Building my first MiSTer Is There a Passively Cooled Case That Isn’t Designed Around the IO Board?

[Obioban]

I really have no desire for the IO board (only ever want to hook my Mister up to HDMI, and as far as I can tell there's no benefit to the IO board if doing that.

That said, I really prefer passive cooling when it's viable.

Is there a passively cooled case I could use? Ideally one that is sized around a Mister with only the USB board, not the IO board.

For that matter, I'm not sure I need a USB hub, either-- as far as I can tell, I only need one USB port, to connect an 8bitdo transmitter. Have ethernet everywhere, so no benefit to a wifi card and don't want the latency of Bluetooth...

Thanks!

[DiamondDave]

You will need a USB hub of some kind.

[Obioban]

You will need a USB hub of some kind.

What for?

[aberu]

The DE10-Nano only has 1 port capable of usb, and it requires a USB OTG Host adapter to work, so while you don't need a hub, at minimum you will need a micro-usb OTG host adapter dongle to do anything with it. I guess if you only want 1 device plugged into it at a time you don't need a hub

[nagus]

I'm interested in this too!

I would personally prefer one that supports the USB hub. I wouldn't want to fiddle with the micro usb port too much. If it popped off, guessing it might take the traces with it and be difficult or impossible to fix. The adapters to connect the micro usb to the USB hub keeps connection more stationary and less scary imho.

Would prolly also want slits in the case to support sdram or even dual.

[DevilHunterWolf]

An IO board can still be beneficial even if you're not looking to get the analog version. An IO board will get you an optical audio out (miniTOS on analog, full size on digital) which can be useful for some audio setups. Even though most actions of the IO board buttons can be replicated on a fully configured controller and the OSD menu, the LED lights are still nice to have as access and activity lights. They sometimes even correspond to the core like how the Sega CD read light is sent over to them. It's a small thing and also might be useful in troubleshooting (this light is blinking or stuck on). And myself personally, I am very happy to have the User IO port on the IO board. I don't use it as much for original controller SNAC connections but more for adding on the MT32-pi. Things like that can't be hooked up to ordinary USB ports and need the User IO port. And in the case of the digital IO board, that's a built in power button instead of relying on a bulkier inline power switch.

A lot of this could be done by hand in a custom case but it's just some thoughts to keep in mind on using an IO board versus not having one at all.

[Blade Runner]

I’m looking for the same, I just want hdmi
So I just need the nano board ,ram and otg external usb hub ,that’s only $8

But I don’t want to leave the mister out in the open without a case , it will get dusty
Do they make cases just for the nano board ?
Do I need a fan ?

[DevilHunterWolf]

I’m looking for the same, I just want hdmi
So I just need the nano board ,ram and otg external usb hub ,that’s only $8

But I don’t want to leave the mister out in the open without a case , it will get dusty
Do they make cases just for the nano board ?
Do I need a fan ?

Your best bet may be to look for 3D printed cases. Someone may have created a print for just the DE10-Nano and SDRAM. I don't think the smaller PCB style cases have been around for a while due to the popularity of add-on boards and also the emergence of all in one designs available like the MiSTer Multisystem. If you're going to be enclosing the DE10-Nano in a case, a fan would probably be a good idea. And if you want a quiet system, I'd highly recommend a Noctua fan. Since there's no fan speed control on the DE10-Nano, it will always be at full blast. The Noctua is very quiet compared to a regular cheap fan. But that's a personal decision if you're bothered by fan noise or not.

[aberu]

Honestly getting a heatsink is usually more than enough, but a fan is better (or a passively cooled case, like the one MiSTerAddons.com has).