Have you ever ever thought the Nintendo Wii would make a superb enclosure for a mini PC? Tech By Matt clearly did— on November 3, the YouTuber uploaded a video showcasing a customized mini PC construct taking the unique Wii enclosure and repurposing it with the internals of a Minisforum UM773 Mini PC, which is an AMD-powered rig utilizing a Ryzen 7 7735HS APU and Radeon 680M graphics.
The Radeon 680M iGPU options 12 RDNA 2 Compute Models— mixed with the 8-core, Zen 3+ Ryzen 7 7735HS. This implies you’ll be able to anticipate efficiency akin to a souped-up Steam Deck and its customized Van Gogh APU, which makes use of 8 RDNA 2 Compute Models and 4 Zen 2 cores. Some fashionable laptops and Mini PCs with Radeon 780M or 890M iGPUs are much more highly effective, however 680M isn’t any slouch— and is demonstrated within the authentic construct video emulating video games as much as PlayStation 3 and even working some fashionable AAA titles at 40-60 FPS.
Those that watch the total video will get to see an in depth run-down of how the ultimate mini PC was assembled, together with how the I/O cowl and motherboard mount was measured out and 3D printed. The disassembly and trimming technique of the unique Wii can also be proven, and the GameCube controller ports from a devoted Wii U GameCube Controller adapter find yourself repurposed into the Wii shell somewhat than utilizing the Wii’s authentic GameCube controller slots. This was by far essentially the most space-effective technique to do it, and a few extra 3D printing secured it correctly to the system.
The ultimate Nintendo Wii sleeper PC construct finally ends up trying pretty clear, and will get benchmark testing throughout fairly a number of emulators (as much as even Nintendo Change, although that console proves not fairly playable on this Mini PC {hardware}— emulation overhead will be fairly demanding), eSports titles like Valorant, and even AAA video games like Borderlands 3.
Probably the most demanding checks find yourself being for Change emulation and AAA gaming, the place the PC appears to falter when examined at 1080p, typically dipping to 40-50 FPS in additional demanding titles, as one could anticipate from the marginally outdated mini PC. Had Tech By Matt utilized a extra cutting-edge Mini PC, this sleeper Wii PC construct may have ended up being a correct fashionable mini console— however as-is, it is nonetheless massively extra highly effective than the unique Wii or Wii U, so it is nonetheless a stable, well-executed effort.