TPA5

There's a few different solutions out there, some Google-fu can net some good results. The best fix is to re-flow the solder on the CPU and GPU chip, and optionally replace the X-clamps (There may be one or two) so they don't put upwards pressure on the chips anymore. Ideally a solder-reflow station is the best tool for the job, but you may be able to do it with a good heat gun or (if you're brave) an oven. I have repaired a couple 360's in the past with a heat-gun method, but it takes some time and the results aren't always perfect. In one case the machine ended up working for another couple months before giving up the ghost, the second one managed to live just over a year of use then breathed its last. So I'd say with some patience this fix can work pretty good, though ultimately it may be worth it to just find a used 360 for cheap but if you want to try and fix it, go for it! Check out this tutorial for a run-down on how to do the fix: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Reflowing+Xbox+360+Motherboard/5845 You don't need their silly little $25 kit, you can do it with tools around your house. What I did differently is used a few old rags, some tin-foil and tape to cover everything I didn't want to heat in order to prevent any popped capacitors. I also used snips to cut out both the metal and plastic honeycomb on the back of the unit which ended up letting vastly more air through the back keeping the unit cooler. It didn't look pretty though, so again it's optional. With a few hours of time you may just be able to save your 360 from the trash!

Looks neat, but I'm not sure how much better than the RasPi it would be. Not only does the RPi have the support of programs like RetroPie, but it can run Win10 (though admittedly I'm not sure how smooth it is). Plus it has the 1gb of ram. For Atari emulation I am sure this would be great as you don't need overwhelming horsepower for that (depending on what system you're trying to emulate), but for much past that I don't think it is an RPi killer. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Also I will mention that I have a Roku stick I'd be willing to throw in for a trade if anyone is interested.

Hey all. Looking to load up Kodi on our TV, and I figure either an Amazon Fire TV stick or a Raspberry Pi would do the trick nicely. Just wondering if anyone has either of those they would be willing to part with. I'm up in Canada, so that oh-so-glorious exchange rate will be factored in but I'm thinking maybe I can get a better deal here than fleaBay. Thanks!

To be honest I've never understood this issue that people say they have. With just over 100 GoG games, I have never once had an issue with running them. Even the one's people generally have issues with work fine on my Win7 box. So about early access.... I'm not a fan. I understand the concept, but 90% of the time it's executed so poorly it seems ridiculous to pay for it. It's like paying for an entire car, but only getting the 4 wheels to start with the promise of drivetrain, frame, interior, etc to come at a later date. Promises that may or may not be kept. So in 8-9 months you may still just have 4 wheels sitting in your driveway, looking nice but completely pointless on their own. Then again I suppose most AAA titles release so horribly broken these days that they might as well be early access, so maybe this is what gamers truly want.

Most modern console I have is an old Xbox 360 (a release edition, not too shabby that it still works) that I traded my friend a case of beer for about 5 years ago. Currently it does nothing more than play Netflix, I gave the games I owned for it to my brother and a few friends over a year ago. There is absolutely nothing about modern consoles (or really modern gaming for that matter) that interests me. Besides playing GTA 5 on my PC as a stress-reliever, about 85% of my library are games from pre-2010. In fact the only modern game I have purchased since GTA 5 was American Truck Simulator which I purchased just an hour ago. I find that the overwhelming majority of modern games hold little to no interest for me. Between buggy releases, constant patches, ludicrous amounts of DLC, 30 different methods of freaking DRM, unfinished content, and lazy ports to PC I cannot fathom a single reason why they deserve 80 of my hard-earned dollars (plus whatever stupid amount they demand for DLC down-the-road). To be honest I find even most indie games frankly nauseating these days. Then again, I tend to find myself in the minority when it comes to games. For instance, I found 'Undertale' boring, ugly (and not classic-game-ugly, just plain old ugly), and entirely too patronizing for its own good to be honest. Then again, no one cares (nor should they care) about what I think so it's merely my opinion. Mercifully there are services such as Good Old Games, which allow me to harken back to a time when PC reigned supreme and point-and-click adventures ruled the roost.

I'm still playing the Gamecube and 64 versions when my friends come over, other than that I don't play any of the other ones. I tend to be pretty terrible at them so unless I'm paired with equally-terrible people I don't enjoy it that much to be honest.

Interesting survey. I very rarely give any sort of time to these, but I did go through this one. I'm curious to see the results.

I mean if it was under $100 I'd probably do it to be honest. If it's built even semi-decently you could MAME it, thus saving yourself the time of building the cab, sourcing the controls, etc since that's all done already. If it's a little too low as other people have mentioned you could very easily raise it up abit, or simply get a bar-chair and have a sit-down style cab.

Do you need an Xbox 360 wireless adapter? You can buy knock-off ones from China on eBay for pretty cheap and they work just fine. I have one that I use regularly to connect my 360 wireless controller.

