot air is
then pushed out by the right-
hand side fan. The rear Perspex
piece originally had no vents
cut into it, but I was unhappy
with the temperatures inside
the machine, so I cut some slots.
It runs at nominal temperatures
now, even at full load.That’s a wrap
No paint is on the cabinet;
instead, it’s all coated with
decent quality car vinyl. The
vinyl is hard-wearing and doesn’t
rub off like paint over time.
Wrapping is relatively easy, but
the design needs to incorporate
the seams in the wrapping –
you have to plan if you want to
hide them as best as possible.
For example, the T-moulding