I have a Power Macintosh G3 B&W tower that I recently installed OS 9.2.2 on. I can highly recommend macintoshgarden.org for lots of great games and software to drop on your machine. As Osgeld said, 9.2.2 supports USB sticks so you can just use that to transfer programs and files over. There's lots of awesome software for that machine so I'm sure you'll get a lot of hours out of it!

My wife and I have been trying to sell our car on local classifieds, and I just recently had to deal with an insane lady. She wanted me to drive the car to some sketchy mechanic in the middle of a really bad neighbourhood in the city about an hour from me, and I told her there was no way I was doing that. She kept hounding me, calling me, sending me emails asking why I wasn't going to do that. Then she was demanding to know where I lived, I eventually threatened to call the police and she backed off. People, I'm telling you. Anyway, glad everything worked out and you got some good kit out of the situation!

Only thing I've ever gotten out of the trash was a Power Macintosh G3 Blue & White. Was at my buddies apartment and saw it sitting on the ground right next to the dumpster. It was perfectly clean, but when I picked it up something was rattling around inside. Took it home, wiped it all down with disinfectant, found out the rattling sound was just the ram sticks which were loose for some reason so I plugged 'em back in, and just recently dedicated the time to installing OS 9.2.2 on it. Other than that in the garbage around here you pretty much only find, well, garbage. Good find though! Hope you wiped it down with disinfectant before you used it.

Damn, I rip that seller a new-one on eBay for sure. What an a-hole trying to screw you like that. Hope the next one works out better! That's the curse of this hobby, dealing with unscrupulous dicks and old-machines. For those wondering why someone would buy something like this on eBay, if MotoRacer lives anywhere like I do, finding PC's like this is simply impossible. I've spent years on online classifieds looking for machines of this type from this era, and they simply don't exist. When people do post a 90's PC, it's usually a crap business machine that's half-broken and they want $300 because "it's old, so it must be worth something!" Conversely, on eBay I get the shaft also because I live in Canada and according to the USPS that might as well be on the fricken' moon for what shipping costs. Couple that with a shite Canadian dollar and I live a cold, dark existence. Sorry, that's my rant done. Anyway Moto that's a huge bummer about the machine, but I'm glad it looks like things are going to be alright! Once you're booted up and running some classic games on real iron you'll forget all about this.

Nice setup! I'd love to get my hands on a machine like that. Currently I'm in the process of getting a Power Macintosh G3 resurrected with OS 9.2.2 and online. But classic Windows is nearer and dearer to my heart. I'm assuming it's an IDE harddrive in that machine. If that is the case, you could go with an IDE to CF card adapter, like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Compact-Flash-CF-to-3-5-Female-40-Pin-IDE-Bootable-Adapter-Converter-Card-/400547304336?hash=item5d427ad390:g:PF0AAOxymspSDbTq (I'm not promoting that particular seller, just an example of what it is). It lets you plug a CF flash card into an IDE machine, effectively giving you a cheap SSD in the size you need. I know quite a few guys use those instead of trying to find and rely on ageing harddrives.

Looks kind of interesting, these all-in-one emulation consoles are getting to be a dime-a-dozen these days. That being said, the Amiga-based OS is actually pretty cool looking and combined with some of the other capabilities could be worth the price of admission if you couldn't already buy it separately for the RasPi through their website. If I view it less as an emulation-console and more as a PC I can use to play games, browse the web, and run a media centre all from the comfort of my couch it gets more interesting. I'm not sure if it's 150euros interesting, but interesting nonetheless. I think the reason there's some odd grammar is due to the fact English does not appear to be their first language, seeing as their prices are in Euro.

My primary memory of Mario Party is that once my friends and I managed to descend into actual physical violence during a game. I am not a huge fan to be honest.

Being stuck with the average YouTube let's-player as my only companion for all eternity.

Nice find for $2! I'd love to get my hand on one of those and re-wire it into a mini bar-top arcade body. I've seen a couple folks use them for that and it turned out pretty sweet in both instances.

This thread makes me want to give another go at building my own retro-rig. Glad that most of the posts have been in support of you trying this, instead of the usual (and tired) "Why not emulate" reply. That case looks really slick, and good find with the joystick! Don't forget to post pictures of the complete setup when you're done.

If there wasn't the character at the top and the characters dangling at the bottom it might be cooler. It just strikes me as more than a bit gaudy.

Man, you just get the coolest systems I want. Being a pretty big Gamecube enthusiast, I've always wanted one of those Q units. Unfortunately, hard to find as they're hella expensive.

Most definitely painted, you can see it flaking off in some areas. Looks kind of ugly too in my opinion.

Wow, these are some awesome suggestions, thanks a lot guys! I will definitely be adding these to my list, if there's more people have please keep them coming.